The school board of Hunterdon Central Regional High School is launching an investigation into a Twitter account with transphobic content reportedly owned by one of its board members, the regional school district announced Wednesday.
The announcement comes two days after a member of Flemington QTs, a group that supports the local queer and trans community and youth from surrounding towns, raised concerns about the account and its owner at a board of education meeting.
Neither the school board nor the group that raised the issue during Monday’s board meeting said who the account belongs to.
“The board recognizes the gravity of this allegation and takes seriously its obligation to investigate,” Hunterdon Central Regional Board of Education said in a statement.
The Twitter account, which has since been deleted, included tweets that misgendered United States Secretary of Health Rachel Levine and content that denounced the inclusion of transgender icons Marsha P. Johnson and Laverne Cox in a Women’s History Month display at Hunterdon Central Regional High School.
The transphobic Twitter account comes at a time of increasing anti-LGBTQ+ backlash throughout the country, advocates say. The past year has seen a spate of anti-transgender legislation, the passage of Florida’s so-called “Don’t Say Gay” law, and the fear-mongering of drag shows as fronts for “groomers.”