by Jessica Ercolino, Staff Writer
ROBBINSVILLE — The Robbinsville High School Gay-Straight Alliance has received an award for its response to a former school board member’s use of an anti-gay slur at a public meeting last year.
Members of the student alliance, whose membership totals about 40, will be presented with the Lt. Laurel Hester Prize for Citizen Courage at Garden State Equality’s 2009 Legends Dinner on Feb. 28.
Steven Goldstein, chairman of Garden State Equality, said the high school group was unanimously selected to receive the award based on its actions in response to former Board of Education member Joseph Armenti’s use of the word “faggot” during a public school board meeting in September. Board members were discussing insults students overhear in district schools, and Mr. Armenti contended that students have the right to use such words under the First Amendment.
”They are receiving the award because of the courage they demonstrated last year in confronting the very hurtful and discriminatory remarks of (Mr. Armenti),” Mr. Goldstein said this week. “They showed courage like few others in New Jersey have, and to do so at such an early stage of their lives was remarkable.”
Garden State Equality, founded in 2004, is a New Jersey gay rights group with more than 26,000 members. Using a self-proclaimed “aggressive” style, the organization’s mission is not only to “win fairer laws, but also to win justice for LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) New Jerseyans facing discrimination,” according to its Web site.
Mr. Goldstein called the Lt. Laurel Hester Prize the organization’s “highest honor.” It was named for the lieutenant because she sought health and pension benefits for her same-sex partner as she fought a losing battle with lung cancer in 2006, he said.
Following Mr. Armenti’s comment, members of the GSA pushed for his resignation, donning “Erase Hate” T-shirts at public meetings and recruiting Garden State Equality to help voice its concerns. As a result, the comment went on to draw national media coverage and criticism from the community, and Mr. Armenti resigned three weeks after making the comment.
”The students acted in a bold and decisive — yet extremely sensitive — manner in working both publicly and behind the scenes in the most constructive way possible,” Mr. Goldstein said. “What a thrill it will be to honor them.”
Superintendent John Szabo recently said he was not unaware of the student group’s honor and could not comment without more information.
Laura Williams, a member of the school’s GSA, said she was surprised to hear about the students’ honor, especially because she felt they were “just a few suburban kids” under Garden State Equality’s statewide scope.
”I never went into this for the recognition. I was just simply doing what I believed was right,” she said. “When we got this award and realized that we had done something right in GSE’s eyes — that we had impacted them enough to receive their highest award — we were really overjoyed.”
Laura said the honor has helped bring the students together.
”It’s such an honor and I can’t thank GSE or our town enough, because they have been very good in standing beside us the whole time,” she said. “(Being acknowledged made us) realize that we did do something incredibly courageous and that despite all the headaches it caused, there were indeed people proud of us.”
Mr. Armenti’s resignation came days before Robbinsville High School hosted the 2008 New Jersey Gay-Straight Alliance Forum and one month before the school’s theater department performed “The Laramie Project,” a re-creation of interviews with Wyoming residents after the deadly attack on gay college student Matthew Shepard in 1998. Members of the GSA said last year that they hoped the events would help change the climate at the school and build tolerance in the community.
The upcoming Legends dinner at The Palace at Somerset Park will feature Fran Drescher, former star of “The Nanny” television show; Judith Light of ABC’s “Ugly Betty;” George Takai of “Star Trek;” and Anthony Rapp of “Rent.”
Mr. Goldstein said Gov. Jon Corzine also will attend.
For more information on the event, visit www.gardenstateequality.com.

