Community members, parents, and lawmakers gathered at Glendale City Hall Thursday to call for more LGBTQ protection after the chaos that erupted in June 2023 within the Glendale Unified School District.
Fights, arrests, and protests happened outside of the school district’s board room last summer as administrators debated gender and sexual identity studies.
“I was driving home, saw these helicopters and I saw the videos of the violence,” recent Glendale High School graduate Edgar told KNX News’ Nataly Tavidian “It didn't feel like the Glendale I grew up in like this is not our city. This never happened before.”
Edgar recalled seeing “extremists and outside agitators” showing up to meetings that he said he knew weren’t from Glendale.
“I felt that someone needed to speak out because, you know, the teachers wouldn't show up because obviously they're scared that they'll be targeted,” he said.
Cynthia, a Glendale Unified School District teacher, said she hasn’t seen violence like that in the two decades that she has been teaching. “I think what the teachers want is just to be able to do our job,” she said. “There has been a lot of targeted attacks on teachers.”
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Although the protests included agitators from outside of the district, some Glendale parents were also involved.
“I was here in Glendale at the Unified School District meeting on June 6th when the LOKA folks, the Leave Our Kids Alone, and far-right instigators including Proud Boys and Three Percenters showed up,” Burbank Councilmember Konstantine Anthony said. “They tried to shut it down. They were calling folks, groomers and pedophiles and trying to spread disinformation and hate.”
He said the parents that are being fed misinformation about what’s happening within the district need to hear from community members.
“Me being Greek and other individuals who are Armenian need to do the outreach and talk with the parents who are being fed misinformation by folks who are not part of the community,” Anthony said.
The people who gathered outside of Glendale City Hall hope to get their message across before the primary on March 5.
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