Gay organization to protest at Secaucus Town Hall

SECAUCUS — Tuesday’s Secaucus Town Council meeting could be unusually raucous, even in a town used to confrontational meetings.
Garden State Equality, a gay and lesbian rights organization in New Jersey, is promising to protest outside Secaucus Town Hall at 6 p.m. The protesters will then attend the 7 p.m. public Town Council meeting.
The group is angry about the possible reinstatement of three former firefighters who resigned from the Secaucus Volunteer Fire Department in August 2008.
As first reported in the Secaucus Reporter two weeks ago, two town attorneys are currently reviewing a written request by the members of the North End firehouse on Paterson Plank Road to reinstate the three.
Though criminal charges were never brought against them, the three men were implicated in alleged harassment against a gay couple who lived next door to the firehouse. The couple sued the town of Secaucus and won a judgement of $4.8 million in damages and legal fees.
After the civil trial ended, the firefighters chose to resign rather than face an
administrative hearing. — E. Assata Wright