Abraham Lincoln said that “laws without enforcement are just good advice.” It is an admonition that the New Jersey Division of Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC) took to heart and engaged with vigor between the end of Prohibition in 1933 up to 1967. In that era, ABC issued 126 enforcement orders to shutter bars that catered to the LGBTQ community, 10 of them permanently.  

As a seeming capstone to Pride month, New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir Grewal issued an unprecedented directive to New Jersey ABC Director James Graziano who, in turn, vacated those 126 enforcement actions. With that, Director Graziano rescinded the past discriminatory closures of several dozen bars and taverns around the state that catered to the LGBTQ community. This profoundly meaningful action came after a deep dive into the Division’s records, including the unearthing of blatant discrimination that occurred against the LGBTQ community, which was used to underpin those bar closures.  

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