Yesterday afternoon, just after 1000 people signed our Change petition, over twenty organizations and community leaders — including the ACLU-NJ, NAACP (Bergen Chapter), New Jersey Education Association, and Garden State Equality — submitted an open letter to the Hackensack Mayor and Council urging them join the calls for BOE Trustee Frances Cogelja's resignation following her offensive and discriminatory emails about the LGBT community.
While elected officials throughout the state of New Jersey — including Governor Phil Murphy, Senators Cory Booker and Robert Mendenez, Congressman Josh Gottheimer, Senator Loretta Weinberg, Assemblywoman Valerie Huttle, Assemblyman Gordon Johnson, County Executive Jim Tedesco, Sheriff Anthony Cureton — have denounced Cogelja's comments and/or asked for her resignation, our own Mayor and Council have remained silent.
We need you to attend TONIGHT'S Hackensack City Council meeting at 8:00pm and demand our local leaders to reaffirm that every person is deserving of recognition regardless of race, age, or sexual orientation.
Hackensack City Hall, 65 Central Avenue, Third Floor - 8:00pm
We'll see you tonight! Full text of our open letter is below:
Monday, June 24, 2019
An open letter to Hackensack Mayor John Labrosse, Hackensack Deputy Mayors Kathleen Canestrino and David Sims, Hackensack Councilmembers Leo Battaglia and Stephanie Von Rudenborg, and the Hackensack Board of Education.
RE: Condemnation of Anti-LGBTQ emails from Hackensack BOE Trustee Frances Cogelja
We, the undersigned faith leaders, community organizations, and individuals representing the rich diversity of Hackensack, stand in solidarity with our LGBTQ community and strongly condemn the homophobic comments made by Hackensack Board of Education Trustee Frances Cogelja. She is unfit to serve her constituents, faithfully implement New Jersey’s LGBTQ-Inclusive Curriculum Law, or protect LGBTQ-identified students. We are urging you to pass a resolution calling for her resignation.
In her emails to the Acting Superintendent of Hackensack Public Schools earlier this year regarding the implementation of New Jersey’s law requiring the inclusion of LGBTQ-Inclusive Curriculum in middle and high schools, Trustee Cogelja called the law “repugnant” and expressed great disdain for LGBTQ people along with their contributions to our society.
Our city, county, and state have long-served as leaders for compassion, diversity, and inclusion. Her comments do not represent our community and stand in contrast to our values.
Based on the gravity of her comments—which were condemned by Governor Phil Murphy, Senator Cory Booker, Senator Bob Menendez, Senator Loretta Weinberg, Assemblywoman Valerie Vaneri Huttle, Assemblyman Gordon Johnson, Bergen County Executive Jim Tedesco, and The Star-Ledger Editorial Board—Trustee Cogelja can no longer effectively represent the students, parents, and educators she was elected to serve.
Furthermore, as evidenced by the more than 1,000 individuals who attended and spoke at the Board of Education meeting on June 17 and/or signed a petition calling for her resignation, the community has justifiably lost confidence in her ability to perform her duties as a Trustee of the Hackensack Board of Education in an unbiased way.
Hackensack’s students and school staff deserve Trustees who uphold the dignity of the office and possess an understanding that every person deserves to be treated with respect, regardless of their race, creed, ethnicity, national origin, ability, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression.
Mrs. Cogelja’s disparaging comments and personal views defy her oath of office and threaten the credibility of the Hackensack Board of Education as a whole. Silence on this issue sends a message to our students, educators, and the community at large that they, too, can engage in homophobic and discriminatory behavior without consequence.
It is our hope that the public outrage surrounding Mrs. Cogelja’s comments can start a real conversation about how we can better promote inclusion and equality in Hackensack. To this end, we urge you to call for the immediate resignation of Frances Cogelja from the Hackensack Board of Education and to issue an official statement of condemnation.
Thank you for your consideration.
The undersigned,
Rev. Carolyn Davis, Hackensack
Former Assemblyman Tim Eustace
Rev. Nathan S. Busker, Senior Pastor, Ponds Reformed Church, Oakland
Minister David M. Horst, Central Unitarian Church, Paramus
Anthony Torres, Central Unitarian Church, Paramus
Ray Welsh, Manager, Buddies of NJ, Inc.
ACLU of New Jersey
ActivateNJ
Bayard Rustin Center for Social Justice
For Hackensack’s Future
Garden State Equality
Glen Rock After the March
Indivisible NJ 5th District
Mahwah After the March
NAACP (Bergen County Chapter)
New Jersey Citizen Action
New Jersey Education Association
Ridgewood JOLT (Join Organize Lead Teach)
Teaneck Women Together
The WorkGroup of Hackensack
Waldwick Progressives
Women for Progress