"Police arrest pro-LGBT high school teacher for soliciting sex with underage student"

"A pro-LGBT high school social studies teacher, who helped run his school’s Gay Straight Alliance and had advocated for introducing students to cartoon pornography in class, was arrested and charged in New Jersey this month for sending a student 'sexually-explicit' images of himself.

Somerset County Prosecutor Michael H. Robertson announced on Facebook that Sean DiGiovanna, 50, was arrested October 10 and charged with endangering the welfare of a child as well as a count promoting obscene material to a child under 18. He was jailed pending a detention hearing.

According to the statement, DiGiovanna, a teacher at Watchung Hills Regional High School, sent sexually-explicit images of himself to an underage student. The victim also reported that DiGiovanna sent him text messages soliciting a sexual relationship. Forensic examination of DiGiovanna’s phone revealed the sexually-explicit images and text conversations reported by the victim.

DiGiovanna helped run the Gay Straight Alliance on the high school campus. He received a salary in excess of $86,000.

DiGiovanna has been an advocate for LGBTQ causes for a number of years. A June 2018 YouTube video shows DiGiovanna addressing the local school board and advocating for the use of 'Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic' in high school classes.

Author Alison Bechdel, according to the Family Policy Alliance of Colorado, said of her 2018 novelized graphic memoir, '(I)t’s all about the power of images ... I can understand why people wouldn’t want their children to accidentally think this was a funny comic book and pick it up and see pictures of people having sex ... drawings are very seductive and attention catching.'...

Shawn Hyland of Family Policy Alliance of New Jersey released a statement on the group’s website, stating: 'DiGiovanna’s efforts to distribute pornography were not limited to school-approved textbooks and classroom hours.'"