Gay rights group meets with Essex County, NJ officials in wake of fatal shooting in park

A gay rights group met with two top Essex executives in response to last month’s fatal shooting of an Atlanta CEO in Branch Park branch, reports NJ.com.

Gay rights group initiate meeting

At the hour long meeting, officials Essex County Executive Joseph DiVincenzo Jr. and Essex County Sheriff Armando Fontoura agreed to work with the leaders and the LGBT community with the goal of equality and “ensuring quality of life in the parks in the context of our concern that no community be targeted,” said Garden State Equality chairman Steven Goldstein, who attended the meeting.

Other organizations in attendance were the gay rights advisory committee of the City of Newark, the Newark Pride Alliance and the American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey.

Goldstein said he wants a permanent end to undercover details aimed at targeting sexual activity there, saying it could be discriminatory.

Atlanta CEO, DeFarra Gaymon, was an unarmed man shot and killed in Branch Brook Park last month. Authorities stated Gaymond allegedly solicited sex from an undercover detective before lunging at him and getting shot.

The undercover detective was apart of an operation sting to stop solicited sex in the park. The operation has since been suspended since Gaymon’s murder.