Fight For Marriage Equality In New Jersey From The Comfort Of Your Own Home!

PLEASE SHARE WITH EVERYONE YOU KNOW IN THE GARDEN STATE.

ONLY NEW JERSEY RESIDENTS CAN CONTACT NEW JERSEY REPRESENTATIVES.

It's cold. It's dark. It's the middle of winter and even though it's been pretty temperate these past few days, it seems people just want to curl up at home and re-emerge next spring.

But New Jersey's residents have no such luxury. Marriage equality is being debated RIGHT NOW. It is winding its way through the legislature and will likely wind up on Governor Christie's desk in the near future. He has vowed to veto any such bill, which means that we must double, triple and quadruple our efforts in order to secure enough votes to override his veto ~ in order that our voices be heard, our opinions be counted and our equality be won. And we can do it! We can do it if we all take just a few moments to tell our legislators that we are in favor of marriage equality.

Four minutes ~ three steps ~ to help make marriage equality a reality in New Jersey.

1) Copy & paste this link: http://www.njleg.state.nj.us/districts/districtnumbers.asp

It has New Jersey broken down into districts. Districts are listed by county and then broken down further by town. Find your town and click on your district.

2) That will take you to a page which lists your Senator, your Assemblymen/women and their office phone numbers. Call them at any time. If it's after business hours you can leave a message. If you know that your representatives are for marriage equality, thank them! ~ this is important because they rarely get positive feedback on any issue ~ and let them know that you are too. If they are against it or you don't know their position, just let them know that you "strongly support marriage equality in New Jersey." Then leave your name and your address. That's it! They'll put one more check mark in the For Marriage Equality column of their tally sheet. A tally sheet that they will absolutely consider as this debate progresses and as they go to vote.

If you'd like to take a moment to send a personal note to your representative(s), clicking on their names will lead to a page with a "Contact Your Legislator(s)" link.

No matter how you choose to communicate, and no matter what you representatives' views on this issue, always be respectful and polite.

3) Pass this on to everyone you know and share with them how empowered you feel knowing that your voice, literally, has been heard. Make sure they call too!!!

Don't just be proud. Be proud that you did something!

Thanks,

Ian

Calling for Equality, First Night

The last time I phone banked it was on behalf of Governor Corzine. We all know how well that went. In light of his recent re-emergence in the news, I’m not so sure his losing was a bad thing ~ although at least I would likely have been married by now. But whether his losing was good or bad is irrelevant. He lost. Governor Christie won. And whether you love him or hate him or find yourself somewhere in the middle is also irrelevant. He is our governor. And for the past few years I have found myself a somewhat inactive activist. We have a governor who has said that he would veto a marriage equality bill out of hand and not enough votes to override the veto. End of story.

I do not know the machinations that brought marriage equality, seemingly quite suddenly, up again in the New Jersey legislature. I do not know the machinations that have gotten the bill fast tracked for a vote. Nor do I know the machinations of Governor Christie’s apparent softening – for him – on the issue. I don’t know and I don’t care. Whatever the reasons, we have another opportunity to take the ball into the end zone. The bill has been introduced. It is time for the activists to be active. We have been roused from our Christie hibernation.

Last night was our first phone banking session ~ the beginning of Garden State Equality and the Human Rights Campaign’s push in New Jersey to finally see marriage equality become a reality. We call our supporters and ask that they, in turn, call their representatives with the message that New Jersey’s LGBT couples deserve to be treated equally under the law – they should be able to get married.

The truth is that I hate phone banking. I hate bothering people in the evening, in their homes, with their families, enjoying what is probably a small island of relaxation in an otherwise hectic day. I feel like I’m intruding. But I hold my breath and I wrinkle my nose like I’m taking some bad tasting medicine and I call. I call because it is something to do. I call because I find that I can not sit home and hope when there is work to be done. I call because there is truth to be spoken and there are changes to be made. I call. And I call. And I call. One tiny call at a time that sometimes seems not to be moving the world in the slightest. I call. Some people are rude. Some people hang up. Some people have no idea why we are calling or what Garden State Equality or the Human Rights Campaign is. I call. I call to spread information, because most people don’t know what’s going on in Trenton. I call because most people don’t truly understand that their representatives will listen to them – and that they tally calls on every issue in “for” and “against” columns. I call because good people are too often silent. I call because the voice of the government should not be one more voice that bullies our LGBT children and reinforces the ignorance of bigots. I call because fear is a successful motivating factor for our opponents and because they use it to great advantage. I hate to call. But I call because our opponents have no such aversion. I call. Because you never know which call will be one that changes the world just a little.

I call for equality.

Dear New Year's Resolute ~

Welcome to the gym! I doubt you'll be here long, but even if you only make it to Valentine's Day, this will come in handy. It might seem a tad rough, but believe me, it's better than pissing off some guy who's already on the verge of a serious 'roid rage and is just looking for any excuse to Naomi Campbell your ass. You'll thank me later.

A few rules ~

30 minute limit on the cardio equipment. 30 minutes. That's it. That sign. Taped to the mirror. Right in front of your face? The one that says, "30 minute limit on the cardio equipment"? In gym-speak that means that there's a 30 minute limit on the cardio equipment. And may I be blunt? You haven't broken a sweat since TiVo eliminated the need for you to scurry back into your living room. You aren't going to lose that 40lbs in one manic 5 hour cardio session. You can set the Stepmill to Kilimanjaro and grunt to your pasty, near-unconscious delight. You can Lance Armstrong the stationary bike in your Hefty Bag sweatsuit until you are a ball of hyperventilating pulp. You can white-knuckle the treadmill until you collapse and get spit out like a baseball at a batting cage. But the truth is this: if you were built like soft-serve in a condom when you got on that machine, you will be built like soft-serve in a condom when you get off that machine. Your goal can not be accomplished in a single session. You are going to have to come back and do this again. Dedication, not dehydration, is the key to altering your body. So get the hell off the machine and don't give ME a dirty look when I ask if I can use it after you've been on it for 90 minutes. Dedication.

The answer is "Yes, you can work in with me." Here at the gym we do a little thing that we like to call sharing, maybe you've heard of it. (If you haven't got the foggiest idea what "working in" means, look it up.) (If you haven't got the foggiest idea what sharing means, get that Chicken Soup for the Soul book or that Everything I Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten book. I've never personally read either of them, but I'm gonna bet they might help to clarify things.) Sharing.

Loafers?

Do you have to do your set right in front of the weight rack? No. No you don't. Step away from the rack! So that you aren't - I don't know - blocking every. Single. Other. Person. From using the weights. It's just common courtesy. You are not here alone. And, not for nothin', if it's too heavy to carry four feet, then it's too fucking heavy for you to exercise with. Courtesy.

Jeans?

There is just absolutely no need to gyrate and thrust and make yourself look generally silly in order to lift the heaviest weight at the gym. Much in the same way that wearing a zero when she's an 8 makes Mariah Carey look fatter than she actually is, lifting with a weight that's too heavy doesn't make you look strong, it just makes you look like a douchebag. Momentum is not your friend. You're trying to build muscle, not a pyramid. So start with a weight you can manage and work your way up to that Arnold weight in the corner. Dedication.

Re-rack your weights! Courtesy. Douchebag. Too heavy.

Flip flops?

Clearly you're excited about the sweating (Not since TiVo!!!), but you know, we here at the gym indulge in a little accessory we like to refer to as - a towel. We sweat. We love to sweat. And we pretty much sweat on everything. And then we wipe that shit down before moving on or before we allow someone else - learning curve in action - to work in with us. Sharing. Courtesy. Douchebag. Wipe down.

That bench? It's not a park bench. Neither is it a coffee table, mantle, footrest or phone booth. (Hang up!) It's a bench. Which we use. To lift. And when we're done, we wipe it down and re-rack our weights. And sometimes, if the gym is crowded, we let someone else work in with us. Sharing. Courtesy. Douchebag. Wipe down. Park bench.

To recap: Dedication. Sharing. Courtesy. Too heavy. Douchebag. Work in. Wipe down. Re-rack. Soft-serve. Condom. Park bench. Hang up. Work out.

I think that if you follow these few, simple rules, you'll find that the gym is a great place to be. And you might find those mean gym-rats to be all warm and fuzzy. And maybe you'll stay past the first really cold day.

WELCOME TO THE GYM!

Sincerely,

All The Gym-Goers Who Are Annually Annoyed By The Sudden Influx Of The Resolute Yet Clueless