OCEAN CITY – Over 30 demonstrators stood outside Ocean City High School just before classes began Sept. 14 to show support for the school’s LGBTQ+ community, just days after out-of-town religious protesters booed students as they entered the building.
“These people were shouting stuff like ‘You’ll burn in hell’ to kids as they got off the bus,” Ann McCabe, founder of Equality Cape May, told the Herald while students filed into the school behind her. “We aren’t going to sit idly by and let that happen. We are letting these kids know that we support them.”
The religious protestors have not been identified and it is currently unknown if they represent an organized group.
Demonstrators clapped, cheered and smiled at students as the school day began. Many held pride flags and signs that read “Everybody belongs at OCHS,” “Rise up for LGBTQ+ youth” and “We’re here for you.”
Some students approached the demonstrators to thank them for their presence. Other students, fewer in number, expressed hostility toward the group. A group of high school boys, middle fingers held high, approached the demonstrators and yelled “Smile for the camera” while they took a mocking selfie.
We Belong Cape May was founded by parents of Ocean City high schoolers after a “parents’ rights” group gathered at City Hall to protest new health and physical education standards that include material on gender identity. Several members of the Ocean City Board of Education, including first-time board members Robin Shaffer and Catherine Panico, campaigned against the new standards during the 2022 election season.
Karen Williams, a New Jersey educator and the educational chair of We Belong Cape May, an LGBTQ+ advocacy group formed in September 2022, said that the religious protesters who gathered earlier in the week held a bullhorn and signs to blast anti-LGBTQ+ messages at Ocean City high schoolers.
Christine Stanford, a founder of We Belong Cape May, told the Herald that those recent verbal remarks resemble the comments made at the “parents’ rights” rally a year ago.
Stanford said, “One year ago, hate was brought to Ocean City by Rev. Greg Quinlan when he used hateful, anti-LGBTQIA+ rhetoric at Robin Shaffer’s ‘parental rights rally.’
“Sadly, hatred came back to town early this week in the form of protesters using despicable language and signage aimed at the students of Ocean City High School, once again targeting members of the LGBTQIA+ community.”
Mico Lucide, the director of Atlantic County Queer Alliance, said that these protesters have been “touring high schools on main streets across New Jersey.” Lucide donned rainbow accessories and signs that affirmed the queer identities of local high schoolers.
“We are here to show those students that they are loved and supported,” he told the Herald.
Johanna Durazzi, who sits on the board of South Jersey’s Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network chapter, said that her organization has heard of increasing and ongoing harassment against queer students at Ocean City High School.
“We are letting kids know they aren’t alone in their community,” she said.
Janet Yunghans, a resident of Upper Township, said that she came to the demonstration after hearing reports of harassment directed at Upper Township students who attend Ocean City High School.
“There seems to be more and more people targeting LGBT people around here,” she said. “Seeing people come here to target our youth fills me with frustration.”
Some members of the school faculty and staff came out of the school to thank demonstrators for their presence. The event lasted around an hour. Ocean City police officers stood nearby, and demonstrators thanked the officers as the gathering came to an end.
CORRECTION: A quote attributed to Karen Williams was removed from the article.