Hate Rears Its Ugly Head

“I see my role as an opportunity to serve as a visible and vocal advocate for the LGBTQIA+ community in our neighborhood.”

– Greg Wright, President

North Hollywood West Neighborhood Council

As part of the City of Los Angeles’ celebration of Pride Month, the Department of Neighborhood Empowerment introduced LGBTQIA+ leaders from across the Neighborhood Council system. When interviewed for this series Greg Wright, President of the North Hollywood West Neighborhood Council, stated he works “to create a welcoming and inclusive environment within the Council and our broader community.” He also stressed the need to foster “respectful dialogue [to ensure] that LGBTQIA+ voices are heard and valued”.

Wright’s leadership is significant because his neighborhood includes Saticoy Elementary School. Last year this school was the site of a violent protest against a Pride celebration where members of the LGBTQIA+ and their allies were anything but welcomed on the streets of North Hollywood. As young elementary school students were escorted through the crowd to attend class they were subjected to homophobic slurs. A mob descended on a member of the trans community threatening their safety as they stood on a public sidewalk. A person holding a pride flag fought to hold on as the protestors tried to rip it from her hands.

Unfortunately, Wright’s support of the LGBTQIA+ community is not shared by all of his fellow Board Members. Business Representative Adriana Gomez sent the following email to Eunisses Hernandez, Chair of the Los Angeles City Council’s Neighborhoods and Community Enrichment Committee:

I am a daughter of Mexican immigrants and mother to a beautiful daughter. I was born in the San Fernando Valley and I raised a family here as well.

I have seen first hand the increased pressure from a small group of aggressive activists in the LGTBQ+ community who have hijacked our education system in the name of equity and inclusion. Our classrooms have become a battleground for these activists to push an agenda that has no place in the schools, where math, reading, science and history should be our main focus.

Children are not able to grasp the ideologies being pushed by adults fighting their own mental health.

Being inclusive and diverse does not mean introducing children to sex or gender ideologies that they cannot understand at such an early age. It also does not mean providing oversexualized material to children in the name of inclusion.

I kindly ask that you consider the children's well being over the feelings of activists and keep the classrooms as a place where children can learn age appropriate material and not LGTBQ+ ideologies that are not inclusive, but divisive at its core.

As we celebrate Pride Month, let's remember that the current movement is no longer about equality, but instead it is about a small group of people fighting for power over schools, social media, politics and family values. We live in an amazing city where diversity is our norm. We welcome everyone with open arms, but please leave our children and schools alone.

--

Adriana Gomez

NC NoHo West Board

Chair, Planning & Land Use Committee

Budget Advocate Board Representative

[phone number redacted]

Rather than “ensuring that the diverse needs and concerns of LGBTQIA+ residents are recognized and addressed”, Gomez makes the offensive suggestion that members of this community are “fighting their own mental health”, a bigoted worldview viewpoint abandoned long ago by mental health professionals. Demanding school environments that are inclusive to all families is deemed by Gomez to be “divisive at its core”.

In her email, Gomez makes the oft-repeated accusation that the pride assembly at Saticoy Elementary used “oversexualized material to children in the name of inclusion” and was not “age appropriate”. She, apparently, had not bothered to read the book that was presented to students that morning:

“The Great Big Book of Families” is nothing like what Gomez describes. It does not contain any references to sex or sex organs. Even though it is frequently “banned, challenged and relocated for LGBTQIA+ content,” it is not even focused on this community. The book simply makes the “radical” statement that all families are different and all deserve to be respected, even those with two mommies or two daddies. It is an important message with the ability to resonate to the multitude of students growing up outside of traditional family structures.

Even though Gomez signed her email as the Chair of the Planning & Land Use Committee for the NoHo West Neighborhood Council, the President of that Board confirms that it was sent “on her own accord” and these views do “not represent NoHo West NC.” Hopefully, there are other Board Members who can educate her about the harm her words can have. Her constituents should certainly hold her responsible when she comes up for reelection in 2027.

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Carl Petersen is a parent advocate for public education, particularly for students with special education needs, who serves as the Education Chair for the Northridge East Neighborhood Council. As a Green Party candidate in LAUSD’s District 2 School Board race, he was endorsed by Network for Public Education (NPE) Action. Dr. Diane Ravitch has called him “a valiant fighter for public schools in Los Angeles.” For links to his blogs, please visit www.ChangeTheLAUSD.com. Opinions are his own.