Yesterday Gov. Phil Murphy was interviewed by Margaret Brennan on CBS’s Face the Nation. Here is a transcript of the comments he made regarding New Jersey’s lawsuit against three school districts (Middletown, Marlboro, and Manalapan-Englishtown) that are refusing to adopt policies that would stop staff from notifying parents if a child asks to be called by a new name, uses a bathroom unaligned with their biological gender, or uses a different pronoun.

MARGARET BRENNAN: We now turn to the current governor of the state of New Jersey, Democrat Phil Murphy, who joins us from Middletown. Good morning to you, Mr. Governor, I want to pick up on some of the things we just discussed there, including when it comes to transgender care in your state because I know your administration has sued three New Jersey school districts for adopting policies to tell parents if their children are showing signs of changing their gender identity. Why is Mr. Christie wrong when he says parents are the ones who know best here and they should be involved?

NEW JERSEY GOV. PHIL MURPHY: Well let me say unequivocally, I will not be going to Chrischristie.com. Listen, we took these actions, because it’s the right thing to do to protect these precious young people. This is a complete culture war, and by the way, Chris Christie was really bad for the LGBTQIA+ community, and he underfunded public education by 9 billion, with a B, dollars. So, with all due respect to the governor, I’m not sure he’s got much of a leg to stand on. But parents are always involved. It- it’s certainly in our administration, they’re always at the table, and they always will be. But let’s be smart about this. Let’s protect the rights of these precious kids. Let’s do things the right way, the American way. And- and I think if we do that, in a spirit of respecting everyone’s rights, protecting the LGBTQIA+ community, we’ll land in a good place.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Well, one of the attorneys for a school board board in Marlboro, one of these districts, said that this blocking of a school counselor or a staff member from telling a parent about this is a violation of a constitutional right for a parent to direct and control the upbringing of their children. Why isn’t that compelling?

GOV. MURPHY: Obviously, parents are the- the existential reality in the upbringing of any child without question. I don’t deny that for one second. But let’s not violate the Constitution- constitutional and civil rights of precious young folks in many cases, who are coming to grips with life as they- as they grow up and grow older, let’s be respectful of that. Let’s be all in this together as opposed to this, us versus them, this demonizing. And when that happens, invariably, it’s the LGBT community that gets it, particularly trans folks who get behind the eight ball.

[photo credit] Flickr: Phil Murphy