A New Jersey Superior Court judge will decide whether three Monmouth County school districts are violating the state’s Law Against Discrimination through their policies requiring school officials to notify a student’s parents or guardians if the student comes out as transgender.
State Attorney General Matthew Platkin filed separate lawsuits against the Manalapan-Englishtown Regional Board of Education and the Manalapan-Englishtown Regional School District, the Marlboro Township Board of Education and Marlboro Township Public Schools, and the Middletown Township Board of Education and Middletown Township Public School District.
The American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey filed an amicus brief in the cases, and Garden State Equality, the state’s largest LGBTQ civil rights organization, joined the brief. A decision in the cases is expected at any time.
“School boards seeking to either implement forced-outing policies or remove guidance for school staff only serve to signal to vulnerable students that school is not a safe place,” Lauren Albrecht, GSE’s director of advocacy and organizing, said in a statement.
The suit against Manalapan-Englishtown schools and the BOE called the new requirement a “dramatic departure from the prior policy.” Previously, that policy was in line with New Jersey Department of Education guidance and said staff had no obligation to report such information to parents, the suit said.
The amended policy “now requires the District and school staff to ‘out’ transgender students and certain gender non-conforming, non-binary, genderqueer, and other gender-expansive students to their parents or guardians without the student’s consent — even when doing so will negatively affect the student,” the suit said.
The new policies were temporarily halted by a trial court judge.
Messages left for the three school districts were not returned.
The ACLU of NJ said in a statement that the briefs from them and GSE explain that the United States and New Jersey constitutions don’t compel schools to notify parents of their child’s gender expression over their child’s wishes.
“The briefs document the physical, mental health, and educational harms that forced outing policies will have on transgender students and schools and explain that implementing the policies would raise serious constitutional questions about students’ rights to equal protection of the law,” the statement said.
The suit against Marlboro schools and the BOE said the district’s amended policy regarding students who are transgender “will result in significant and irreversible harm to students if not enjoined.”
The three school districts amended their policies regarding transgender students on June 20, 2023. The next day, the state attorney general filed an administrative complaint with the Division on Civil Rights.
The suit against Middletown schools and the BOE says the new policy “singles out students on the basis of LAD-protected characteristics.”
“The Amended Policy violates the LAD on its face and is inconsistent with established guidance from the New Jersey Department of Education,” the suit said.
Opponents of the new policies worry that outing students against their will could subject them to abuse at home if the parents or guardians are not supportive as well as to harassment and bullying at school and beyond.
Albrecht told Out In Jersey that transgender students risk societal and familial alienation, possible removal from their home and place of employment if they have an after-school job, and possible alienation from their friends if they are forcibly outed.
“Any forced outing is against the law,” Albrecht said. “At the end of the day, we’re going to trust the data, which says that outing trans kids is never good.
“We’re going to trust the testimonials of actual transgender people — adults and kids in schools — and the parents of transgender students” and not rely on the opinions of people who are not transgender or who are not parents or guardians of transgender children,” she said.
Albrecht wondered why parents would want the school to be a go-between between them and their child and not just create a safe environment in which to talk to their child openly.
“Talk to your kid. Let them know that they are loved no matter what,” she said.
