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Protesters brawl over LGBTQ curriculum outside Calif. school board meeting [1]

['Timothy Bella']

Date: 2023-06-07

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A brawl broke out Tuesday as hundreds of protesters supporting and opposing LGBTQ rights gathered outside a Southern California school district headquarters where board members were deciding whether to recognize June as Pride Month. Wp Get the full experience. Choose your plan ArrowRight At least three people were arrested outside the Glendale Unified School District’s headquarters as school board administrators discussed whether the district should declare support for Pride Month, the Glendale, Calif., Police Department said in a news release. The school board unanimously voted to recognize Pride Month as it has for the past five years.

Hundreds of demonstrators turned up, many waving rainbow and American flags, and clashed outside of the headquarters. Police said that both sides rallied their supporters on social media to gather at the headquarters before the board meeting. Around 500 people showed up on Tuesday evening, reported KABC in Los Angeles.

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Video posted to social media shows people throwing punches, jumping on each other and pulling one another by their hoodies as officers tried to intervene.

“While most of the protest was peaceful, a small group of individuals engaged in behavior deemed unsafe and a risk to public safety,” police said in a statement.

Anti-LGBT protestors attack Pro-LGBT demonstrators outside of a Glendale, CA schoolboard meeting.



The schoolboard is voting on recognizing June as Pride month. pic.twitter.com/T1zqZMTn7D — Brennan Murphy (@brenonade) June 7, 2023

The conservative groups demonstrating against LGBTQ policies and gender and sexual identity studies chanted, “Leave our kids alone,” and wore T-shirts with the same slogan. Gender and sexual identity studies were not part of the agenda for Tuesday’s meeting.

Some of the people opposing LGBTQ rights were identified on social media as members of the Proud Boys, a far-right group with a history of violence. A Glendale police spokesperson told The Post that authorities have “not yet identified specific groups or individuals representing particular groups related to the protest.”

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“We have seen the online posts and will look to identify the agitators from both sides,” police told The Post.

Officers arrested at least three people on charges such as unlawful use of pepper spray and willfully obstructing officers in the course of their duties, according to police. The arrests did not stop the fighting, and police gave a dispersal order after 6 p.m. local time “to protect public safety,” the department said.

“After the initial arrests, additional attempts to de-escalate the crowd failed,” police said in the news release.

No injuries were reported by authorities.

Glendale Unified Superintendent Vivian Ekchian said in a statement to The Post that the district is “committed to providing a safe, inclusive environment where every child can learn and thrive.”

“We know that kids do better when their parents are involved in their education,” the superintendent said. “We work with parents as partners and encourage all parents and other caregivers to be inquisitive and engaged with what is going on in our school community.”

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Ekchian told KABC that erroneous information was being spread online and that the district was following the state’s curriculum. “We have absolutely no agenda,” Ekchian said. “We are not in the business of converting anyone’s child.”

The violent scene outside the school board meeting comes at a time when conservative lawmakers and activists nationwide are seeking to reshape how race, gender and sexuality are taught in the classroom. Republican lawmakers like Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who is running for the GOP presidential nomination in 2024, have championed a series of education bills aimed at what he calls left-leaning “woke” ideologies. Some districts with conservative-majority school boards are also pushing for certain books to be pulled from libraries and insisting on calling students by their original names instead of the names they chose as they transitioned.

Students in Fort Wayne, Ind., weren’t going to give up after their school canceled an LGBTQ play. But could they figure out how to put on the show themselves? (Video: Hadley Green/The Washington Post)

The scene in Glendale is the second time in recent days that a protest over LGBTQ issues at a Southern California school turned violent.

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On Friday, protesters supporting and opposing LGBTQ rights exchanged punches outside Saticoy Elementary School in North Hollywood, Calif., over a scheduled Pride event intended to promote diversity for the Los Angeles Unified School District. Part of that celebration would have teachers read students author Mary Hoffman’s book, “The Great Big Book of Families,” which was described by Goodreads as “a celebration of the diverse fabric of kith and kin the world over,” according to KTLA, a CW affiliate in Los Angeles.

Some parents and demonstrators gathered outside the school last week to oppose the teaching of same-sex relationships. Some held signs alleging that the supporters of LGBTQ curriculums were “sexualizing” children, KTLA reported.

Pride Month is celebrated each June to honor the 1969 Stonewall riots in Manhattan, when transgender and queer New Yorkers fought back against police who raided a popular gay club in Greenwich Village. For more than a half-century, people have marched for equal rights for the LGBTQ community every June, according to the Library of Congress.

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In California, conservative-majority school boards have pushed back on LGBTQ curriculums in recent days. The school board for Temecula Valley Unified School District rejected a curriculum last month over a textbook that mentioned gay rights activist and San Francisco politician Harvey Milk. The school board’s president, Joseph Komrosky, called Milk a “pedophile.” California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) responded by calling the school board president “ignorant” for his “offensive statement.”

“This isn’t Texas or Florida,” Newsom tweeted Saturday. “In the Golden State, our kids have the freedom to learn.”

Before the Glendale school board meeting Tuesday, the school district posted to Facebook on Monday warning that “intentional and harmful disinformation has been circulating about what is being taught in our district and the ways we serve our students.” The district said the superintendent and members of the school board have been meeting with parents and teachers to try to correct a narrative that’s been building online regarding its LGBTQ curriculum.

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Videos posted to social media show a chaotic scene on Tuesday that had people swinging at each other on the ground and officers frantically yelling over megaphones, “Do not fight!”

A physical brawl breaks out between anti-LGBTQ protestors and LGBTQ supporters outside the Glendale unified school board meeting in Los Angeles. pic.twitter.com/jcqML9NmAi — Sergio Olmos (@MrOlmos) June 7, 2023

In passing the measure to acknowledge Pride Month, the school board said the district would “support lessons and activities that engage students in meaningful learning about the accomplishments of the LGBTQ+ community and the experiences of our LGBTQ+ students, employees, and families.”

Police have not identified the people who were arrested, but stressed that the department wants to “encourage continued open dialogue and constructive engagement with community members.”

Rep. Adam B. Schiff (D-Calif.), whose district includes Glendale, blasted the violence targeting LGBTQ rights, calling it “horrific.” He added that children in schools should “be safe regardless of who they love or how they identify.”

“We will not go back,” Schiff tweeted. “We will not apologize for celebrating the strength and the diversity of our LGBTQ community.”

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[1] Url: https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2023/06/07/california-glendale-school-board-brawl-lgbtq-pride/

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