California’s State Superintendent Tony Thurmond went to speak at a meeting of the school board of the Chino Valley Unified School District. He was invited by students there to speak against a policy that the board was about to vote on, one that required teachers to report to parents if a student wanted to be identified by a gender different from the one on his or her birth certificate.
Carl J. Petersen, parent advocate in Los Angeles, describes what happened at the meeting.
He writes:
In a perfect world, all children would have relationships with their parents where they felt safe to discuss any subject without hesitation. Homes would be judgment-free zones where all children, even those questioning their gender identity, would be accepted and loved unconditionally. But in the words of Ice T, It “ain’t like that.”
In reality, there are children whose physical well-being would be put in danger if their parents were to find out that they were members of the LGBTQ+ community. Others might face emotional abuse or estrangement. According to the National Coalition For The Homeless, “LGBTQ+ youth are 120% more likely to experience homelessness than non-LGBTQ youth.”These effects are not limited to parents whose hopeless bigotry is stronger than their love for their children. Some may have unwittingly sent homophobic messaging that they would surely drop if they knew how much they were hurting their child. Others might be struggling to process reality but, given the time, may provide the acceptance that is deserved.
It is families within this last group of parents who will be hurt by policies like the one just passed by the Chino Valley Unified School District (CVUSD). By requiring parental notification “after a student requests to identify with a gender different than what is on their birth certificate”, politicians are forcibly outing children at a pace that they may not be ready for. They are also eliminating a path to support from outside the family structure, one that is essential when “LGBTQ youth are more than four times as likely to attempt suicide than their peers.”
Students invited Superintendent Thurmond to speak. The board allowed him only one minute, although it is customary to allow more time for elected officials. After one minute, his microphone was cut off.
Petersen wrote, “When he approached the podium again to rebut the Board President’s response to his comments, he was evicted from the room.”
Petersen wrote a letter to Superintendent Thurmond, thanking him for standing up for LGBT students and warning that theofascist extremists, inspired by Ron DeSantis and his crusade against LGBT people, were leading efforts like the one in Chino Valley.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Right wing extremists are a bottomless pit of mean-spirited bias. LGBT young people are a vulnerable group that deserves better. If these extremists are Christians, they should ask themselves: What would Jesus do?
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Media should inform the readers/listeners about the board members whose religion is foremost in their public personas.
Board member, Sonja Shaw, leads a Bible-study group “helping others grow in the word of God.”
James Na spearheaded a campaign to reintroduce the Bible into public schools. His church, Calvary Chapel, praised him for it.
Jonathan Monroe, father of 5, boasts in his bio, “served a mission for his church.”
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Until the right wing, politicized, religious sects and churches are called out by name, our enemy will advance.
Westboro Baptist was denounced for its anti-gay activities.
The focused condemnation was important to diminishing their power.
The strategy of identifying churches that funded Issue 1 in Ohio and identifying the churches affiliated with right wing board members, can not be avoided if there is a plan to win for democracy, for public schools and for human rights.
There is too much experience with looking the other way and witnessing the successes of our enemy to think that refraining from exposing right wing religious sects and churches is wise.
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If conversion therapy actually worked you could understand the school board’s position. The reality is that it is quackery, a total failure and often leads to severe mental damage. If it worked, I suspect a slew of closeted or once closeted Republicans from Hastert to Schlapp would have gone for it. Or perhaps they did and it failed before they were exposed as hypocritical SOBs. In California it is illegal.
This is pure cruelty from ————-( fill in the blank with four letter adjectives)
As my Gay friends said last weekend. “It is far easier to be straight. You don’t chose to be gay, you are who you are”
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So much for the 1st Amendment in Chino Unified. I know someone who teaches in that district. He’s close to retirement and counting the days, hoping the stress doesn’t kill him.
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It’s surprising that anyone is following DeSantis’ lead,
The guy is losing “Bigly”
As Trump says “Ron has always been a loser,”
And “Indictment Don” should certainly know.
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A Couple of Losers
A loser is The Ron
And loser is The Don
And even when they won
Their win was just a con
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A policy that the [Chino School] board was about to vote on, one that required teachers to report to parents if a student wanted to be identified by a gender different from the one on his or her birth certificate”
Also known as the Chino virus.
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