(Headline USA) Police officers separated groups of protesters and counterprotesters Friday outside a Los Angeles elementary school that has become a flashpoint for ‘pride’ month events across California.
People protesting a planned Pride assembly outside the Los Angeles Unified School District’s Saticoy Elementary School wore T-shirts emblazoned with “Leave our kids alone” — and carried signs with slogans such as “Parental Choice Matters” and “No Pride in Grooming.”
Tensions at the school have been rising since last month, when a social media page was created to urge parents to keep their children home Friday, the day of the planned assembly.
Outside the school, protesters against the assembly outnumbered those who were there in support. Some protesters identified themselves as parents of students in the district but would not give their full names during interviews, saying they had agreed not to, as a group, citing safety concerns.
Broadly, they said they felt elementary school was too young to discuss LGBTQ+ issues.
Arielle Aldana, whose 6-year-old son attends Saticoy, said she didn’t know about the assembly until she dropped him off at school Friday morning.
She joined the protest against the assembly and said it was “frustrating” that the school didn’t tell parents about the topic ahead of time.
An Instagram page called Saticoy Elementary Parents called Pride “an inappropriate topic for our kids!”
In one post, the page says that Christian families and those who “share conservative values don’t feel this material is appropriate to teach to the children and believe it’s a parents’ right to choose.”
It’s not clear who started the page, which also includes phone numbers and email addresses for district and school officials, urging parents to call them to protest the event.
Adapted from reporting by the Associated Press
