LGBTQIA+ community says basic rights in jeopardy
OCEAN CITY — Don’t let yourself be erased. Show up for each other. Register to vote. Resist and insist.
Three speakers at the third annual We Belong Cape May County OC Pride Fest rallied a crowd Saturday morning before a march on the Ocean City Boardwalk. The messages from Dan Rogan of the Trans Equity Coalition and Craig Van Baal and Vince Grimm of GABLES of Cape May County mixed heartfelt pleas for support within the LGBTQIA+ community with calls for action.
“Pride is more about showing up for ourselves and each other, and that means all of us,” said Rogan, director of operations for the statewide organization serving the gender-diverse population.
“Trans people have always been part of this movement. Not only were trans people at Stonewall, trans women of color, alongside their gay and lesbian siblings, were the catalysts in the fight for gay liberation,” Rogan said. “Trans people, like the rest of the LGB community, have always existed and will continue to exist.”
The problem is not trans people, Rogan said, but the active effort to “erase the T from LGBT,” referencing the legislation and executive orders from the Trump Administration that is putting a “vulnerable community at greater risk than ever before.”
“Unite against bigotry, against those who hate people, against hate from people who judge us for how we look, from how we express our gender, from the color of our skin, from our disabilities, from who we love,” Rogan said. “Let’s learn from history and one another and speak out against misinformation. Support organizations like ours, who fight for trans rights, which are human rights, contact your representatives against harmful legislations, pay attention to elections and vote.”
“We’re still fighting the same battles,” Van Baal said of the organization that formed in 1995. The president of GABLES told the crowd assembled at Sixth Street and the Boardwalk, as the sun was breaking through the clouds just after 9 a.m., that the fight is to keep the rights that are in place.
He pointed out it wasn’t until 2023 that gay marriage became law in New Jersey, a right that is now ingrained in the state constitution.
Van Baal said he and Grimm, executive director of GABLES, spent years traveling from Cape May County to Trenton lobbying to make marriage a right.
“We started with civil unions, domestic partnerships, each time trying to ratchet it up one more, till finally we do have the right to marry,” Van Baal said.
He offered the story of why marriage is important, citing two partners who owned a music store in Ocean City in 1995, but when one died, the other got slapped with a huge state income tax bill and had to sell the store.
“Had he been married to his partner, there would have been no tax and that store would not have had to close,” he said. “So that motivated us in the early days to fix it, so that no one else would have to suffer that kind of an injustice.
“And you should be very proud to live in New Jersey. We are protected in our blue state,” he added.
Van Baal said Gov. Phil Murphy signed an executive order in 2023 establishing New Jersey as a safe haven for gender-affirming health care.
Van Baal cautioned the crowd not to take what they have for granted and told them they must continue to be active.
Run for school board. Run for City Council, he said.
“These are all things you can do and what we did from the inside. We learned that marching and protesting makes a statement. Once you get inside the system, you can change it,” Van Baal said.
They were able to get Republican legislators to support them “because we convinced them that we were not a danger and that we were a plus to the community. So you must resist when they try to take something away.
“Resist,” he said. “And then when you resist, you insist to be heard. Do not let yourself be silenced or erased. Washington will try to erase us. Do not allow it. Resist and insist. And then get in there and vote, get in there and talk, get in there, and don’t hide.
“Stand up, just like you are today.”
Grimm, 87, said he started his fight in 1961. He urged the crowd to vote.
“It’s been a long haul … and I was also fortunate that to have a great partner and husband for 57 years due to what we did for marriage in New Jersey,” Grimm said. “We live in one of the top 10 safest states in the country. We make up 15 percent of the voting public. I’m asking you, register, vote.
“It’s the only thing we’re going to have to keep Washington from our door. I strongly believe that that individual sitting there will come at us, and that’s what we need,” he added, referencing President Donald Trump.
He advised those present to convert their driver’s licenses to the Real ID and to get passports not just to fly, but also to have important legal identification.
“There will come a time outside of New Jersey, walking the streets, when there’s a good chance that you may be picked up for whatever purpose … .”
With that, he said, “Let’s march.”
Behind three young people carrying a We Belong Cape May County banner, the diverse crowd of people, young and old, with flags and rainbow colors, headed out onto the Boardwalk.
By DAVID NAHAN/Cape May Star and Wave
