All black & white photos of Matthew on this site, including the banner photo, were taken byGina van Hoof.
New Jersey State Senate Rejects Marriage Equality
January 7, 2010
The Matthew Shepard Foundation is deeply disappointed by the New Jersey State Senate’s decision today to reject the opportunity for same-sex couples to enjoy the fundamental human right to enter into marriage.
Ending months of sporadic debate, the New Jersey Senate voted 14-20 to defeat the marriage-equality legislation. Gov. Jon Corzine, who leaves office Jan. 19, had vowed to sign the bill if it reached his desk prior to the end of his term. His successor, Chris Christie, opposes same-sex marriage.
The Legislature’s lower house, the Assembly, had not yet acted on the legislation; the speaker said last week that the bill would first have had to pass the Senate before the lower house would consider it.
“Legislators in New Jersey showed today that despite the growing public recognition that same-gender couples deserve the basic legal protections long afforded to their heterosexual counterparts, there are many voters and lawmakers opposed to or undecided about taking the necessary steps forward,” said Jason Marsden, executive director of the Matthew Shepard Foundation. “New Jersey is home to almost 3 percent of the U.S. population, and the passage of marriage equality there would have increased by more than half the number of same-sex couples who would enjoy this freedom. We owe it to them to continue to press ahead.”
Had the legislation been successful, New Jersey would have joined Vermont, New Hampshire, Iowa, Massachusetts and Connecticut in allowing same-sex couples to marry. California had allowed same-sex couples to marry between June and November 2008 until passage of that state’s Proposition 8 repealed the right. Maine’s Legislature approved same-sex marriage in early 2009, but it was overturned by voters last November and never took effect.
Internationally, same-sex marriage is also legal nationwide in the Netherlands, Belgium, Canada, Spain, Norway, Sweden and South Africa.
New Jersey passed civil union legislation in 2006 when the state’s Supreme Court ruled gay and lesbian couples are entitled to equal rights with married heterosexual couples. However, a state committee set up under that law said in 2008 that civil unions hadn’t provided the same benefits and protections as marriage.
State recognition of same-sex marriages still does not guarantee federal recognition of those marriages due to the 1996 “Defense of Marriage Act.” Congressional or federal judiciary action would be required in order for same-sex marriages to guarantee the wide array of marriage-dependent federal rights ranging from Social Security benefits to joint tax-filing status.
Jennifer Beals' New Book to Benefit the Matthew Shepard Foundation
During the six years we were shooting The L Word, I kept a photographic journal of the cast and crew, born out of a profound desire to create a bulwark against my rapidly eroding memory. It was an era of my life I was eager to preserve: I wanted to remember the cast, the readthrus, the dinners, the rehearsals — everything. I took pictures and saved my scripts, callsheets, and memos and organized them every year. I used them for reference as the seasons moved on, but frankly I held onto them because I knew I would get a kick out of looking at them as the years passed. Mostly, I wanted to remember the joy, because no matter where the storylines went, we always managed to have fun.
Years ago, I started a tradition of making of making a photo book, to give as a gift to the cast and crew, after completing projects that were near and dear to my heart. As I started working on my cast-and-crew present for The L Word, I realized this wouldn't be like the others. The L Word was about the power of storytelling. And it was particularly unique because there were two streams of stories being told. Clearly we were telling your stories, but in some way we were telling our stories — the story of a group of colleagues who became friends while endeavoring to make something worthwhile. Somewhere along the line there was a kind of convergence. Somewhere underneath the plotlines of The L Word ran our own stories of friendship and struggle. These photographs evoke the various bonds and battles we as a cast endured.
The L Word as a series was, at its core, about community and that played out behind the scenes as the cast formed its own community. But the series also was about all of you who made our collective journey possible. That is why I wanted to make the book available to fans of the show.
The proceeds of the book and prints will go to several different charities including the Matthew Shepard Foundation, Mia Kirshner's I Live Here, a Project of Operation USA and The Pablove Foundation, because I wanted to give back to the organizations that have meant so much to me.
Sincerely, Jennifer Beals
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Judy Shepard on the Ellen DeGeneres Show!
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