Students from the Bergen County Arts & Science Charter School -- a public school that rents space from Holy Trinity Roman Catholic Church in Hackensack -- say they were forced to tone-down a mural with LGBTQ components.

A rainbow heart was painted all red on a pillar inside the school. But it was interlocking male symbols, inspired by artist Keith Haring’s work, that drew the real protest from the landlords, the Archdiocese said.

Kelly Bedrosian, 23, of Clifton, who was in the final graduating class at Holy Trinity, had her first job with the parish and taught Sunday school there, said she was shocked when she heard about the mural uproar.

“I feel so bad for these kids. They’re in high school, trying to express themselves -- this is nuts," she said. “They didn’t teach me to discriminate when I was there, so why are they teaching these kids now?”

A call to Holy Trinity Church was not immediately returned. The Archdiocese of Newark, meanwhile, said the facts of the incident have been “grossly misrepresented.”

“The Holy Trinity Church simply raised two concerns. First, that the school refrain from consistently painting on the building surfaces. Secondly, that the school remove some content in a new painting, which included some symbols of sexuality that were inappropriate for the building, as the building is utilized by parishioners of the Church, as well as the School,” the statement said.

The archdiocese in its statement denied that the illustration of the heart was the focus of the church’s concerns. "Clearly the school or teachers decided to amend that part of the mural in response on their own,” the Diocese said.

“As already indicated, since the building is utilized by parishioners of the church, as well as the school, Holy Trinity simply has asked the tenants to be cognizant of this when displaying information and materials,” the Diocese continued. “The mural violated that understanding in its permanent nature – directly painted on the surface – and in some of the content.”

But, Garden State Equality, a statewide advocacy and education organization for the lesbian, gay, bi-sexual, transgender and queer community, condemned the move.

“It is offensive, unconscionable, and flatly unconstitutional for this church acting as a for-profit landlord to restrict a public school’s curriculum or censor student speech within those walls," said Garden State Equality executive director Christian Fuscarino. "This type of hate-fueled bigotry is precisely why New Jersey needs LGBTQ-inclusive curriculum to promote acceptance and understanding.”

A new state law that was passed in January, and takes effect in the 2020-2021 school year, mandates LGBTQ-inclusive curriculum for public schools.

Garden State Equality said it was contacted by a 16-year-old junior at the school who reported a long history of restricting education and censoring faculty and students’ speech at the school.

“Following complaints by the landlord in 2018, the school abolished a long-running daily educational program, which taught students about a unique historical figure each day, after the school included LGBTQ figures during Pride Month,” Garden State Equality said in a statement. The group also said a school psychologist was forced to take down an LGBTQ-supportive poster.

A call to Bergen Arts & Science Charter School was not immediately returned.

Holy Trinity closed down its own school in the Maple Avenue building about 10 years ago. It’s unclear exactly when Bergen Arts & Science Charter School began renting the former Catholic School. Bergen Arts & Science Charter School is a public charter school that serves about 1,151 students in six locations. Its central office is in Fair Lawn.

Allison Pries may be reached at apries@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter@AllisonPries. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

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