New Jersey sues three school districts over transgender notification policy

New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy’s administration has sued three school districts for adopting policies to tell parents if their children show signs of changing their gender identity.

The lawsuits, filed Wednesday by Attorney General Matt Platkin against the Manalapan-Englishtown, Marlboro and Middletown school districts and boards, allege the policies violate New Jersey’s Law Against Discrimination and put transgender students at risk.

“‘Outing’ these students against their will poses serious mental health risks; threatens physical harm to students, including risking increased suicides; decreases the likelihood students will seek support; and shirks the District’s obligation to create a safe and supportive learning environment for all,” reads the Marlboro lawsuit. “Indeed, LGBTQ+ students in New Jersey and elsewhere have died by suicide after being outed.”

The lawsuits, which seek to stop the districts enforcing the policies, come as some of the most intense battles of the culture wars, nationally and in New Jersey, play out in suburban and rural school districts. Middletown is also where Murphy resides.

Last month, New Jersey filed a similar lawsuit against the Hanover Board of Education. The two sides are currently at an impasse over how to amend the Morris County district's parental notification policy.

Guidance from the state says schools “shall ensure” students be addressed by their preferred names and pronouns, be allowed to dress “in accordance with their gender identity” and that “parental consent is not required” for the district to accept the student’s “asserted gender identity.”

“School policies that single out or target LGBTQ+ youth fly in the face of our State’s longstanding commitment to equality,” Sundeep Iyer, director of the Attorney General's Division on Civil Rights, said in a statement. “Our laws prohibit discrimination on the basis of gender identity or expression, plain and simple, and we will not waver in our commitment to enforcing those protections.”

Board members from the Middletown and Manalapan-Englishtown districts said they would hold off on commenting until they've had a chance to review the lawsuits.

Marc Zitomer, attorney for Marlboro's school board, said he is confident the new policy balances the rights of parents and students.

"We vehemently disagree with Attorney General’s argument that it is somehow discriminatory or improper to notify a parent that their minor child is changing their gender identity or expression," he said in an email. "It is our position that keeping parents in the dark about important issues involving their children is counterintuitive and contrary to well established U.S. Supreme Court case law that says that parents have a constitutional right to direct and control the upbringing of their children."

The three districts' policies were all enacted on June 20, according to the Attorney General’s office. They each make exceptions for parents' notification if there is reason to believe doing so could put the student in harm’s way.

Manalapan’s policy also says that for students in kindergarten through fifth grade, “the responsibility for determining a student’s gender identity rests with the student’s parents/guardians.” The lawsuit claims the policy presumes that “in every case … parental notification is warranted.”

The lawsuits appear to have already become a political issue. Steve Dnistrian, a Republican state Senate candidate in Monmouth County, seized on news of the lawsuits in a press release before the Attorney General’s Office publicly announced them. None of the districts are in the 11th District, where Dnistrian is challenging state Sen. Vin Gopal (D-Monmouth).

“When it comes to facing these tough issues, it is better for local school boards, teachers and parents to come together to find a solution that fits their community, but always with parents as part of that discussion,” Dnistrian said. “Democrats, however, are insisting that parents not be part of the discussion if kids express questions about being LGBTQ. These heavy-handed, one-sided mandates from Trenton are just wrong.”