MONTCLAIR, September 17, 2007  –  The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) has today denied the Christian evangelical Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Association’s request under the state’s Green Acres programme for continued tax breaks for the public boardwalk pavilion area on which the Association has banned gay civil unions.

On September 6, Garden State Equality wrote a three-page letter to DEP Commissioner Lisa Jackson requesting that the Department deny the Camp Meeting Association’s request.

Garden State Equality pointed out in the letter that the Green Acres programme and New Jersey’s Law Against Discrimination specify that land receiving tax breaks must have open, non-discriminatory access to the public.

Subsequent to the letter, the ACLU of New Jersey and Ocean Grove United also contacted DEP in support of Garden State Equality’s arguments.

“Though we’re not home free yet, today’s decision by the Corzine Administration is a significant victory for liberty and justice for all in Ocean Grove,” said Steven Goldstein, chair of Garden State Equality.

“The Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Association has only itself to blame for what will now be the loss of hundreds of thousands of dollars.  The question is, how much more hell will the Camp Meeting Association, and its national right-wing extremist backers, put the good people of Ocean Grove through,” he asked?

In response to the Camp Meeting Association’s ban, two couples seeking to get ‘civil-unioned’ on the boardwalk have filed complaints with the New Jersey Division on Civil Rights.

The Camp Meeting Association, part of the United Methodist Church, has, in turn, filed a lawsuit to allow it to continue the ban.

“We all know how this saga is going to wind up,” Mr. Goldstein said.  “The boardwalk will eventually be open once again to civil unions.

“Our side is going to win hands down because the law is overwhelmingly on our side.  The boardwalk is public property by virtue of its use for decades by the public.

“It’s time for the Camp Meeting Association to see the handwriting on the pavilion, and end its discriminatory ban now,” he added.

Also campaigning for the Camp Meeting Association to allow gay civil unions at the Boardwalk Pavilion is Ocean Grove United, a group of Ocean Grove residents and business owners committed to guaranteeing the civil rights of all members of the community, and to promoting the participation of all toward the enhancement of Ocean Grove as a diverse and harmonious community.

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Posted: 17 September 2007 at 22:00 (UK time)