'We're Not Teaching Sodomy In 6th Grade': GOP Nominee For NJ Governor Wants To End LGBTQ Curriculum [View all]

The Republican nominee for governor in New Jersey, Jack Ciattarelli, is vowing to roll back school curricula that centers LGTBQ inclusivity, falsely claiming that “sexual orientation” is being taught to kindergarteners and sixth graders are learning “sodomy.”

The comments, made during a campaign stop at a gun range last month according to a video obtained by Gothamist/WNYC, were criticized by the state’s gay-rights group, Garden State Equality. Sodomy is a term referring to sexual acts that people of all sexual orientations engage in, but it has historically been used to equate homosexuality with deviancy, and anti-sodomy laws were long used to prosecute people for their sexual orientation.

Ciattarelli is a former Republican assemblyman who last month defeated two more conservative candidates in a GOP primary. He will face Democratic Governor Phil Murphy in November. At the June 26th event, Ciattarelli said:

“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. 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.”