Letter to the Editor printed in The Coaster, The TriCity News, The Star Ledger & Asbury Park Press - July 2009

Editor:
One has to wonder when the current, radical evangelical (and largely non-Methodist) leadership of the OGCMA will wake up and smell the coffee in terms of their ill-advised flirtation with the Alliance Defense Fund. It seems that they have been led down the garden path by this national organization with a homophobic agenda. A Federal Appeals Court last week upheld the State of New Jersey's right to investigate the civil rights complaint filed by the couples who were denied use of the taxpayer-supported boardwalk pavilion for their civil unions. Not only that, they have decreed that a lower court must now investigate ALL OGCMA properties to determine if they are also public accommodations under New Jersey law. So instead of just letting these long time Ocean Grove residents with no agenda other than their love for each other quietly use the pavilion for their civil unions, they have unleashed the genie from the bottle and now may in fact have additional OGCMA properties, including the beaches and Great Auditorium, declared as public accommodations. How Brian Raum of the ADF can tout this portion of the decision as a "victory" for the OGCMA defies logic. The trustees of the OGCMA would be well advised to consider sweeping changes in leadership for their organization, as well as increased transparency as the district's landlord.

Dan Garrow
Ocean Grove, NJ