New Jersey Students Walk Out Over School Board’s Pride Flag Ban

We’ve got to hand it to the young LGBTQ people in our community: They will call out BS when they see it. Passaic, New Jersey high school students did just that Monday when they held a walk-out to protest a new school district policy prohibiting them from flying the Pride flag.

The policy emerged after students flew the rainbow flag during last year’s Pride Month. The board of education then passed a policy declaring that only the state, school, and American flags could fly. There was no policy when the Pride flag first went up, and some Passaic residents made what Board Vice Chairman L. Daniel Rodriguez termed “inquiries” about who authorized it.

The board says the policy was meant to promote fairness, though students argue that it’s discriminatory.

According to an NJ.com report, about 75 students from three public high school in Passaic marched together chanting, “Walk out!” and, “Raise our flag!”

Amari Gawnthney reportedly shouted, with bullhorn in hand, “We’re not going to stop until we get what we want. We put up the flag last year with no problem. Then this new policy came from out of the blue, and they pushed it under the rug, actually.”

The protest continued, as a number of students attended Monday night’s school board meeting to make their voices heard. While several trustees have indicated their willingness to change the policy, no consensus has emerged. Though, one former Passaic board of education trustee, Peter T. Rosario, spoke out in support of the students on Monday night.

“Your job is not to hurt the kids, first and foremost,” Rosario says. “There are hard decisions to make (as a member of the board). This is not one of them. Rescind the policy.”

While the trustees listened to the testimony, they did not comment. They have previously indicated they would review the policy but have made no promises in changing it.

Board President Christina Schratz indicated the conversation would continue, adding, “I’m all for seeing what we can do as a district. I am very grateful that they express their concerns. This is the way democracy works.”