New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin has filed a lawsuit against the Hanover Township Board of Education to stop the implementation of a policy that requires parents to be notified if school personnel find that their children are facing issues related to "sexual activity; sexuality; sexual orientation; transitioning; gender identity or expression."   

These five issues are among a total of 34 issues that were identified by the BOE policy as running the risk of materially impacting "the student's physical and/or mental health, safety and/or social/emotional well-being." 

The 34 issues range from something as simple as tobacco use to life-threatening self-harm and suicide. The state's lawsuit is only opposing parental notification on the sexual issues.

Hanover Township's is a kindergarten through eighth grade school system.  Typically, such systems serve children from age 5 to age 13.

The Hanover BOE vowed to "vigorously defend" what they see as a "common-sense policy that protects parental rights and ensures the safety of all school children." 

The Attorney General's complaint alleges that the Hanover BOE's rule violates the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination. The Complaint claims that alerting parents to their child's gender confusion or issues of sexuality is an example of "outing" the child.

Without citing a single specific elementary school example, the Attorney General alleged that such outing "poses serious mental health risks, [and] threatens physical harm to students, including risking increased suicides."

Also without citing a single elementary school example, the Complaint claims that "students in New Jersey and elsewhere have died by suicide after being outed."

The Complaint makes no mention of suicides committed when parents have had the opportunity to provide love and support to young children who are gender confused or are otherwise in crisis over issues of sex.

"We will always stand up for the LGBTQ+ community here in New Jersey and look forward to presenting our arguments in court in this matter," said Attorney General Platkin. Governor Murphy backed his AG in a tweet declaring that the "new policy requiring staff to 'out' LGBTQ students to their parents violates the rights of our students -- jeopardizing their well-being and mental health."