LA school board president calls out anti-LGBTQ ‘BS’ over inclusive school assembly
"I've been confronting this issue my entire life."
Jackie Goldberg, the president of an LA school board has called out the “BS” from anti-LGBTQ protestors in the US state.
Goldberg of the LA Unified School Board was part of an optional assembly on 3 June at Saticoy Elementary where children were read to from The Great Big Book of Families.
The book by British author Mary Hoffman includes the line: “Some children have two mommies or two daddies.”
After four days of anti-LGBTQ protests outside the Sun Valley school, Goldberg made an impassioned speech at a public meeting on the issue.
At one point during the protest, a Pride flag belonging to a staff member at Saticoy Elementary was burned. Fights are also reported to have broken out.
Addressing the protests, Goldberg said: “I’ve been confronting this issue my entire life.” She said she’d been threatened, harrassed, and denied jobs because of who she loves.
She also tackled the attitudes of some people spreading hate, who argued they’re not homophobic because they have gay relatives or friends.
This, Goldberg said, was “BS”. She also said that the protestors had acted “based on hearsay” and “agitators” from outside the local community.
She recounted from the assembly: ‘A the little discussion at the school after that, as soon as the book was over, one little girl sitting at my knees said ‘I have two mommies.’ A little boy on my other side said: ‘I have five grandmas’.”
“You better treat me the same way you treat everybody else. That’s how we live in this country”
Getting more visibly emotional and angry Goldberg expressed her tiredness, shared by the LGBTQ community, of hearing the screaming on this type of issue.
“What do you think that did to them?!” It made them afraid!” she screamed. “How dare you make them afraid because you are!”
She continued: “I’m sorry I told you this was personal.” Her son was once harassed for having two mommies. The fact that Goldberg’s grandchildren aren’t is a sign of progress.
“Nobody has to accept me. I’m not looking for your acceptance,” she also said. “But you better treat me the same way you treat everybody else. That’s how we live in this country.
“You don’t have to love me. You don’t have to like me, you can think I’m the devil incarnate. But you treat me like a decent human being because that’s how I treat you even though you don’t believe I have the right to exist.”
Jackie Goldberg also encouraged people who had taken issue with the assembly to learn more about what was actually being taught. She also reiterated the assembly was optional and that parents had been told they could have their kids not attend.
L.A. schools Superintendant Alberto Carvalho told the LA Times that the assembly was “absolutely grade-level appropriate.”
He added: “This was nothing more, nothing less than a book that speaks about families in our community. Carvalho also said the protests were over “one reference that has been misportrayed in so many ways.”
At the meeting, a resolution was approved committing the US’ second-largest school district to raising awareness about the LGBTQ+ community.