Make your contribution now and help Gothamist thrive in 2023.A New Jersey judge on Friday halted three school boards from notifying parents if their children display signs of changing gender expression or identity — notifications that the state said would discriminate against transgender students.
The state of New Jersey countered that notifying parents of sexual orientation against a student’s wishes is a violation of the student’s civil rights. “As the Superior Court correctly recognized, the State is ‘not targeting parental rights.’ Indeed, the State has never sought and never will seek a ‘ban’ on parental notification,” Platkin said. “All our lawsuits seek to do is to reinstate the same policies these districts found acceptable with little protest for years.”
The amended policies attempted to create exceptions for students who may be subject to unsafe or harmful situations at home as a result of the notifications. But Bauman said “ambiguities” on their specifics “provide insufficient assurance that these exceptions will be applied consistently.”