Garden State Equality stays out of key House races

Garden State Equality Action Fund, New Jersey’s largest LGBTQ advocacy group, is staying out of races for Congress in the 2nd, 3rd and 7th districts while endorsing U.S. Senator Bob Menendez and making the defeat of 19-term Rep. Christopher Smith their top target.

The group has decided not to oppose two Republican congressmen in tough re-election races races, Tom MacArthur and Leonard Lance, and won’t back State Sen. Jeff Van Drew for an open seat.  Garden State Equality is backing Democrat Mikie Sherrill for the seat of retiring GOP Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen.

“This election matters more than any in our lifetime as a community. President Trump has made his agenda clear, to set back the rights of our community by decades, to a time when we were forced to remain in the closet and had few to no protections under the law.  Anti-discrimination protections – gone! Transgender rights and military service – gone! Rights for our Muslim brothers and sisters, our undocumented friends – gone! Access to affordable healthcare – gone!” said executive director Christian Fuscarino.  “Trump would be a nightmare, and that’s without even addressing Vice President Pence, perhaps the most anti-LGBTQ Vice President to ever hold office.”

A summary of the endorsements:

U.S. Senate: “As a proven leader who stood up for the LGBTQ community for years, Bob Menendez is the clear choice for New Jersey’s fair-minded voters and LGBTQ residents. Senator Menendez has shown himself to be an outspoken advocate for the LGBTQ community. In his interview with Garden State Equality, Menendez not only spoke passionately of his ground-breaking work 30+ years ago advancing hate crimes and anti-bias laws to protect the LGBTQ community, but also of the personal sting of discrimination that he experienced as a Hispanic minority in his youth.   We acknowledge the Senator’s opponent, Bob Hugin, and his recent efforts to embrace the LGBTQ community by stating his support for marriage equality, attending the GSE Equality Ball, and sitting down with our community for a roundtable.

2nd district: “Seth Grossman’s history of racist, sexist and anti LGBTQ comments is sickening. While we believe overall that this district would be better represented by State Senator Jeff Van Drew, neither candidate filled out our questionnaire, neither has a 100% track record on LGBTQ issues and neither has made an effort to reach out to our community on issues of importance to us. Therefore, we offer no endorsement in this race.”

3rd district: “Congressman Tom MacArthur is by far one of the most pro-LGBTQ Republicans in the nation and has proven a steadfast ally to the LGBTQ community. Yet, Congressman MacArthur’s support of efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act unequivocally puts members of the LGBTQ community at risk. While his opponent, Andy Kim, lacks a track record in elected office, he has expressed full support for LGBTQ causes and issues. Andy Kim and Tom MacArthur are both allies to our community. We note that Mr. Kim returned a questionnaire that indicated he will support the LGBTQ community, and Congressman MacArthur explained in extensive detail how he already has.”

4th district: “We raise Josh Welle up as our must-win candidate in the 4th Congressional District, not just because his opponent is an enemy of freedom and equality for the LGBTQ community, but because Welle has committed himself to restoring the integrity of the 4th District and respecting all his constituents including the LGBTQ community. Smith brags openly of his disdain for our community’s civil rights and actually said out loud that an orphanage is preferable for raising a child over a gay or lesbian couple. We rid the 5th District of Smith’s Congressional partner-in-hate, Scott Garrett, during the last election, and now it is time to pop the Congressional zit that is Chris Smith. All hands on deck for electing Josh Welle, who has Garden State Equality’s full support and should have yours.”

7th district: “We acknowledge that Congressman Lance has been a proven ally to our community in recent years and has taken up supportive causes that have put him, thankfully, out of step with other anti-equality Republicans. However, his opponent, Tom Malinowski, has a proven track record under the Obama Administration and throughout his distinguished career in public service protecting LGBTQ rights around the world. Malinowski has indicated his full, unequivocal support of transgender service members, among other important LGBTQ civil rights issues. During Malinowski’s service as Assistant Secretary of State, Human Rights and Labor, he led the nation’s efforts to promote the human rights of LGBTQ people by establishing the Global Equality Fund to support LGBTQ rights advocacy and the position of Special Envoy for the Human Rights of LGBTQ Persons.”

The group has also endorsed the re-election campaigns of Democrats Donald Norcross, Josh Gottheimer, Frank Pallone, Bill Pascrell, Albio Sires, Donald Payne and Bonnie Watson Coleman.

“The quality and quantity of responses we received from candidates of all political ideologies is symbolic of how important the LGBTQ community is in New Jersey,” said Chris Donnelly, Chair of GSE’s Action Fund Board. “That importance, however, cannot be ignored nor taken for granted on our end. Tweets and Facebook posts lamenting the current state of politics is not going to do it this time.  Let no one wake up on November 7 wishing or hoping they had done more. We need everyone knocking on doors, making phone calls, and getting their family, friends, coworkers, neighbors, casual acquaintances…everyone we know, to the polls to cast their vote.”