Recently, hate group The New Jersey Project put out a call to arms. There was a Board of Ed meeting at Hunterdon County Regional High School and they were asking for parents from ALL OVER THE STATE to show up in support of their homophobic and transphobic agenda. A school club, PULSE, had put on a private, invite only drag show, and those people were angry.

While I was not able to attend the meeting myself, I did log on in order to watch the live stream. You may wonder why someone like me, who does not live in the district, and does not have a child there, would spend two hours on a weeknight watching a BOE meeting through their computer. Because I am familiar with The New Jersey Project. I have seen firsthand how they operate. How they crash local BOE meetings and twist the narrative to suit their “mission”. They did it to my town. They did it to me. They took an incident between children and used it for political fodder. They took clips of people who spoke out in support of the new curriculum and posted them online with words like groomer, pedophile, and pervert. Their M.O is chaos and lies. Manipulation and disinformation.

So I sat. I sat and watched this meeting with tears in my eyes as student after student stood up and explained what the PULSE club meant to them. How it helped them feel less alone, how it gave them a sense of community. How, in one student’s case, it had saved their life. I listened as they expressed their appreciation and gratitude for Dr. Moore. For looking out for them. For listening. For being an ally. I listened to them compare their drag show to a football game, how the athletes could leave class early in order to get to an away game, but people had an issue with them leaving early one time to prepare for a show that clearly meant so much to many of them.

As I listened, I wondered how on earth anyone could watch these children, and listen to this superintendent, whose passion and support was palpable through the computer screen, and think “I am against this”. But there they were. Parents, most likely riled up by these hate groups standing up and telling these 15, 16, 17 year olds that they were not mature enough to make decisions about their gender and sexuality. Using words like disgusting to describe the activity. I’ve been to drag shows. I’ve also been to school sporting events and I can tell you, the drag queens are usually wearing more clothes than some of the athletes. There was an outcry over the “secrecy” of the show. As if the vitriol of these speakers didn’t confirm the student’s fears about having the show be public. Some of these kids are victims of bullying. Some are not “out”. For a group who supported BOE campaigns with the hashtag #forthechildren, they don’t seem to listen to or care very much about them.

Later that evening I saw a video posted by one of the leaders of The New Jersey Project. It was a live stream from the meeting, complete with whispers mocking the kid’s masks, mocking the pride flags they held. Comments posted on the video making disgusting, disparaging remarks about drag, about sexuality, about gender fluidity. 

Fast forward to this evening, when I came across a petition calling for Dr. Moore’s removal. Most teachers I know go into the field because it is a calling, because they want to make a difference in the lives of children. Watching him speak, it was more than evident that Dr. Moore has succeeded in doing just that. Please do not allow the loudmouthed minority to have a bigger voice than the students.