Anti-Gay Hate Group Bullies NJ School District Over Trans Policy

Florida-based anti-gay group Liberty Counsel is exporting their hate to the Garden State, where they threatened legal action against a high school as it considers a policy aimed to protect the rights of transgender students.

In a letter sent to officials at the Pascack Valley Regional High School District in New Jersey last week, the Liberty Counsel took aim at pending restroom and locker room policy on the table with the school board. The anti-gay hate group said it would consider action to "prevent irreparable harm to cherished liberties."

In its letter, the Liberty Counsel asserted that the federal government was incorrect in affording Title IX protections to transgenders. It also said the state's anti-discrimination law does not spell out the right of transgender people to use a restroom or a locker room based on gender identity.

NorthJersey.com notes that School Superintendent P. Erik Gundersen called the Liberty Counsel letter "a threat," adding that the group has a "particular bias" and that school district attorneys assured him the proposed policy is on firm legal ground.

The policy under attack is based on a model circulating throughout New Jersey, would allow transgender students to use restrooms and locker rooms and participate in sports based on their chosen gender identity. Similar policies have been adopted in at least 12 school districts in the affluent norther section of the state.

The Pascack Valley Regional High School District is ranked seventh in the state.

The Liberty Counsel was designated an anti-gay hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center.