GARDEN STATE EQUALITY DECLARES ENDORSEMENT FOR

MAYOR STEVEN FULOP IN JERSEY CITY 2017 MAYORAL RACE.

JERSEY CITY – Garden State Equality (GSE), New Jersey’s largest LGBT organization, proudly announces its endorsement for Mayor Steven Fulop in Jersey City’s 2017 mayoral election.

GSE’s decision is based off Mayor Fulop’s dedication to creating a sense of acceptance and equality in his community, leading Advocate Magazine to rank Jersey City as the “Queerest City in America” in 2017.

“I am incredibly grateful to receive an endorsement from Garden State Equality, who has served as both a leader and partner in our effort to build a more inclusive and welcoming Jersey City,” said Fulop. “From providing transgender healthcare to city employees, to providing a dedicated LGBT police liaison, to receiving a perfect score on the equality index for several years, we have committed to enhancing the sense of inclusion that has come to define Jersey City.”

Fulop has and continues to treat LGBT rights as one of his top priorities. Having supported marriage equality long before it became legal in New Jersey, Fulop held the first legal same-sex marriage during a midnight ceremony upon statewide legalization in 2013.

Since then, Fulop persisted in putting the LGBT community at the forefront of his agenda. Because of his advocacy, Jersey City has received a perfect score on the Human Rights Campaign’s LGBT Equality Index, which measures a city’s commitment to LGBT equality, for four consecutive years. In 2016, Jersey City was one of only 60 cities nationwide to receive a perfect score in the annual Municipal Equality Index report.

“Steven Fulop has created a city that is a model for the rest of New Jersey,” said Christian Fuscarino, Garden State Equality’s Executive Director. “Mayor Fulop has done a remarkable job of making LGBTQ needs a priority and establishing Jersey City as home to one of the largest LGBT populations in New Jersey. He is one of our best allies in the state.”

GSE’s endorsement is also prompted by Fulop’s noteworthy history of fighting for transgender rights. With Fulop’s leading the way, Jersey City was the first city in New Jersey to include transgender related healthcare coverage to city employees. Additionally, Fulop has made strides to push back against President Trump by signing an executive order making all bathrooms in municipal buildings gender neutral.

About Garden State Equality

Garden State Equality is New Jersey’s statewide advocacy and education organization for the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community.

GSE, in collaboration with community partners, led efforts to ensure nondiscrimination for transgender and gender nonconforming people in NJ, pass the most comprehensive anti-bullying law in the country, end sexual orientation and gender identity/expression change efforts in NJ (sometimes called conversion therapy), and bring marriage equality to the Garden State.

In this post-marriage environment, our main focuses are youth, transgender people, and seniors, and our work on those issues is informed by racial, economic, and disability justice concerns. GSE is working on campaigns to address safe environments for youth, improvement of health services that meet LGBT community needs, and respectful treatment of seniors. Beyond that, GSE supports NJ’s activist community by bringing an LGBT lens to the shared struggle for justice.