A group of Los Angeles parents are keeping their children home from school on June 2 and urging others to follow suit, because of a planned school assembly to celebrate LGBTQ+ Pride month.
Parents at Saticoy Elementary School in North Hollywood are outraged over the event, which they say is its inappropriate for kids under ten. The event appears to be part of a broader observance within the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) during Pride month.
Breitbart reports: A post on the parents’ Instagram page says:
BYPASS THE CENSORS
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Keep your kids home on June 2nd! We are parents of elementary school children, who have the right to introduce sexually explicit topics at our discretion. Yes any topic that is related to LGBTQ is is sexually explicit. Why? Our children are innocent and have no idea what is out there. We as parent have the right to introduce these topics at our discretion. Instead we are being forced into talking about topics that should not burden our children for many years to come.
Another post explains that the school has “a large population of Armenian & Hispanic families many who are Christian & or share conservative values [and] don’t feel this material is appropriate to teach to the children and believe it’s a parents’ [sic] right to choose.”
The parents are also organizing a protest outside the school on the day of the Pride assembly, reported local news outlet KTLA-5, which added that not everyone in the community agreed with the protest.
A document on the LAUSD website called “Queer All School Year” includes ideas for validating LGBTQ+ students, staff, and parents. In addition to celebrating Pride month, it also advocates supporting Black Lives Matter.
The LAUSD responded cautiously to parents’ concerns, as reported by the Los Angeles Times:
In a statement, the Los Angeles Unified School District said it remains committed to “creating a safe and inclusive learning environment that embraces the diversity of the communities we serve.”
“As part of our engagement with school communities, our schools regularly discuss the diversity of the families that we serve and the importance of inclusion,” the statement said. “This remains an active discussion with our school communities and we remain committed to continuing to engage with families about this important topic.”
