More than 100 gather to support students, push back on anti-gay rhetoric
OCEAN CITY — Members of the LGBTQ+ community continued Sunday to push back against opinions voiced during a rally for three Ocean City Board of Education candidates.
More than 100 people of all ages gathered at Fifth Street on the boardwalk to show support for Ocean City High School students, saying they have been made to feel unwelcome and unsafe, and marched around the school in a show of solidarity.
Stacy Merkh, 38, was among the organizers of the We Belong rally and Welcome Walk. She said it was a direct response to the gathering Sept. 8 at Mark Soifer Park across the street from City Hall.
That event was organized by school board candidates Robin Shaffer, Catherine Panico and Liz Nicoletti purportedly to protest the Ocean City Board of Education’s approval of the state Comprehensive Health and Physical Education Standard. However, it focused on issues surrounding gay, lesbian and transgender rights, and what they called the “indoctrination” and “grooming” of children.
The candidates invited the Rev. Gregory Quinlan, president and executive director of The Center for Garden State Families, to speak.
Quinlan, who called his group an unapologetic advocate for Christian families, opened with a Bible verse while making off-color jokes about the LGBTQ population.
Hayden Wathen, a 2022 graduate of OCHS, responded with an online petition at Change.org, LGBTQ Students Belong at OCHS, that garnered thousands of signatures and led to formation of the We Belong group.
Merkh said she and her husband, Bob Merkh, a social studies teacher at Upper Township Middle School, attend a lot of student events and are familiar with many of the youths.
“A lot of these kids that are being targeted were my husband’s students. I’ve been to their play recitals, I’ve been to their sports games. We attend a lot of their events and we just wanted them to feel safe at school,” she said. “Today we are just letting the kids know that we’re here and we support them.”
She said it’s frustrating for the students and parents that no one at the high school has made a statement saying that LGBTQ students are welcome.
“They’re supposed to be there for all of the kids,” Stacy Merkh said.
Merkh said the group, webelong.cmc on Facebook, is encouraging people to attend school board meetings and planning future events such as marching in local parades to help raise awareness of their cause.
Christine Stanford, whose son graduated last year and daughter is a senior, said the students need to know they have support.
“I want them to see that the voices they may hear that are the loudest aren’t the most representative of the community,” Stanford said.
Another organizer of the Welcome Walk, Ellen Byrne said she has witnessed discriminatory behavior first hand in her role as a volunteer with Ocean City Drama Guild.
“When kids are doing a theatrical performance and someone is yelling ‘You’re a bunch of faggots,’ that’s not productive. That’s not advancing any kind of understanding,” Byrne said. “People just want to be accepted for who they are. They are not trying to hurt anybody, not trying to impose their views on anybody; they just want to be accepted for who they are. They want to feel safe in the whole school, not just part of it,” Byrne said.
Lisa Wachter, the mother of three daughters who attended Upper Township and Ocean City schools, said they have seen “a lot of acts of unkindness and intolerance.”
“We want to make sure they have a safe place to be welcomed and know that we as adults also support them. People are entitled to be happy no matter who they love. Love is love is love,” Wachter said.
Jess Luciano, 15, a student at Chartertech High School for the Performing Arts from Mays Landing, was at the event with OCHS student Brielle McDowell, 16.
“I really wanted to show what we’re all about, which is support for everyone and being there for people, especially when they need it the most,” Luciano said.
“I feel like school is supposed to be a place where we all feel comfortable, but in recent times LGBTQ students haven’t been able to show how they feel and have to hide themselves,” McDowell said.
Alexia French, 26, of Upper Township, identified herself as part of the LGBTQ community.
“I think it’s a very big thing to constantly voice about it to make sure kids feel safe in their schools is a priority,” she said. “If they don’t have a good home life, school is the second-best place for them to feel safe. If you expect them to have an education, their safety should be a priority.”
She said she disagrees with Quinlan’s anti-gay rhetoric.
“It is really upsetting. If you want young people to be involved with religion then this is the wrong way to do it, for sure,” French said.
“It’s a matter of human rights issues and making sure to advocate to create a space for people to feel safe and welcome,” said friend Laelius Smith, 22, of Pleasantville.
By CRAIG D. SCHENCK/Sentinel staff