City Belt

MARRIAGE EQUALITY: WHAT'S THE FUSS ABOUT?

Guest Viewpoint
By Walt Boraczek

Editors' note: Today marks the State Senate's hearing on the civil unions bill, which would give some benefits to same-sex couples in New Jersey, but falls short of calling these benefits "marriage." As we've stated before, we think that the state should have no involvement in marriage, and that all should be in civil unions. But since that's not the world we live in, we believe that everyone should be entitled to state-recognized "marriage." We asked Walt Boraczek of the Hudson Diversity Action Council for his two cents on the subject, and he kindly outlined the case for marriage.

The struggle for marriage equality has now come full-circle and we are engaged in a battle of semantics. The Supreme Court of New Jersey has guaranteed same-sex couples equal treatment under the law, but has stopped short of using the word “marriage” to describe those relationships. There are heated arguments on both sides of this issue, but the fight is no longer "Should same-sex couples get the rights?" but "Should we get the label?"

Simply stated, the name matters!

Universally Recognized Label

Marriage is a term that is understood in all areas of our culture. This centuries-old designation is the only benchmark of commitment that exists and it is viewed in our society as a binary state, not a sliding scale. Married? Yes or No. If, under a civil union, I am forced to check “No,” where is my measure of equality?

Let’s look at one of the more common situations that face same-sex couples – hospital visitation. In certain areas of a hospital, visitation is limited to immediate family only. This was one of the rights addressed by New Jersey’s Domestic Partnership law of 2004; however, we still see situations where fully documented domestic partners are denied access to their loved ones because the hospital administrator on duty doesn’t know what the term “domestic partner” means with respect to hospital policy. This is both a weakness in the educational follow-up and in the label itself.

JERSEY DEVIL IN THE DETAILS

This summer’s fiasco at Kiddie Kollege was just the tip of the environmental iceberg – New Jersey is filled with toxic sites that haven’t been properly cleaned up.
By Leigh Davis

Check out a few photos of one toxic site in Newark

New Jersey’s reputation for environmental problems is not news to most folks. It’s been fodder for comics who turn ournickname, the Garden State, into the not so tongue-in-cheek Garbage State. And the more sinister appellation Cancer Alley is commonly associated with various parts of the state. However, the Jersey Devil is in the details.

PHOTO OF THE WEEK: WHICH WAY IS UP?

We dug the simple surrealism of this photo, "Wet Reflections," taken by Pat Marella.

To be featured as Photo of the Week, tag your Flickr photos with CityBelt -- or you can just e-mail them to us.

On the Web:
Pat Marella's Flickr page
City Belt's Flickr page

MORE PHOTO OF THE WEEK
 

 

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POEM: EIGHTH AVENUE BROOKLYN

The brick fronts and
                     jagged roofs
cut creases in the
clear blue sky.
America, end of the century,
new millennium,
calendar pages turned to
something new or --

THE AGENDA: EXECUTIVE ORDER

For full calendar listings, check The Agenda. To have your event listed, please e-mail the editors.

FRIDAY | 12.1.06

Arts. It's once again time for JC Fridays, the day-long arts happening in downtown Jersey City. You can check their site for a complete set of listings, but we'll briefly touch on a few highlights. All day long at Janam Tea, there will be a "50 Under $50" sale, featuring small works for sale from local artists. Sounds like holiday shopping time? As they say on the TeeVee, "the price is nice." If you're down in Newport, Kim's is screening short films by James Broughton, the Californian avant-garde filmmaker from 1-10 pm. From 6-8 pm, Mana Fine Arts has an exhibit of black and white images that explore "themes of internal and external politics" -- and there will be live jazz from Bassoon in the Wild. All day long at the Brunswick Window, cut paper works from indie icon Jad Fair (ex-Half Japanese) will be on display. While you're up on that end of town, head over to Another Man's Treasure, where there's a 1960's Swinging London Cocktail Party with live music by the Black Hollies from 8-11 pm. A few doors down at the Residue Gallery, they're hosting their first-ever silent auction from 8-midnight. Down Columbus at the Lex Leonard Gallery, there's an opening party for "eLEmental, my dear, ELeMENtal,” by Karina from 7:30-8:30, followed by a spoken word performance featuring Dujuana Sharese,  Rico Steal, Beth Bentley and Mike Brown from 8:30 -11 pm. For late night options, check out the party at Rock Soup Studios, the Waterbug Hotel's Basement Soul party, or check out our next listing.