A local freeholder candidate calls on a Raritan Valley Community College trustee to resign because she spoke at the controversial “Straight Pride Parade” in Boston.

A local congressman denounces a Raritan Township committeeman for posting to his Facebook page a meme that calls Islam "a cancer."

Central Jersey, one of the most diverse and affluent regions in the United States, has been distant from the culture wars that dominate the political debate in the country.

But that changed this week as skirmishes broke out with fall campaign season heating up.

RVCC Trustee Felecia Nace, a Bedminster resident, came under fire for speaking at Super Happy Fun America's Straight Pride Parade last month.

The group announced its parade as Boston celebrated LGBTQ Pride Month, saying it believes straight people are an oppressed majority. The parade, with marchers carrying signs such as “2020 Trump” and “Build The Wall,” moved through major downtown streets before ending with a rally at City Hall Plaza, where the crowd and speakers were outnumbered by those protesting them from behind barricades.

READ:Straight Pride Parade fallout: DA wins fight over counter protester arrests

Nace, in her speech, was critical of how young students in schools are being taught gay literature and history, saying that students should not be exposed to the topics before they graduate from high school and become adults. She said that these are topics that even adults "don't fully understand."

Melonie Marano, Democratic candidate for Somerset County freeholder, came to Tuesday's trustee meeting and asked for Nace's resignation.

"Your ideas do not reflect the mission statement of Raritan Valley Community College," Marano said.

After the meeting, where faculty members and students criticized her, Nace called Morano's comments "deplorable" and said she will not resign.

Nace, who has written a book, "Top-Down Confusion: Is Gray the New Pink in Education?", said her critics should review the video of her remarks at the parade to see she is not bigoted against members of the LGBTQIA community.

READ: Local author shares her views on societal influences on education

However, Super Happy Fun America has taken down the video of her 15-minute speech from its website.

In a posting on its website, Super Happy Fun America "condemns the bigoted calls by far-left activists who demand Dr. Felecia Nace resign from her post as trustee at Raritan Valley Community College. Those calling for her resignation are engaging in a politically motivated knee-jerk reaction to her involvement in our inaugural Straight Pride parade in Boston last month."

Nace also defended her speech by saying she was exercising her freedom of speech.

“I hope that our students will be able to exercise their freedom of speech without pushback," she continued.

None of the other trustees commented on Nace's participation in the parade and the calls for her departure.

David Chase, an associate professor of English, told the trustees that Nace's involvement with the Straight Pride Parade was a "fundamental conflict of interest" with the college's mission statement. He also called for her resignation and said the freeholders in Somerset and Hunterdon counties should act to replace her.

Charlie Bondhus, an associate professor of English, circulated an email to the college community on Thursday about Nace's participation in the parade.

"Her views have nothing to do with good teaching and everything to do with advancing a politics of exclusion and silencing that are not in keeping with RVCC's commitments and values," Bondhus wrote in the email.

But at Tuesday's trustees meeting, Bondhus was blunt.

"You are a disgrace to this institution," he said.

Scott O'Donnell, president of The Alliance, a student organization dedicated to fostering diversity at the college, told the trustees he came out as a gay trans man at the age of 13.

"I am not a danger to them," he said about heterosexuals.

O'Donnell said Nace was "unfit" to sit on the board.

"It's easy to call for a dialogue when you're not the one being harmed," O'Donnell said.

Kathy Schulz, who has been an adjunct in the college's Art Department for 35 years, said she expected the trustees to support diversity.

"If you are against any one of us, you are against all of us," she said.

Nace had a defender at the meeting. Educator Peter Tamburro Jr., who wrote the preface to Nace's book, said he has known her for 20 years and told the trustees that she is victim of people who have "political agendas."

"We need diversity of thought too," he said. “If you start squelching people who disagree with you, you create an environment where people are afraid to say things that are not in the majority."

OPINION:It’s great to be straight, so we don't need Straight Pride

Nace is a former language arts teacher in the Montclair Public School District. She was also employed as an education specialist for 13 years at the New Jersey Department of Education, worked for five years as an adjunct professor in Mercer County Community College’s English Department and is the executive director of Partners 4 Educational Change, an education consulting firm.

She was appointed to the college's board in 2017 by the Somerset freeholders who were, at that time, all Republican. Since then, two Democrats have been elected to the five-member board and if Marano defeats incumbent Pat Walsh in November, the Democrats will have a majority on the board for the first time in more than a half century.

'Particularly dangerous'

On Wednesday, U.S. Rep. Tom Malinowski, D-7th District, issued a statement calling on Raritan Township Committeeman Lou Reiner to apologize or "resign immediately" for the comments on his Facebook page.

TAPinto reported on Tuesday that Reiner, an unabashed conservative, posted a meme in the wake of Saturday's attack on a Saudi refinery that said, "Some cancers must be treated with radiation. Islam is one of them." TAPinto reported the meme had an image of a mushroom cloud.

On Monday, TAPinto interviewed Reiner who stood by the meme, saying he believed Islam was an "evil" and "violent" religion and a "cancer."

Reiner, who has one year remaining on the all-Republican governing body, also posted other memes, asking people to pledge never to vote for a Muslim running for office and that "Islam is a cancer for which there is no cure."

"This hate filled rhetoric has no place in our country,' Malinowski said in his statement.

"Such language from a public official is particularly dangerous at a time when hate crimes and acts of domestic terrorism are on the rise," he continued.

In a statement to TAPinto on Wednesday afternoon, Reiner apologized.

"I sincerely regret my Facebook post yesterday using a poor choice of words, seemingly calling the entire Islamic faith violent," Reiner wrote to TAPinto. "My intentions were to highlight the radical fringe jihadists who have highjacked their faith. We need more people of faith in our society today. I offer this apology to the vast majority of Muslims who practice their faith peacefully and contribute greatly to our community."

Staff Writer Mike Deak: 908-243-6607; mdeak@mycentraljersey.com