LGBTQ organizations to host “Community Tribute” honoring Babs Siperstein on Wednesday, February 20 in Jersey City

Hudson Pride Center, Garden State Equality, and Jersey Pride to host celebration of Babs Siperstein’s life and legacy

JERSEY CITY, NJ – Hudson Pride Center, Garden State Equality, and Jersey Pride will host a “Community Tribute” honoring the life and legacy of transgender activist and icon Barbra “Babs” Siperstein. The event will be held on Wednesday, February 20, 2019, from 6:00pm to 8:30pm, in Siperstein’s hometown Jersey City at White Eagle Hall, located at 337 Newark Ave, Jersey City, NJ 07302. The event will be sponsored by Jersey City Theatre Center.

Community Tribute for Babs Siperstein

Wednesday, February 20th

6:00 to 8:30 PM

White Eagle Hall

337 Newark Avenue

Jersey City, New Jersey 07302

The “Community Tribute” event will include special appearances from elected officials, community leaders, and activists along with live music and entertainment.

“New Jersey’s LGBTQ community owes so much to Babs for her decades of work. She was a trailblazer for equality, and our movement wouldn’t be where we are today without her courage and commitment,” said Garden State Equality executive director Christian Fuscarino. “As we celebrate Babs’ life this week in her hometown, we will recommit ourselves and our movement to continue the important work she cared so deeply about.”

“As she loved to say, Babs was a Jersey City girl,” said Hudson Pride Center chief executive officer Michael Billy. “She left an enormous mark on New Jersey and the nation with her pro-equality advocacy, but we’ll always remember her as a friend and a neighbor to our community here in Jersey City. Her roots and impact will be felt for decades to come in our city.”

“Real heroes walk among us, and Babs Siperstein was one such hero. At a time when the broader community was not cognizant of the pressing need for transgender rights, Babs was a passionate advocate,” said president of Jersey Pride Laura Pople. “While we will feel her absence acutely when we celebrate Pride this June in Asbury Park, we know her spirit in the room will be strong as we celebrate her life this week, and it will no doubt will stay within all of us moving forward.”

Barbra passed just two days after the Babs Siperstein Law—New Jersey’s historic transgender birth certificate law bearing her name—went into effect on February 1, 2019. The Babs Siperstein Law streamlines the process for New Jerseyans to change the gender marker on their birth certificate, removing the outdated, burdensome, and invasive “proof of surgery” requirement; adding a third gender option (“X” for non-binary/undesignated); and removing the provider certification (e.g. – letter from a therapist) and replacing it with Self Attestation.

In 2009, Barbra became the first openly transgender member of the Democratic National Committee, where she was appointed by then-chairman Tim Kaine. She was appointed to the Democratic National Committee’s Executive Committee in 2011, where she served until October 2017.

After coming out in 2000, Barbra was a longtime activist for LGBTQ equality in New Jersey who served as an original board member for Garden State Equality. Most notably, over the course of her advocacy in New Jersey, Barbra helped advocate for marriage equality, transgender inclusive nondiscrimination protections, and most recently the Babs Siperstein Law.

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