Jack Ciattarelli, the Republican Party’s nominee for governor of New Jersey had some things to say about LGBTQ people and the teaching of sex-ed in schools. Responses to his remarks were passionate and pointed.
Ciattarelli, apparently campaigning at a store inside a gun range last month, promised supporters that when he’s governor “sodomy” will no longer be taught to 6th graders, as Gothamist, which obtained video of his remarks, reports. Sodomy is not being taught to 6th graders.
The GOP nominee also promised that “sexual orientation” will no longer be taught to kindergarteners, a vow that appears will be somewhat easy to keep, as it is not currently being taught to kindergarteners.
“I feel lucky [our kids] are in their 20s and I don’t have to be dealing with what you’re dealing with right now,” Ciattarelli, a former state lawmaker said June 24. “You won’t have to deal with it when I’m governor, but we’re not teaching gender ID and sexual orientation to kindergarteners. We’re not teaching sodomy in sixth grade. And we’re going to roll back the LGBTQ curriculum. It goes too far.”
The executive director of Garden State Equality, Christian Fuscarino, slammed “Ciattarelli’s use of the word ‘sodomy’,” Gothamist adds. Fuscarino said it “sounded as if he was ‘speaking in code or virtue-signaling to a very specific group of people.'”
“Fuscarino added: ‘He goes on to say more bluntly that he wants to roll back some of the progress the LGTBQ community has made. We’ve seen enough of that at the federal level the last four years with the Trump administration.'”
That was not Ciattarelli’s only attack on LGBTQ people.
Ciattarelli complained about a sign he had seen recently at the bank that advertised “a new LGBTQ bank card.” He said: “I’m sitting there saying, ‘The more we cater to each special interest, the more you remind us about how different we all are from each other.’ Right?”
NorthJersey.com reports on reaction to Ciattarelli’s remarks.
“Steven Goldstein, the founder of Garden State Equality who led the successful campaign for same-sex marriage in New Jersey, said Ciattarelli is ‘the most dangerous’ candidate for governor in his lifetime and equated him to Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Georgia congresswoman who has promoted conspiracy theories.”
“Jack is now Frankenstein’s clone of Marjorie Taylor Greene for New Jersey,” Goldstein said in a statement. “He is a fringe crackpot who operates in a galaxy far, far away from bipartisan human decency.”
“The Democratic State Committee labeled Ciattarelli a ‘bigot’ whose ‘willingness to diminish and demonize the LGBTQ community is exactly why this curriculum is so important.'”
Here is video via Gothamist: