This email from Garden State Equality announces the organization's endorsements for the two state Assembly seats representing the 22nd legislative district, where you live. The state Senate is not up for election this year.

The 22nd legislative district includes Clark, Dunellen, Fanwood, Green Brook, Linden, Middlesex, North Plainfield, Plainfield, Rahway, Scotch Plains and Winfield. We urge you to forward this email to all your friends, family and colleagues in the 22nd legislative district.

From among the thousands of public officials who serve at all levels of government across our state, two state legislators rank among New Jersey’s boldest, savviest and most effective champions of equality. They are Assembly members Jerry Green and Linda Stender of the 22nd legislative district. For all they have done to improve the lives of millions, Garden State Equality passionately endorses their reelection.

Garden State Equality is a full-time civil rights organization which works with public officials nearly every day and night of the year. We know the work of incumbents up close and personally. When we endorse candidates, it is not based on perceptions from headlines or mere statements of support come election time, but on the candidates’ work behind the scenes. We get to examine very closely the extent to which incumbents fight for the causes they believe in, and whether they succeed.

Over the years, New Jersey’s national leadership on LGBT civil rights – and on other progressive issues such as women’s rights, education, health care and the environment – has owed so much to the magnificent Jerry Green. It is by no coincidence that New Jersey’s march to full equality accelerated when Jerry Green was elected to the Assembly in 1992. He has fought tirelessly for equality, organizing and persuading colleagues, and standing up for the LGBT community and everyone else who has faced discrimination, no matter the countervailing pressure.

Jerry has played a major role in enacting landmark legislation that has changed your life. During Jerry’s time in the Assembly, New Jersey has enacted some of the nation’s most comprehensive civil rights laws. They included anti-discrimination, anti-hate crimes and anti-school bullying laws that encompass sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression that provide sweeping protection for New Jersey’s LGBT community. No one who closely watches the inner workings of state government can say in good conscience: Those things are great, but now can we get back the election at hand? You cannot separate New Jersey’s stunning leadership in civil rights from Jerry Green’s role.

Jerry has not merely been a supporter of equality for all; indeed he is a leader. He was a driving force behind New Jersey’s domestic partnership and civil union laws and is a strong and unwavering supporter of marriage equality. When the final chapter is written on how New Jersey granted full equality to all its people, Assemblyman Jerry Green will be remembered for all time as one of our greatest heroes.

The 22nd legislative district is also blessed with the representation of Jerry’s colleague in the Assembly, the wonderful Linda Stender. A longtime supporter of LGBT civil rights and of marriage equality, Linda has spoken out forcefully about the inadequacies of the civil union law in providing equality. She has few peers in fighting for – and winning – better health care, reduced gun violence, a cleaner environment, and comprehensive justice for all New Jerseyans. Her legislation, “the Global Warming Response Act” made New Jersey the first state in the nation to establish mandatory reductions of green house gas emissions by 2050.

Indeed, Linda’s deep legislative savvy is matched by her compassion. She is one of New Jersey’s strongest advocates for making our state a national leader for stem cell research. She has worked tirelessly to support scientists in their bid to unlock cures for diseases that harm our loves ones – such as Alzheimer’s, Multiple Sclerosis, diabetes and cancer. And at every turn, she has been a fearless leader for a woman’s right to choose.

For any voter in the 22nd legislative district who might be tempted to vote for Jerry and Linda’s extremist Republican opponents just because you want change, think twice: Jerry and Linda are the change. They have changed New Jersey for the better and changed your life for the better. In contrast, the Republicans in this race, Martin Marks and Bo Vastine, are so far to the extreme right, including in their mercilessly vocal opposition to equality, they’re practically falling off the face of the mainstream earth.

Assembly members Jerry Green and Linda Stender are two of the finest public servants of our time. Garden State Equality endorses them with passion.

We urge you to forward this email to all your friends, family and colleagues in the 22nd legislative district, which includes Clark, Dunellen, Fanwood, Green Brook, Linden, Middlesex, North Plainfield, Plainfield, Rahway, Scotch Plains and Winfield.


Paid for by Garden State Equality, 500 Bloomfield Avenue, Montclair, New Jersey 07042.