NEPTUNE (AP) -- The state's leading gay rights group wants to appeal a decision by state environmental officials stripping a Methodist church group of tax exemption for part of the Ocean Grove boardwalk.
Garden State Equality feels the decision by state Environmental Protection Commissioner Lisa Jackson does not go far enough in penalizing the Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Association for refusing to let same-sex couples hold civil union ceremonies in a boardwalk pavilion where heterosexual couples are allowed to wed.
The ruling was more symbolic than substantive: The actual tax impact to the church group is likely to be about $175 per year, according to the Neptune Township tax assessor....
