Police stood watch outside a North Hollywood elementary school Friday morning as a group of parents protested a Pride Day assembly, bringing to a head weeks of turmoil that saw a transgender teacher’s LGBTQ Pride flag burned.
Parents held up signs outside Saticoy Elementary School with messages that included “No pride in grooming,” “Parental choice matters” and “Leave our kids alone.” Across the street, an LGBTQ counterprotest formed.
“We want to reiterate that our protest is in no way an attack on the LGBTQ community,” the group, called Saticoy Elementary Parents, posted Thursday on Instagram. “We recognize the importance of promoting equality and acceptance for all individuals.”
The group, however, had set its sights on Friday’s Gay Pride and Rainbow Day assembly and urged other parents to keep their children home that day.
“Keep your kids home and innocent,” a flier posted by the group said. “Videos will be shown to the students including one where it says, ‘some kids have 2 mommies, some have 2 daddies.’ This has caused outrage among parents.”
The Los Angeles Police Department stationed officers at the school Friday morning to “support our LAUSD partners and facilitate a peaceful and lawful exercise of constitutional rights,” the department said.
The Los Angeles Unified School District “remains committed to maintaining a safe, inclusive and supportive environment for all students,” it said in a statement.
The district confirmed that the Los Angeles School Police Department was providing additional patrols around campus for the safety of students and staff members.
A transgender teacher at the school discovered May 22 that a Pride flag displayed in a flower pot had been burned and the pot broken. Los Angeles police confirmed the vandalism was being investigated. Saticoy Elementary told parents the act occurred during a break-in over the prior weekend.
Summer Lin, Andrew J. Campa
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