State Of NJ: Middletown's Trans Student Policy Is 'Head In Sand'

MIDDLETOWN, NJ — Last Thursday, Aug. 3, NJ Attorney General Matt Platkin released his argument in NJ Superior Court, arguing the state's position that the Middletown school district is breaking the law with its transgender student policy.

As previously reported, the Middletown school board submitted their legal briefs defending the policy on July 24. Read more here: Middletown School District Defends Transgender Policy In Court Docs

The case against Middletown was filed by the Attorney General and Sundeep Iyer, director of the New Jersey Division on Civil Rights.

The state of New Jersey says Middletown is violating the civil rights of trans students or students who might be questioning their gender identity.

One of the key disagreements is whether Middletown is treating trans students differently than non-trans students.

Middletown school board lawyer Bruce Padula says it is not, whereas Attorney General Platkin called that a "head-in-the-sand argument."

"The Amended Policy expressly targets the conduct of only transgender, gender non-conforming and gender non-binary students, not of cisgender students," wrote the AG in his Aug. 3 legal filing. "(Middletown) requires parental notification when a student requests to participate in a gender-specific sport or school club 'not traditionally associated with one’s biological sex;' requests a change to their pronouns; or uses a different bathroom than their sex assigned at birth ... (Middletown's) arguments ignore the elephant in the room —that only transgender, gender non-binary and gender non-conforming students have any need to engage in this conduct."

But Padula countered that if a non-trans boy wanted to say, play on the Middletown girls' field hockey team, his parents would be notified.

"Indeed, were a cisgender student to engage in any of the above-referenced conduct which triggers the parental notification, the cisgender student’s parents would absolutely be notified," Padula wrote July 24.

The state of New Jersey also argues that it is not stepping on parental rights.

"The state respects that parents need and want to be involved in important decisions regarding their children, and its position is not that gender identity or expression can never be disclosed to parents," wrote the Attorney General. "Schools can make disclosures in a number of appropriate circumstances, including where a student does not object to disclosure; where disclosure is necessary in the Harassment, Intimidation and Bullying (“HIB”) context; or where the school identifies a specific and compelling non-discriminatory justification for disclosure, including where there is a threat to student safety or a medical need for disclosure."

"But what schools and government actors cannot do is adopt a blanket policy requiring their personnel to discriminate on the basis of protected characteristics, outing students involuntarily based on their gender identity or expression and placing them at irreparable risk of harm."

"Policy 5756 imposes a blanket affirmative duty on school administrative personnel to 'out' (involuntarily disclose the gender or gender identity of) transgender students," argued AG Platkin.

The court face-to-face between Middletown and the state of New Jersey is still scheduled for next Tuesday, Aug. 15.

On that date, Monmouth County County Superior Court Judge David Bauman will hear arguments from lawyers with the Attorney General and the Middletown school board. (Middletown's lawyers successfully had the state's lawsuit moved out of Essex County onto friendlier turf in Monmouth.)

Bauman will decide if a temporary injunction placed on Middletown schools will be lifted; or there's a chance the judge may even dismiss the state's lawsuit against Middletown altogether.

Bauman was nominated by Gov. Jon Corzine.

Middletown BOE Approves Controversial Transgender Student Policy (June 21)

Less than 24 hours after the Middletown school board passed that policy, it was sued by the state of New Jersey: NJ Sues Middletown, 2 Other Districts For Transgender Student Policies (June 22)

NJ vs. Middletown Transgender Legal Battle Moved To Monmouth County (June 28)

Murphy On Middletown Transgender War: Let's Do Things The American Way (July 24)