Happy Birthday, LAD

April 16, 2008

by Frank Vespa-Papaleo, Director
New Jersey Division on Civil Rights

On April 16, 1945, in the midst of the Second World War and just one day after the nation laid to rest the late President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, U.S. President Harry Truman addressed a joint session of Congress, telling those assembled that with FDR's passing, [n]o man could possibly fill the tremendous void left by the passing of that noble soul. No words could ease the aching hearts of untold millions of every race, creed and color. The world knows it has lost a heroic champion of justice and freedom. It was a historic speech.

That same day, another historic moment was unfolding in New Jersey, one that would reveal the Garden State as it own heroic champion of justice and freedom. In Trenton, Governor Walter Edge signed into law the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination (LAD), which outlawed discrimination on account of race, creed, color and national origin. As a result, the LAD is now recognized as the nation's oldest state civil rights statute and which has made New Jersey a long-time champion of justice and freedom.

By creating the Division on Civil Rights the LAD set the stage for leadership in the area of civil rights at the state level. Today, 63 years after its enactment, it is the strongest, richest and most comprehensive equal opportunity state law in the United States. For the millions who work, live and engage in commerce in New Jersey let us say Happy Birthday, LAD!

Today, we should take a moment to appreciate the struggles of the millions who have strengthened the laws-through legislative action, through litigation, through audacious advocacy, and through old-fashioned dialogue. And just as we look back at a person's lifetime when recognizing a birthday, it is helpful to look back a bit at the history of the LAD.

When the LAD was first enacted in 1945 there was considerable discussion about what department in State government would be assigned these new responsibilities Some felt that because the law pertained to employment it should be assigned to the Department of Labor. Others thought it should be a law enforcement agency and be placed in the Office of Attorney General. However, at the time, Governor Edge hoped that its disputes would be resolved through education, persuasion, and conciliation, and assigned the Division Against Discrimination's duties to the Department of Education. In 1963, however, the agency was moved to the Department of Law and Public Safety.

In the 63 years following the enactment of the LAD, the law was amended hundreds of times, adding protections based on a variety of new categories and the law was expanded to cover not just employment discrimination, but unlawful discrimination in housing, places of public accommodations, and the provision of services and terms and conditions of contracts.

In 1949 the law was extended to discrimination in places of public accommodation, and specifically included all schools in New Jersey that came under the jurisdiction of the State Board of Education. Two years later the law was expanded to prohibit employment discrimination because of liability for service in the armed forces. In 1954 it was amended to include unlawful discrimination in public housing, and then several years later expanded the housing discrimination provision of the law to also include discrimination in housing guaranteed by mortgages financed by federal agencies. These provisions were enacted into the New Jersey law 14 years prior to the federal Fair Housing. The 1960's the LAD extending coverage to nearly all types of rental housing, and on the basis of age in employment. In the 1970's the state's anti-discrimination law was amended further, to add sex, marital status, and disabilities as new protected categories under the LAD.

In 1992 New Jersey became one of a handful of states to protect individuals based on sexual orientation and in 1996 based on genetic information. In 1999 the law granted to persons using guide dogs the right-of-way over vehicles at designated intersections, and in 2001 the LAD's statutory penalties were raised by the Legislature, while the following year made the State one of the few in the nation to protect persons from unlawful discrimination in housing based on their lawful source of income or rental subsidy, including Section 8. The housing provisions of the law were amended in 2003 to strengthen the LAD's procedures and substantive protections. From 2004 through 2007 there were numerous amendments to ensure equal opportunity for sexual and gender minorities, by adding protections on the basis of domestic partnership status (2004), civil union status (2006) and gender identity or expression (2007). Most recently, in January 2008, the LAD was amended to ensure employment protections for people of faith, thereby making it truly the most progressive civil rights state statute in the nation and ensuring equal opportunity to all persons.

Taking a look back at its history, could the Legislature in 1945 have imagined where the LAD would be today? Could Assemblyman James O. Hill have thought how broad its protections would become 60 years later? Could Governor Walter Edge have imagined in 1945 that the LAD would eventually protect people based on sexual orientation, disability, age, civil union status, or for being a member of the U.S. Military? Could they have realized the breadth of the LAD and how we would continue to protect the law's promises for more than sixty years?

No one knows for sure, but what we do know is that our society is always changing and getting stronger because of the vibrancy of the American spirit of fairness and equal opportunity for all people. And just as President Truman told Congress about the loss of FDR as a heroic champion of justice and freedom, we in New Jersey, and throughout the nation gained a new champion of freedom, justice and equal opportunity--the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination.

Happy Birthday, LAD!!

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