Local Leaders Disappoint LGBTQ+ Youth

As Pride Month comes to a close, Middletown mayor Tony Perry has failed to be responsive to his LGBTQ+ constituents, some of whom are MTPS students. Last year, Frankie Stella, a local activist who has since graduated from South, petitioned to fly a rainbow flag at the township building. Despite the fact that her petition garnered over 1500 signatures, Mayor Perry denied Stella’s request for the town to demonstrate symbolic solidarity with a group that typically experiences marginalization and harassment.

Research and polling expose a disconnect between what is actually happening and what partisans believe to be happening. According to The Journal of Hate Studies, a peer-reviewed publication, “Research shows that the LGBTQ population is disproportionately affected by hate crimes and those against transgender individuals are especially violent” (2021). Yet, in a recent Pew Research Survey, “66% of Republicans say society has gone too far in accepting people who are transgender” (June 2022).

In a recent tweet, Mayor Perry, offered a misleading comment on a NJ state law that maintains confidentiality for transgender youth. Perry wrote, “It amazes me how hard Trenton and Washington are trying to divorce children from their parents. No one is asking you [teachers] to make decisions for them [students], we want you to teach them math, reading, science and civics” (19 May 2023).

Perry, who is neither an educator nor an expert in educational policy, seems to be confused about the nature of the NJ law supplementing chapter 36 of Title 18A, which provides “direction for schools in addressing common issues concerning the needs of transgender students, and to assist schools in establishing policies and procedures that ensure a supportive and nondiscriminatory environment for transgender students.” Thus, according to the law, teachers are tasked with providing students with a safe space where they can freely express who they are. Simply put, teachers are not tasked with making decisions about students’ gender identities; students are, a point that Mayor Perry misses in his tweet.

For the last three years, Stella has attempted to hold Perry accountable. While he did agree to a meeting on May 17th, he has since been unresponsive to multiple emails from Stella with various suggestions that would communicate Middletown’s goal of being a more nurturing and inclusive community for LGBTQ+ youth, a move that many believe to be important during Pride Month. After Perry claimed that the rainbow flag could not be flown at township buildings, Stella emailed the mayor a list of other ways that the town could show its support: Displaying a lawn sign, wrapping a light pole with rainbow fabric, and hanging a small banner were some of Stella’s suggestions. Perry has yet to respond.

LGBTQ+ students are a vulnerable population. According to the “LGBTQ Youth Report” by the Human Rights Campaign, “the mental health disparities between LGBTQ youth, and non-LGBTQ continue to be an alarming trend . . . Studies have shown that compared to their non-LGBTQ peers, LGBTQ youth report much higher rates of depression, anxiety, alcohol and drug use, and lower self-esteem” (2018). The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), which is the largest professional organization of pediatricians in the country, asserts that “Youth who identify as TGD [transgender] often confront stigma and discrimination, which contribute to feelings of rejection and isolation that can adversely affect physical and emotional well-being” (2018).

Monmouth County claims to be a stigma-free zone, yet Perry’s lack of support for this targeted group is a signal to some that LGBTQ+ bias continues to exist in Middletown. Another recent instance of bias that many would point to is the June 20th affirmative vote on MTPS’s revised policy on transgender students, a move that was protested by many. Francesca Shaloum, also a MTPS student, started a petition to protect trans students from the Middletown BOE, which currently has nearly 2500 signatures.

As previously reported, MTPS’s proposed policy on transgender students may run afoul of NJ law, which specifies that schools must have guidelines for “confidentiality and privacy concerns, including ensuring that school personnel do not disclose information that may reveal a student’s transgender status except as allowed by law” (2017). Yet, Middletown's recently approved policy does much more than simply notify parents if students request a public name or pronoun change at school: It violates the confidentiality of transgender students who seek or are referred to mental health services, as evidenced by this passage: “The full, complete, and accurate reason for counseling and/or referrals for mental health crisis and/or concerns shall be provided to parents/guardians in relation to parental notification/consent for such services” (page 7). Careful readers of this excerpt will recognize that the use of the coordinating conjunctions “and/or'' indicates that a student does not need to be in crisis for the school to authorize a report to parents; a report and subsequent “outing” can be triggered by the mere presence of a “concern” that’s noted by school personnel before a session with a mental health professional even occurs. For this reason, opponents of Middletown's new policy worry that it strips students of their autonomy and will prevent a highly vulnerable population from seeking necessary mental health support.

In addition to harming students’ mental health, taxpayers worry that the BOE’s decision to “out” transgender students who seek mental health services could cost Middletown schools state funding and result in mounting legal fees for the district, which is in administrative disarray after the abrupt and clandestine departure of Superintendent Walker, a longtime employee of MTPS.

At the June 20th BOE meeting, after Superintendent Walker’s resignation was announced, multiple MTPS students in the LGBTQ+ community spoke about the negative impact that this policy might have. The MTPS North library was too small to hold the crowd, so a large group of protesters assembled outside. Throughout the meeting protesters were shouting “Save Trans Kids." Yet, this public display of opposition did little to sway the BOE, as all members–with the exception of Deborah Wright–voted in favor of the policy that all LGBTQ+ spoke out against in public.

Nevertheless, Jacqueline Tobacco, vice president of the BOE and one of its most strongly partisan members, has been an outspoken supporter of the policy. Recently, Tobacco garnered widespread media attention with public comments reported in The New York Post, a right-wing publication with a large circulation. Tobacco’s assertion to the Post that the BOE “fully support[s] all our transgender students’ choices of name and gender expression” strikes many MTPS students as disingenuous, especially after she voted in favor of a policy that had clear opposition from MTPS students from the LGBTQ+ community.

People who oppose the Middletown BOE and Perry have noted multiple contradictions in their positions, particularly on the issue of confidentiality for transgender students. For example, if Republican officials in Middletown wish to argue that the government should stay out of people’s lives, wouldn’t this argument also be applicable to students? Or are minors not worthy of personhood? If people don’t want to “co-parent with the government,” then perhaps they should take it upon themselves to find out what’s going on in the lives of their children and not rely on the school to reveal information that every nurturing parent would already know.

Many in the public have also argued that the surveillance of children who are seeking or referred to mental health services is unacceptable and unconstitutional. While others have commented that this policy seems to be a “solution” in search of a problem, as the transgender population is exceedingly small and it seems unlikely that attentive parents would not learn of a public name or pronoun change from some other source. In fact, many community members have wondered what the purpose of this policy is outside of the fact that it lines the pockets of the MTPS BOE lawyer Frank Padula and garners Tobacco and her ilk publicity in the culture war battles that they continue to wage.

Nevertheless, students and residents who side with Stella and Shaloum have continued to point out the harm that has arisen from the hyperpartisan policies and statements by Middletown’s elected officials. If the number of signatures on their respective petitions are any indication of their persuasive powers, MTPS students like Frankie Stella (Class of 2023) and Francesca Shaloum (Class of 2024) may be at the forefront of a new generation of leaders.