By David M. Greenwald
Executive Editor
Davis has been dealing this year with a small but vocal group of parents and community members pushing back on trans-policies, primarily in the school district. But while Davis’ fight has a unique character, the same or at least similar battles are going on across the state.
In a lengthy piece on Sunday, the LA Times noted, “Conservatives bring anti-queer fight to California schools.”
“We believe that there is a radical indoctrination system that has seeped from academia and now into K through 12,” said one father in San Diego County who the Times says “is now a regular face on the front line of right-wing activists barnstorming through school districts across Southern California to demand they backtrack on LGBTQ+-inclusive policies and begin forcing teachers and administrators to out queer kids to their parents.”
Writes the Times, “They have tapped into a vein of concern among parents — even some liberal ones — who are struggling with the fact that 
students experiment with gender identity at school, that some will pursue gender-affirming medical care, and that state law places limits on how gender identity can be shared with parents.”
Moreover, they have “exacerbated concerns using a decades-old playbook of casting queer people as ‘groomers’ and an amalgam of misinformation about what’s actually happening in California schools, including baseless claims that teachers are ‘indoctrinating’ students into being queer.”
Sound familiar? These are the core issues that we are hearing time and time again.
Parental rights have become a watch word.
There are those who “worry about children receiving irreversible gender-related medical care they will later regret” as well as those wanting to “require schools to notify the parents of any child who asks to change their name, pronouns or gender presentation.”
The Times calls this “the latest school-related wedge issue of the political right, which has previously focused on COVID-19 precautions and critical race theory.”
And it’s an effort that’s drawing national attention.
Unlike other issues however, this one seems to have found a home in Davis. Perhaps it was the small group of parents who kept the issue alive. Perhaps they got a boost from a mistake by the library to shut down the event—which took a volatile situation and caused it to explode with bomb threats, the threat of potential criminal prosecution (which the DA has for the time being turned down), and a possible restraining order against the leader of Moms for Liberty.
The Times notes, “In the process, they have turned normally bureaucratic school board meetings into chaotic flashpoints in the modern American culture wars, with rowdy protests and scattered fights breaking out in places such as Glendale and North Hollywood.”
The Times reports that they “aren’t acting alone.”
They note—perhaps a little too buried in the middle of the article, “Backing them are conservative strategists, think tanks and institutions at the state and national level that have deep pockets, core beliefs that run counter to LGBTQ+ rights and (have) vested interests in energizing Republicans and raising doubts about the effectiveness of public education in the nation’s most populous liberal state.”
Those groups include the California Policy Center, Moms for Liberty, the Leadership Institute, Turning Point USA and evangelical megachurches.
We saw Turning Point USA speak on campus earlier this year, and now we are seeing Moms for Liberty.
The Times notes that these activists “are good at attracting attention,” but they “are also just bit players in a much larger conservative advance into California’s public schools. That’s one of the only arenas in which conservatives can affect policy, given Democrats’ supermajority in the state Legislature.”
The effort has seen some success—though not in Davis.
The Times reported, “At least seven California districts have passed parental notification policies requiring administrators to notify the parents of gender-nonconforming students.”
They have “challenged LGBTQ+-inclusive curriculum mandates and tried to strip schools of Pride flags and queer-related books.”
The Times noted the incident with Tony Thurmond, the State Superintendent of Public Instruction who is running for Governor. He “was escorted out of a Chino Valley Unified School District meeting while arguing against a proposed notification policy there.”
The Times reporterd, “The board, whose conservative members have the backing of local evangelicals, passed the measure and notified the parents of more than a dozen students. The state sued to stop such notifications, saying they violate students’ privacy rights, and a judge ordered that they stop while the litigation plays out.”
The efforts locally don’t seem to be nearly as effective. Last week, there was a huge public showing for support with over 40 elected officials in Yolo County signing onto a letter from the Davis Phoenix Coalition. That list included every elected official residing or representing the city of Davis (except Senator Bill Dodd).
But, even without policy changes, we have seen the tactics create disruptions, fear, and anxiety in the community.
The key question is whether this effort will lead to long term changes in California, or simply cement existing dividing lines.
David wrote this seven days ago. This is his fourth article on the subject since he made that suggestion.
Obviously David didn’t follow his own suggestion.
Keith is counting.
Keith thinks David is in competition with himself, LOL. Keith obviously doesn’t appreciate being repeatedly picked upon.
Woodland school board recall
https://ballotpedia.org/Emily_MacDonald_recall,_Woodland_Joint_Unified_School_District,_California_(2023)
Moving on from trans issues to ethnic studies:
https://recallmacdonald.org/press/more-drama-division-at-10-12-board-meeting/
Conservative groups such as the Moms for Liberty and Turning Point USA are vehemently engaged in a coordinated campaign of hateful bigotry, racism, anti-vax and anti-mask. They have brought their hate to blue cities such as Davis precisely because we are dominated by Democrats. Conservatives could care less who they hurt in the process, even if their own children end up trying to commit suicide. In their own minds, children are just causalities of their right wing war. In other words, the ends justify the means.
Hi David, I appreciate your continued coverage of this topic and my concerns around gender ideology in our public schools.
Again, I want to mention I am a lifelong Democrat and consider myself a liberal. I originally reached out to the Davis League of Women Voters and the local Soroptimist group to see if they could support me and my work advocating for women and children. Both groups ignored my requests. In December 2022, was the first time I heard about Moms for Liberty, Yolo chapter, a group of women, mostly in Clarksburg and West Sacramento, who shared my concerns about schools and parental right. They were kind and thoughtful and involved in their kids’ school libraries, PTAs, etc.
I am speaking on the gender industry and the harms of medicalizing kids with off-label use of puberty blockers (Lupron) and wrong-sex hormones, as well as irreversible surgeries, including cosmetic bilateral mastectomies, or “top surgery,” performed on girls 13 to 17 years old in CA. (I am happy to provide a link to the data for Oakland Kaiser Proud gender clinic for recent years.)
May I remind you that my goal is to protect the LGB kids in this town. I’ve seen many of the effeminate gay boys and tomboyish lesbian girls adopt a trans-identity suddenly during their teen years (ROGD). Kids are being taught in science and health classes that if they don’t have typical boy or girl interests, and are same-sex attracted, they could be born in the wrong bodies.
To this point, did you know that one of the Moms for Liberty leaders in California is a lesbian mom? The attorney who represented me a Yolo County court hearing was Candice Jackson. Look her up, she is a conservative, lesbian women who is also gender critical.
My question for you David and others in Davis who believe I am hateful for speaking out on the gender industry is this:
Do you think the doctors and surgeons make more money off of (1) kids who grow up to be healthy, whole adults or (2) kids who become medical patients for life with hormones that sterilize them and surgeries that leave them without sexual function?
Well said Beth, there are plenty of parents who are concerned with the points and concerns you’ve brought up here. Beth you are brave to stick up for your convictions.
last night in the Dallas Cowboys vs. Los Angeles Chargers Monday Night football game something happened that was totally unrelated to Davis, but reflects on the issues Davis is wrestling with. The dallas Cowboys coach Mike McCarthy was wearing for the whole game a Cowboys cap with the center of the star on the cap filled with the LGBT rainbow.
Don Shor October 17, 2023 at 7:36 am
Woodland school board recall
https://ballotpedia.org/Emily_MacDonald_recall,_Woodland_Joint_Unified_School_District,_California_(2023)
Moving on from trans issues to ethnic studies:
https://recallmacdonald.org/press/more-drama-division-at-10-12-board-meeting/
Hi Don,
I would like to respond to your comment about Trustee Emily MacDonald and her concerns with ethnic studies in Woodland schools. This is a topic that I know very little about – I am only focused on gender ideology. For background, I read this article a couple weeks ago in the Davis Enterprise, here it is without a paywall: https://thecoastnews.com/elias-will-anti-semitism-kill-ethnic-studies/
Again, I know almost nothing about Ethnic Studies. I just read in this article that there are concerns with new CA curriculum being Far Left, including gender ideology, and anti-Semitic.
Please take everything I say with a grain of salt. I am speaking as a concerned parent and not in my role with M4L, Yolo.
Liberals are not antisemitic. That’s just another right wing lie. I guess what Beth is referring to is that Democrats don’t always take Israel’s side on every single issue. That’s a far cry from antisemitism.
About 99% of anti-Semitic rhetoric is coming from the right wing.
To argue otherwise is laughable. But neo-fascists are gonna neo-fascist and double down with the disingenuousness or outright lies.
I only pointed out the political viewpoints of the ethnic studies trainer/curriculum developer for the Woodland school district.
Kendra, I hope you are not trying to imply that I lied are you?
Antisemitism is not the topic of this article.
Hi folks,
People keep trying to post under pseudonyms.
You must register with your own full name and provide a valid email address or your comments will not be posted.
Thanks.
Anyone who wants me to change their user name to their full name, please email at info@davisvanguard.org
Hi David,
I believe your comment about “antisemitism is not the topic of this article” should be directed to Don Shor. But I’m not sure how your blog works so maybe it was for all of us.
This morning I read this comment:
Don Shor October 17, 2023 at 7:36 amWoodland school board recallhttps://ballotpedia.org/Emily_MacDonald_recall,_Woodland_Joint_Unified_School_District,_California_(2023)Moving on from trans issues to ethnic studies:https://recallmacdonald.org/press/more-drama-division-at-10-12-board-meeting/
What I understood from Don’s comments is that people (such as a particular WJUSD school board trustee, M4L parents) who speak out on gender ideology may also be concerned about ethnic studies in our K-12 public schools.
And event before his comment, Walter said: “Conservative groups such as the Moms for Liberty and Turning Point USA are vehemently engaged in a coordinated campaign of hateful bigotry, racism, anti-vax and anti-mask”
Therefore, I wanted to speak to the topic of “ethnic studies” being another controversial area for parents who want transparency and school boards that want local control. I believe the same group of gender ideologist in this town was also responsible for creating the new ethnic studies curriculum which is all very controversial and politically based. What bothers me personally, is it encourages kids to not trust their parents but instead show allegiance to some political cause/social justice movement. I wish our schools could focus on academics again – CA scores are at the bottom in this country and it’s no wonder why.
We generally don’t discuss moderating issues on here because they lead to side conversations. However, I posted my comment for a reason because other comments were going completely off this subject. Don’s comment related to the Woodland schools issue which is on topic for this article.