Parents say half of students stayed home in protest against LGBQT club held in secret at California elementary school

Parents of students in a California school district organized a walk-out in protest against an LGBTQ club that had been held without parent notification.

The LGBTQ+ group was created by a third-grade teacher at the Pleasant Grove Elementary School in the Elk Grove Unified District.

"Deal with the bullying. Don't keep secrets from parents," said Brittani Cortina, a parent of the district. "Take that issue with the parents don't take that issue with the students in the school."

"These little minds, they just can't wrap their head around what these types of things mean to them," said Pamela Davila, a parent of the elementary school. "I don't think any of us have an issue with that topic. It's just that they did that without notifying the parents."

The National Center for Law & Policy, on behalf of the outraged parents, sent a cease-and-desist letter to the district over the controversial club.

“All of the evidence points to the fact that Elk Grove Unified School District’s UBU Club at Pleasant Grove Elementary School was intentionally designed and planned to be a covert child sexuality club whose very purpose was to deceive and undermine parents and families whose viewpoints regarding human sexuality differ from the extreme ideological and political agendas of the Youth Development Office, aligned administrators and rogue teachers like Daniel Bishop,” the NCLP wrote in the letter.

The group went on to point out that the teacher purposely held the meetings at lunch in order to circumvent parental notification rules.

Parents told KTXL-TV that about half of the student body was missing from attending school over their protest.

Rather than defuse the situation, defenders of the secret LGBTQ club argued that it was necessary for the furtherance of the LGBTQ+ political agenda.

Pleasant Grove Elementary Principal Deidra Wood said in a letter to parents that the group was intended to "support and provide a safe space for any 3rd-6th grade LGBTQ+ students and any other interested students in 3rd-6th grade."

She added the children at the club meetings would "participate in activities such as playing board games and doing puzzles in an environment that is designed to support diverse families, affirm varying identities, and celebrate the importance and value of diversity."

Activist Jorge Reyes Salinas of Equality California argued that the club supported gender identity without necessarily discussing sex.

"You can talk about feelings and identity without talking about the mechanics of sex," said Salinas. "It's important for every student in the elementary school system to establish some sort of foundation of respect and understanding for all people, for all students, and that is what UBU is really doing."

The NCLP has threatened to seek further legal action if the district doesn't agree to end the clubs by April 10.

Here's more about the incident:

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