Former New Jersey Assemblyman Jack
Ciattarelli, the Republican nominee for governor, has promised to
repeal LGBT-inclusive curriculum in primary and secondary public
schools.
Ciattarelli made the campaign promise
last month at a stop at the Tactical Training Center gun store in
Flemington.
“I feel lucky, [our kids are] about
20 years old and I don’t have to deal with what you’re dealing
with right now,” Ciattarelli told the crowd. “When I’m governor
you won’t have to deal with it, but we don’t teach gender ID and
sexual orientation to kindergartens. In the sixth grade we don’t
teach sodomy. And we’re going to push back on the LGBTQ curriculum.
It goes too far.”
At the same stop, Ciattarelli, who is
running to unseat first-term Democratic Governor Phil Murphy, also
complained about a bank's outreach to the LGBT community.
“I'm sitting there saying, 'The more
special we respond to each interest, the more you remind us how
different we are from each other.' No?” he rhetorically asked.
In 2019, New Jersey became the second
state after California to require schools to include LGBT figures and
the history of the LGBT rights movement in its curriculum. Individual
school districts are allowed to implement the requirement as they see
fit.
Ciattarelli is a vocal supporter of
former President Donald Trump. In December, he spoke at a “Stop the
Steal” rally where he embraced Trump's lies of election fraud.