Jack Ciattarelli and aide Dr. Ibrar Nadeem on October 18, 2025 – ITV Gold YouTube Screenshots
Ibrar Nadeem, an aide to Republican gubernatorial nominee Jack Ciattarelli, bragged to Muslim supporters about the candidate’s past opposition to marriage equality during a “Muslims4Jack” event in Piscataway, New Jersey on October 18.
“We want to have a ban on same-sex marriage,” Nadeem said, as recorded in a video posted to X.
Nadeem went on to note that Ciattarelli had voted against legalizing marriage equality as a New Jersey state assemblyman and claimed that his preferred candidate would continue to oppose it.
He ended his speech with a plug to “vote for Jack,” and added, “Every time I got tired, people from my community, when I was blamed that — somebody said, ‘You are taking money from Jews.’ I check my bank account every day, brother. It is not there.”
Ciattarelli took the stage, joking, “Dr. Ibrar Nadeem. Just once I wish you’d say exactly what’s on your mind.”
Same-sex marriage has been legal in New Jersey since 2013. The year before, the Democratic-led General Assembly passed a bill to legalize it — with Ciattarelli voting against the measure — but then-Gov. Chris Christie, a Republican, vetoed the legislation, saying the issue should be decided by voters in a referendum.
State lawmakers have since enshrined marriage equality into state law, which would allow same-sex couples to continue marrying even if the U.S. Supreme Court overturns its landmark 2015 decision striking down bans on same-sex marriage.
U.S. Rep. Mikie Sherrill, Ciattarelli’s Democratic opponent, blasted the Republican candidate for failing to condemn Nadeem’s comments on same-sex marriage and for allowing an anti-Semitic trope suggesting Jewish people use their wealth to influence politics.
“A member of Jack’s ‘inner circle’ was caught on video spreading antisemitic and homophobic hate,” Sherrill wrote on X. “Rather than condemn that language, Jack praised him. This kind of behavior has no place in New Jersey.”
Ciattarelli pushed back, claiming that the clip — particularly the line about taking “money from Jews” — was taken out of context.
“Do you ever get tired of lying @MikieSherrill?” Ciattarelli wrote on X. “You know I support same sex marriage… Your desperate lies will backfire,” he continued. “Shame on you for, once again, trying to divide people more with lies.”
Ciattarelli now claims to support same-sex marriage but has repeatedly leaned into anti-LGBTQ rhetoric, both in his 2021 campaign and again this year.
In 2021, Ciattarelli railed against a 2019 law requiring public schools to teach the political, economic, and social contributions of LGBTQ people, claiming it taught “sodomy in sixth grade” and vowing to repeal it if elected. In his current campaign, he has aired ads attacking Sherrill’s support for the law, casting it as government overreach into parental rights.
In August, Ciattarelli spoke at a Jersey City rally organized by the anti-LGBTQ group Moms for Liberty, denouncing a New Jersey Board of Education policy that allows schools to change a student’s gender identity on official records without notifying parents. He has also called for banning transgender athletes from competing on female sports teams.
As an assemblyman, Ciattarelli voted against a bill allowing transgender people to change the gender marker on their birth certificates without undergoing gender-affirming surgery. The Democratic-backed measure was later vetoed by then-Gov. Chris Christie.
The Human Rights Campaign — whose political arm has endorsed Sherrill for her LGBTQ-supportive record — joined the New Jersey Democratic State Committee in calling on Ciattarelli to denounce Nadeem’s remarks.
“It should be shocking that Jack Ciattarelli proudly supported a senior adviser to his campaign who said, in his presence, that if elected governor of New Jersey, he’d work to reverse marriage equality in the state,” Reg Calcagno, HRC’s director of national campaigns, said in a statement. “But it’s no surprise. This is who Jack has always been — previously voting to oppose same-sex marriage in New Jersey and following the MAGA lead on his anti-LGBTQ+ views.”
Reports that the person who fatally shot conservative activist Charlie Kirk had left behind bullet casings engraved with phrases espousing "transgender ideology" have been debunked.
The rumor spread quickly after conservative commentator Steven Crowder posted to X on the morning of September 11 -- the day after the shooting -- claiming he had received an email from a Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives officer describing such engravings.
Crowder shared what he said was an email from an ATF officer claiming investigators had recovered the weapon used in Kirk's killing, with one spent cartridge in the chamber and three rounds still in the magazine. The email further alleged the cartridges were engraved with "transgender and anti-fascist ideology."
U.S. Rep. Ronny Jackson (R-Texas) argued during a Newsmax interview that transgender people should be institutionalized, claiming they suffer from "psychiatric illnesses" that justify their exclusion from military service.
"It's the reason that we don't allow them in the military at this particular point, because they have psychiatric issues, and they're not eligible to serve in the military, as anyone else who had any other psychiatric issue would be," said Jackson, a former White House physician to Presidents Barack Obama and Donald Trump, during his appearance with host Rob Finnerty on Finnerty.
Jack Ciattarelli, a former state lawmaker and the Republican nominee for New Jersey governor, recently aired a digital ad attacking Democratic opponent U.S. Rep. Mikie Sherrill for backing the state’s LGBTQ-inclusive curriculum standards. Established under a 2019 law signed by Gov. Phil Murphy (D), the standards require middle and high school students to learn about the political, economic, and social contributions of LGBTQ people and people with disabilities.
The premise behind the law is based on the belief that teaching students about figures like Bayard Rustin, Harvey Milk, and Alan Turing helps reduce bullying of LGBTQ and gender-nonconforming peers.
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