So, nu? The New Family discusses marriage-equality...

“Hello, Jersey? It’s your cousin, Hampshire. How are you, darling? How is your Garden? How’s your Shore?

"Dear, I want to thank you for your nice gift on the occasion of my getting ‘Marriage-Equality’. The tomatoes were fabulous! Nice and big and ripe. You really are the Garden State of the New family….”

“So, are you and York still having your troubles? Look, you really need to get over that whole 'Statue of Liberty' thing. It’s been going on for years, and the Statue really does belong to York. The gift from France was for New York, and not you. (Oy, not this again). Yes, I know the gift was for all the States…(and again with the 'it's closer to me' whine)... Maybe you and York could just get together over a nice lunch, but really….(oy vey, I am sorry I brought it up)….she is your sister state and your neighbor, and you really need to forgive….”

“Look, the real reason I called is to see what’s happening with you in the ‘marriage-equality’ department. You know, you’re not getting any younger. I was with the Norths the other day----you know Carolina and Dakota----oh, they’re fine. Y’know, Carolina never shuts up and you can’t understand a thing she says ----with that accent of hers, and Dakota never says a word. But they were asking about you, dear…."

“Y’know, it is about time you got marriage-equality. It really is better for you. No, that ‘domestic partnership’ nonsense just does not work. Sounds like a law firm. And no one knows what it is. And the ‘civil unions’ ----hey, why buy the cow if you can get the milk for free, know what I mean….marriage-equality is the only way to go….

“Now your mishuguna cousin California from the other side of the States----can’t make up her mind. First she has marriage-equality, then she doesn’t. Then she has it again. Oy, what tsoris she’s causing!...."

“Now, you should see the way I look since I got marriage-equality…my pastures are greener…my mountains look bigger and my lakes are bluer. You need to try it. All my neighbors have marriage-equality--- Connecticut. Maine. Massachusetts. Vermont. It will work for you, too, dear. Trust me, it’s so much better..."

"Even your goyish-a cousin, Iowa has marriage-equality. Who knew?”

(a special shout out to Steven and Daniel)

California Dreamin' ---Connecticut is little in size, but large in civil rights.

On the east-iest of the East Coast, we have Connecticut, ranked 48th in the US in size at just 5,543 square miles. And you can drive from the border of New York to Rhode Island, in just over an hour---depending upon Hartford traffic.

On the west-iest of the West Coast, we have California, ranked 3rd in the US in size at 163,696 square miles. In size, Connecticut is third from the bottom [ahead of Rhode Island and Delaware] and California is third from the top [behind Alaska and Texas]. And that is where the parallel ends.

For in Connecticut, not a bastion of liberalism, has taken a step in the right direction of marriage equality by beginning to marry gay and lesbian couples. Last month, the Connecticut Supreme Court “had ruled, 4 to 3, that the state’s civil unions violated the constitutional guarantees of equal protection under the law…” ---setting the stage for hundreds of gay couples to be hitched.

But marriage equality is now prohibited in California. So, this issue will most assuredly makes its way to the United States Supreme Court with the states in disagreement over this matter. Massachusetts and Connecticut are now the only states allowing same-sex marriage. New Jersey, Vermont and New Hampshire have civil unions, and California has domestic partnerships.

So, Connecticut is little in size, but large in civil rights.

We’re number 2 in the nation on this number one issue.

The FBI has just released its annual report on hate crimes committed in each of the 50 states. New Jersey ranks second in the number of hate crimes across America, behind only California. Like California, we have a very large number of immigrants coming to our state, both documented and undocumented. So, perhaps our environment may be one that is a breeding ground for hate crimes. Not something to be proud of.

This a self-reported statistic, by the way. And not all states may have participated equally. For example Alabama reported only a single hate crime. Georgia reported only 13. And Mississippi, reported that there were no hate crimes at all. Either they under-reported, or they chose not to participate. Although I risk being sued by Fox News for trademark infringement, ---remember the states report, and you decide.

According to the folks at Garden State Equality, one of the problems is that: “New Jersey has not updated its hate crimes law in years. The law was one of the first of its kind in America. But like all pioneering laws, laws in other states have passed New Jersey's in strength and scope. New Jersey's current hate crimes law does not even encompass gender identity or expression.”

Garden State Equality and the New Jersey Anti-Defamation League have worked with legislators and the Attorney General's office to help craft a bill to strengthen the state hate crimes law. The bill adds "gender identity or expression" to our hate crimes law, and strengthens the law in several ways for people of color, for women, etc.