The New Jersey Education Association, one of the most powerful political arms in New Jersey favoring Democrats, is set to host an event next month to celebrate “the vibrant world of drag” for public school teachers.
The NJEA is the union representing hundreds of thousands of New Jersey educators, and is also behind one of the top-spending political groups in the state. It has poured tens of millions of dollars into Democratic campaigns and last month endorsed Democratic gubernatorial candidate Mikie Sherrill over Republican Jack Ciattarelli.
Just a few days after that election takes place, it will hold the event called “Drag is not a Crime: The Past, Present, and Future of Drag,” according to a website for the NJEA Consortium, which will host the November 7 event.
The NJEA Consortium program is part of an initiative to boost diversity, equity, and inclusion, with a focus on minority communities in K-12 classrooms across New Jersey.
The New Jersey Project promoted the event with a post emphasizing the need to “ignite creativity in the classroom” and how “drag is what education is all about.”
“Teachers, learning goes beyond classrooms! NJEA presents a dive into the vibrant world of drag. 
Get inspired to challenge norms & ignite creativity in the classroom! 
. Drag is what education is all about. #DragEducation What inspires you to teach?” says the note from the NJEA.
Facebook: The New Jersey Project
The NJEA’s 125-member PAC Operating Committee unanimously endorsed Sherrill for governor back in September. Due to the strong endorsement and Sherrill’s support for NJEA, The Daily Wire reached out to the Democrat for comment on the upcoming drag event. Sherrill did not respond.
The campaign for Ciattarelli, Sherrill’s GOP challenger in the hotly contested gubernatorial election, told The Daily Wire that the NJEA and Sherrill don’t care about education and teachers.
“Drag might not be a crime, but looking the other way while 80% of third graders in some of New Jersey’s schools can’t read at grade level should be,” a campaign strategist for Ciattarelli said in a statement.
“The NJEA and far-left politicians like Mikie Sherrill could care less about education or teachers,” the statement continued. “The NJEA’s core mission is preserving political power, pushing an extreme ‘woke’ agenda on young children, and propping up out-of-touch politicians like Mikie Sherrill who vote against parental rights.”
“When Jack Ciattarelli is Governor, parents are back in charge and the NJEA is in timeout,” the strategist added.
Facebook: NJEA
In the past, the NJEA has hosted similar drag events and routinely emphasized equity, diversity, and inclusion — new-age buzzwords that are now marked by unfairness and absurdity.
In 2022, NJEA promoted a “Drag Queen Story Hour” event at its convention. “The LGBTQIA+ representation at the NJEA Convention made us PROUD!” the organization’s website boasts.
“[I]n a historic convention first, drag queens Astala Vista and Vinchelle hosted ‘LGBTQIA+ Banned Books – Drag Queen Story Hour’ to answer questions from the audience, take photos, in all their dazzling iridescence, with NJEA members, and to read ‘And Tango Makes Three, Prince and Knight,’ and ‘I Am Jazz,'” NJEA said. “These wonderful books had been banned in various U.S. communities for what these glorious queens could only assume is their acceptance and affirmation of characters of all kinds, including those who identify as LGBTQIA+. Read-alouds of queer-affirming children’s books helps kids who are beginning to understand themselves as LGBTQIA+ to see positive representations and drag read-alouds model that extra unabashed pride that we can all be our unique and wonderful selves.”
During the convention, teachers could also take part in an event called “Planning for Change: LGBTQ-Inclusive Lesson Design.” This was billed as a “discussion for educators seeking sustainable methods and support being intentionally LGBTQIA+ inclusive in their course materials and lessons.”
NJEA
“At the very same conference where they highlight the troubling rise of problematic sexual behaviors in our youth, they’re handing out books with graphic sexual content that no child should ever see in a classroom,” Fantasia said. “They preach about protecting kids while promoting material that sexualizes them, and fail to acknowledge the correlation. It’s cognitive dissonance, plain and simple.”
