About Garden State Equality

To see our Board of Directors, click here.

GARDEN STATE EQUALITY STAFF

Steven Goldstein, Chair and CEO. When Steven founded Garden State Equality in 2004, it seemed impossible to create a statewide organization of Garden State Equality’s current scale.

Given the fierce competition from the New York and Philadelphia markets with which it overlaps, New Jersey is a notoriously difficult place for non-for-profit organizations. New Jersey may be the only state without its very own metropolitan area – and the automatic grassroots and fundraising base that comes with it. For a not-for-profit in New Jersey to grow as Garden State Equality has, it must win over supporters in each of the state’s 566 municipalities, one by one by one.

Today Steven is but one of the 101,750 Garden State Equality members who have built the state’s largest civil rights organization together. Their combined passion has been the driving force behind the 213 LGBT civil rights laws enacted throughout New Jersey since the organization’s founding.

Under Steven’s leadership, Garden State Equality has become the only statewide civil rights organization in American history to be showcased in an Academy Award®-winning film. And each year for the past several years, PolitickerNJ.com has ranked Steven as one of the most powerful people in New Jersey politics. New Jersey Monthly has ranked him as one of the state’s 100 most powerful people in all walks of life.

Steven has served as a senior staff member in the U.S. House and U.S. Senate, and was co-campaign manager of a successful U.S. Senate campaign in New Jersey. As a lawyer for the U.S. House Judiciary Committee in Washington, Steven was the staff point-person for nine federal civil rights bills that became law. Among them is the Freedom to Access to Clinic Entrances Act, still the only stand-alone pro-choice statute enacted at the federal level. Before entering government, Steven won 10 Emmy Awards as a television news producer.

Steven holds a B.A. summa cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa from Brandeis University, an M.P.P. (Master in Public Policy) from Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government, an M.S. from the Columbia School of Journalism, and a J.D. from Columbia Law School. Fulfilling a lifelong dream, Steven returned to school years later to study for rabbinate at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College. He has been on leave from rabbinical school to lead Garden State Equality full-time, for which he has declined a salary since founding the organization.

Steven and his partner Daniel Gross, together since 1992, made history in September 2002 when they became the first same-sex couple to appear in the wedding announcements of The New York Times.

Jon Galluccio, Managing Director. When Jon, along with his husband Michael, decided to have children back in 1996, little did they know the path they would pave. Having been refused the right to adopt their son jointly by the State of New Jersey, they challenged the State in a class action lawsuit. Their son Adam, now 16, was their motivation for change. Their victory made New Jersey the first state in the nation to put same-sex couples on equal footing to married heterosexual couples which was a landmark victory for the rights of same-sex couples everywhere.

As an accidental activist, Jon embraced the opportunity to become visible and active in the modern LGBT rights movement. He has been interviewed across all mediums, throughout this country and many outside of this country. His family was featured on a GLAAD Media Award winning episode of “Leeza” and he debated Rev. Fallwell on “Larry King Live,” just to name a few. Jon was honored by HRC, and received the Family Civil Rights Award at a recognition dinner. He has also received many other honors from politicians as well. He has spoken at colleges across the country from Princeton to the University of Nevada. Jon and Michael chronicled their story in the book “An American Family.” They went on to adopt two more children, Madison, now 15, and Rosa, now 29.

Jon and Michael lived in California during the brief window of legal marriage for same sex couples and were legally married on October 8, 2008 in Agua Dulce, California. Already active with the Los Angeles Lesbian and Gay Center as spokespeople for marriage equality, they fought hard during the Prop 8 debate. When their oldest daughter Rosa gave birth to Jon and Michael’s third granddaughter, the family returned to their native New Jersey as they yearned to be closer.

Jon also brings a world of knowledge from the corporate world. He has worked in Sales and Marketing Management with AT&T Wireless and Finance with MetLife. Jon joined Garden State Equality’s Executive Committee as Vice Chair of the organization in 2011. In 2012, he moved to the staff to become Garden State Equality’s Managing Director.

Shannon Kirk, Youth and Anti-Bullying Director. Shannon received her BFA in acting from Rutgers University’s Mason Gross School of the Arts and spent eight years working as an actress in New York City. She is currently pursuing a Masters in Teaching with dual certifications in K-5th grade and Special Education at Montclair State University. She began volunteering with Garden State Equality during its 2009 legislative campaign for marriage equality, eventually taking a lead role in organizing other volunteers and then joining the staff. She resides in Maplewood with her husband Jason and their dog Marzipan.

GARDEN STATE EQUALITY BOARD OF DIRECTORS

As New Jersey’s largest civil rights organization committed to being a true grassroots movement, Garden State Equality has a large and diverse Board of Directors. Leading the Board and most organizational policies is the Executive Committee.

The Board includes an Executive Committee comprised of:

Chair and CEO Steven Goldstein
Vice Chair Ron Botelho
Vice Chair Rev. Bruce Davidson
Vice Chair Jack Denelsbeck
Vice Chair Steve McIntyre
Vice Chair Lucy O’Brien
Vice Chair Kim Otto
Vice Chair Luanne Peterpaul

Pro bono counsel Jeff Gardner


Other members of the Board of Directors: