“Stop grooming our kids,” shouts a group of parents. “No hate in the 818” yells back a group of LGBTQ+ advocates.
These chantang out for hours outside Saticoy Elementary School on Friday morning, June 2, where a group of predominantly Armenian parents protested a Pride-themed book reading that described same-sex marriage and counter-protestors defended the school’s right to teach grade school students about forms of sexuality.
“I don’t like the idea of my little kid coming home and saying it’s fine for a family to have two dads, two men to love each other. We don’t respect that, it’s not in our culture as Christians and Armenians,” said Sean Karapetyan, a father of two students at Saticoy Elementary School.
Erik Adamian, a counter-protester and board president of the GALAS LGBTQ+ Armenian Society, pushed back on this sentiment.
“LGBTQ+ individuals exist in all cultures and communities and our representation and our voices being heard is not a matter of discussion, it is a civil right that was earned through decades and decades of LGBTQ activism,” he said.
The conflict at Saticoy Elementary School began about two weeks ago when members of a parent group expressed outrage over the school’s plan to read at a student assembly “The Great Big Book of Families.” The book describes types of families including multi-cultural and multi-religious families, families with adopted children and families with same-sex parents.
Tensions escalated when a transgender teacher’s Pride flag was found burned outside a classroom on May 22. The parent group says it was not connected to the incident and LAPD is investigating it as a possible vandalism hate crime.
On Friday morning, frustration from both sides poured from a crowd of more than 100 who represented a microcosm of the national debate over whether schools should teach young children about sexuality. The protest pitted Armenian and conservative parents, and other community members, wearing…
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