LOS ANGELES, California — Fights broke out Tuesday between a group of conservative protesters and left-wing counter-demonstrators outside a school board meeting in Glendale, California, that discussed LGBT issues in the curriculum.
Police moving into position as crowds voice their opinions at Glendale school board meeting where parents and activists disagree over teaching sexual identity to kids. pic.twitter.com/I9E56eePob
— Allen J. Schaben (@alschaben) June 7, 2023
Extremely tense scenes outside the Glendale (CA) school board meeting as Armenian-Americans clash with #Antifa. Many families are angry the elementary schools are celebrating pride events. Police have declared an unlawful assembly. pic.twitter.com/hM4IXOLFjj
— Andy Ngô 🏳️🌈 (@MrAndyNgo) June 7, 2023
Crowds voice their opinions at Glendale school board meeting where parents and activists disagree over teaching sexual identity to kids. pic.twitter.com/i3zYNx5ruD
— Allen J. Schaben (@alschaben) June 6, 2023
An all out brawl is underway outside the Glendale School Board meeting in Los Angeles between Armenian-American families angry at the school doing pride events and far left protesters that have gathered to oppose them.
pic.twitter.com/sZ0RxQW8VG— 1776 Project PAC (@1776ProjectPac) June 7, 2023
#BREAKING: The protest outside the Glendale Unified School Board meeting has turned violent, with protesters clashing. @GlendalePD trying to regain control now. @RoadSageLA overhead in #SKYCAL. @kcalnews pic.twitter.com/g0YWp1KVWI
— Mike Rogers (@MikeRogersTV) June 7, 2023
One anti-LGBT protester carrying a biology book and flipping me off. pic.twitter.com/WSGHP3vfWF
— LaSombritaWithNews (@ACatWithNews) June 7, 2023
It is not clear whether, or how many, counter-protesters were affiliated with Antifa, but a few appeared to be wearing black clothing and black masks, which are often associated with the movement. Otherwise, the protesters and counter-protesters reflected the general tone of public controversy around the issue:
Burbank, CA – June 06: Protestors making their opinions known and join crowds gathering outside a Glendale Unified School District meeting where parents and activists differ over teaching sexual identity to kids at Glendale Unified School District in Burbank Tuesday, June 6, 2023. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)
Burbank, CA – June 06: Protestors makie their opinions known and join crowds gathering outside a Glendale Unified School District meeting where parents and activists differ over teaching sexual identity to kids at Glendale Unified School District in Burbank Tuesday, June 6, 2023. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)
Local CBS affiliate KCAL-9 reported on the clashes:
Protests outside a Glendale school district meeting turned violent as groups began several brawls as administrators debate gender and sexual identity studies.
Demonstrations outside of the Glendale Unified School District building stayed relatively civil throughout the day. However, scuffles between protesters and counter-demonstrators began after 6 p.m. The same groups, totaling about 200 people, protested outside a North Hollywood elementary school last week. School administrators said many of the protesters did not have students in the district.
One group, “Gays Against Groomers,” supports LGBT rights but not the indoctrination of young children:
Last month our @GAG_California team went to speak at @GlendaleUSD’s school board meeting in support of this young girl who was reprimanded for using her teacher’s “wrong” pronouns.
Well, tonight, we are BACK. And this time, it seems a lot more people found the courage to stand… https://t.co/sNYPv48KcW pic.twitter.com/o1KJ30tz4L
— Gays Against Groomers (@againstgrmrs) June 7, 2023
As Breitbart News reported last month, parents in nearby North Hollywood pulled their children out of a local school to protest a Pride month assembly. Many of the parents were conservative Christians from the Armenian community.
The boycott was accompanied by a protest outside the school, in which parents and sympathetic activists voiced their opposition to teaching about alternative sexualities and gender transitions in the school.
Democrats, including White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, have described reactions to LGBT issues in school curricula as “hateful,” but many parents feel such instruction is not age-appropriate, whether the sexuality in question is gay, straight, or otherwise.
Some also oppose in-school celebrations of Pride month, an observance that often carries political messages, and which clashes with some traditional religious doctrines.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of the new biography, Rhoda: ‘Comrade Kadalie, You Are Out of Order’. He is also the author of the recent e-book, Neither Free nor Fair: The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
