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Trustees at the Livermore Valley Joint Unified School District passed a resolution recognizing June as LGBTQ+ Pride Month at their June 13 meeting, following a number of public comments both decrying and supporting the decision in the latest installment of an ongoing debate at the district’s school board meetings, as well as other districts throughout the region and country.
During the meeting, the Board of Education voted unanimously to pass the resolution, following approximately 10 public comments, a majority of which supported the resolution and sought to contend with critics.
“Ensuring a safe and inclusive environment for all students and staff is a priority of the Livermore Valley Joint Unified School District. Our District’s Affirmation, All Kids Are Our Kids, identifies this priority and, since 2017, has been one of our District Initiatives,” district staff wrote in a report prepared for the meeting.
While 2023 marks the district’s sixth formally recognizing June as LGBTQ+ pride month, growing backlash over efforts to promote and celebrate diversity, equity and inclusion measures at school districts including LVJUSD led to both opposition and support over the resolution on this year’s agenda.
“In the Bible, demons refer to themselves as they, them, we, us,” Tri-Valley Republicans President Jackie Cota said in a public comment on the resolution. “This proclamation highlights an invitation for collective introspection on fostering an environment of mutual respect and understanding. However it raises questions about the board administration’s decision to promote a divisive social agenda among children, all in the name of inclusivity.”
Cota pointed to conservative outcry and boycotting of companies and products such as Target and Bud Light for recent Pride-themed marketing efforts and merchandising as examples of the “repercussions” that promoting inclusivity can lead to for businesses.
“Recognizing Pride Month in public schools is a violation of equal rights to educational opportunities, as it creates an exclusionary environment for straight students by prioritizing and highlighting a specific group’s experiences,” Cota said.
Emily Wilson, co-founder of Tri-Valley for Black Lives, offered the second public comment of the evening following Cota’s, in which she laid out and explained statistics from the Trevor Project regarding mental health outcomes and suicide rates for LGBTQ+ students and contended with some of Cota’s remarks.
Wilson pointed to a reported 41% of LGBTQ+ young people having considered suicide, as well as more than half who reported being harassed or bullied based on their gender and/or sexual identities nationally, as well as reports from students within the district.
“As we know, 184 Granada students reported being discriminated against due to their sexual orientation over the last year,” Wilson said. “184 students and there’s 180 days in the school year.”
Nationally, Wilson noted that 14% of LGBTQ+ had gone beyond considering suicide to attempting suicide, according to statistics from the Trevor Project.
“Allyship is not comfortable,” Wilson said, noting that this was what companies and products such as Bud Light and Target were facing amid conservative backlash against their Pride Month marketing efforts.
“It’s not going to make everyone happy,” Wilson continued. “This is about saving lives and that’s it. All we’re asking is to exist. That’s all we want. To be recognized as who we are and to exist in a safe environment.”
Despite Cota’s allegations of Pride Month and other LGBTQ+ celebrations being “exclusionary,” Wilson challenged her and others to get to know groups and figures in the local LGBTQ+ community.
“We are not going back in the closet,” Wilson said. “We are not going away. We have been here since the beginning of time. And queerness is beautiful. Happy Pride Month to all of you.”
Alex Izarraraz, a former candidate for the school board in last year’s election and member of Moms for Liberty spoke in a public comment to defend her group’s positions and to decry what she said was hatefulness expressed by counter activists.
“We are dedicating a month to promoting sexual activity and body mutilation,” Izarraraz said. “I can’t sit here and pretend this community is loving and accepting when a teacher in your district intimidated community members at a rally, his spouse waving flags basically in people’s faces in this meeting.”
Izarraraz added that she and other critics of diversity and inclusion in school board policies never sought to target individuals, yet alleged that she and her children were targeted for harassment by those opposing her political and social views, as well as her platform in last year’s election.
“I want to be clear, we are very aware that not every member of this community is indoctrinating our children,” Izarraraz said. “But when you’re pushing your ideologies and beliefs on children in the class as your teachers’ contract specifically says not to … that is indoctrination.”
A number of other public comments centered on the importance of the separation of church and state, and called for keeping religion out of schools while applauding the board for supporting LGBTQ+ students.
Jennifer Hayes, a teacher with the district, said that she saw the points of argument being put forward by Izarraraz, Cota, and others in previous meetings as theological ones rather than social or political ones.
“As a debate coach, I would have coached my students that that was immaterial to the discussions here,” Hayes said. “Because we are a public school, a public institution, we have state guidelines, we have the U.S. Constitution, we have federal guidelines that we follow because we need to include all people.”
Hayes pointed to months emphasizing other groups, such as Black History Month, Women’s History Month, and AAPI Heritage Month, asking if they would also be targets for critics at the local school board.
Hayes suggested that the school board seek to bolster support for LGBTQ+ students as part of the district’s Strategic Directions, given the ongoing critiques and debates at board meetings.
“Clearly there is a bit of a hostile environment context for them in our town, and I think that we do need to be able to help them so there are not more statistics about losing those students,” Hayes said.
