Garden State Equality Decides What's Best for Your Kids: Squeezing Itself Between You and Your K-12 School

How activists lie and make statistical claims

It appears logical to assume that Garden State Equality lost its significance once the LGBTQ+ community achieved the right to marriage. Now, they have taken it upon themselves to meddle between public schools and the well-being of everyone's children to stay relevant. They want to keep schools safe by keeping parents out of the picture. God forbid that you KNOW ANYTHING about what is currently happening to your child because that will ultimately result in the child’s immediate death.

Patently Absurd.

Garden State Equality has somehow convinced themselves that parents are the enemy and children need to be saved. Their solution is to wonder from school board meeting to school board meeting attacking BOE members in order to “save” the lives of LGBTQ+ youth (AKA NOT THEIR KIDS). Here is a screenshot from their website, reaching out to LGBTQ+ activists across the tri-state area, urging them to persuade the Board of Education to intervene in the relationship between parents and children.

Policy 5756 In Theory

The trans rights Policy 5756 allows your child to change their name and gender, and to give them protections under the LAD laws. These laws give underage transgender individuals special consideration to change their name, pronouns and use any bathroom of their choice. Policy 5756 goes beyond the law and creates a confidential plan to hide all of this from parents.

Policy 5756 In Practice

Consider a scenario where your underage child, aged 5 to 17, has changed their name and gender identity in their PERMANENT SCHOOL RECORD. All teachers, school personnel, volunteers, and students are MANDATED to use your child's new name and pronouns. Everyone is aware, except for you. Then, one day, another parent addresses your child by a different name, revealing that this has been ongoing for months, perhaps even years. This is the predicament faced by parents throughout New Jersey, and a courageous father is taking legal action against Delaware Valley Regional High School for the damage this little school’s lie has caused to his child.

How to Lie with Statistics

Garden State Equality has repeated the same false claims that trans youth are murdered by their parents or commit suicide because their parents won’t accept their new identity. These are the reasons that schools must keep gender identity a secret from parents, according to activists. Fortunately for parents, these claims have no support from data evidence. Lay people often butcher statistics making claims that don’t exist because they repeat numbers like a trained parrot with no comprehension of the words the say.

Garden State Equality LIE- A Child 4 times more likely to attempt suicide if you tell parents that a child is socially transitioning in school.

Jacquie Tobacco, the Vice President of the Middletown Board of Education, did a great job responding to this unfounded claim by Brielle Winslow-Majette (she/her pronouns) deputy director of Garden State Equality. Tobacco pointed out that parental involvement reduces teen suicide. A 2017 study from South Korea, shows that parental support was independently related to a decrease in suicidal ideation (Odds ratio [aOR], 1.318; P<0.001 Statistically significant). There are additional studies that also show that when parents are involved in the child’s life, the risk of suicide decreases.

Revealing Statistics

Instead of making claims out of the air, here are some referenced statistics that we found:

In Our World Data presents statistics on US adolescent suicide rates from 2000 to 2019. Considering that the American’s first youth gender center was established in Boston in 2007, one might anticipate a decrease in youth suicide rates. This information was shared with us by the New Jersey chapter of Gay’s Against Groomers.

PBS reported that 41% of LGBTQ+ youth considered suicide in 2023. It seems that this problem has become progressively worse since the first gender clinic showed up in the US, however, as you may have heard, “Correlation is not causation.” In this case, there are additional confounding factors that have contributed to the rise in youth suicides over time. The biggest factor contributing to overall suicide in US is the mental health crisis suspected to be brought on by social media, then worsening even more after 2020 pandemic.

One thing that can be determined from the data for sure is that the rise in mental illness is also correlated to the rise in gender confused kids. Is mental illness the reason that these children are having this large upswing in gender identity issues? If this is causal relationship is true, then affirming the new gender identity by starting social transitioning may not be the way to go. Regardless, it is not up do Garden State Equality, the school officials, a politician or anyone else to determine what is mentally best for someone else’s child. The School should not BE LYING to the parent about a gender social transition knowing about the increased risks of suicide for LGBTQ+ youth.

Debunking the Myths About Policy 5756

I reached out to Jacqueline Tobacco to clarify certain misconceptions regarding 5756, and here is her response:

Strauss Esmay Policy 5756, has been the subject of misconceptions and misinformation from Garden State Equality, the AG and the public. It is important to separate fact from fiction to understand the true implications of this policy for school districts considering keeping or abolishing this policy.

Misconception: Policy 5756 is mandated.

Facts: The Strauss Esmay Policy 5756 is NOT a mandatory policy.

Misconception: Abolishing 5756 will remove the rights of transgender students.

Facts: The rights are protected under LAD regardless of whether 5756 is adopted or abolished.

Misconception: Your district will lose state aid or the state will file a lawsuit if you abolish 5756.

Fact: Districts that have abolished 5756 have faced zero consequences. Many districts have never even adopted 5756, or used NJSBA rather than Strauss Esmay for their policy guides.

The controversy surrounding Policy 5756 occurred when three districts attempted to modify the non mandatory policy in an effort to protect transgender children and preserve parental rights. In response, AG Platkin has brought lawsuits against these districts.

Misconception: Abolishing 5756 erodes LAD law protections for LGBTQ students.

Fact: School districts are required to adhere to every tenet of the LAD law regarding transgender students with or without the non-mandatory Policy 5756. In other words, transgender students are entitled to the same protections under LAD whether or not a district has Policy 5756 in effect. The existence of Policy 5756 in a school district has no bearing on a student’s protections under LAD, which must be adhered to by all districts.

Misconception: Under LAD, transgender students are entitled to total confidentiality from their parents.

Fact: Attorney General Platkin has conceded that there are certain circumstances in which a student’s parent should be notified of their status as a transgender student, such as when that status is the basis for a recommendation of outside mental health services, which must be consented to by a parent.

Misconception: Taxpayer money is solely used for litigation costs.

Fact: All districts that have been sued are covered for their legal expenses under their insurance policies. No district decided to spend money on a lawsuit, they were required to by AG Platkin’s litigation.

Misconception: Policy 5756 is an "LGBTQ Outing Policy."

Fact: This statement is false. The policy in original or amended form does not speak to any demographic of LGBTQ student sexuality or notification of such to parents. It is narrowly targeted to Transgender Student Guidance.

Misconception: GSE activists have insisted that transgender students are at high risk of suicide or domestic abuse from their parents, going as far as threatening board members that they will have "children’s blood on their hands“.

Facts: However, statistics show no decrease in the rates of teen suicide since "gender affirming care" became the standard. The Society for the Prevention of Teen Suicide and other suicide prevention groups state that parental involvement is a key prevention tool.

Misconception: There have been no adverse consequences from policy 5756 in its original form.

Facts: Districts have faced a myriad of issues stemming from the lack of clear direction afforded by the original 5756, including grappling with potential violations of federal and state laws regarding student record keeping, anti-bullying investigation and disclosure requirements, and obtaining parental consent for mental health treatment. Additionally, districts have received lawsuits from parents operating under the original 5756. Put simply, if the original 5756 had been working for all districts, there would have been no need to amend it.

Misconception: Counselors and teachers are indemnified from liability for assisting in social, medical, or surgical gender transition.

Facts: School officials are being individually sued, not just in their official capacity, meaning they may be subject to personal liability. For example, currently a parent in Delaware Valley is suing the district and the child’s counselor in Federal Court because they socially transitioned his daughter without notification and against his wishes and her psychiatrist’s orders.

Misconception: School counselors are bound by HIPAA regarding confidentiality.

Fact: "Although the ASCA Ethical Standards for School Counselors speak to the issue of confidentiality, it is important to remember that these issues lie in the hands of the student and his parents, not necessarily with the school counselor." (source: ASCA)