Fellow Democrats,

Conservatives are once again attacking educational and LGBTQ spaces in Roseville and Placer County. The Landing Spot was forced to cancel their annual youth drag show, which was scheduled to be at Roseville High School, due to pressure from the Destiny Church backed organization, the American Council. The Landing Spot is a non-religious organization run by Pastor Casey of the Loomis Basin Congregational United Church of Christ and provides a safe, supportive, and empowering space for LGBTQIA+ youth and their families. This drag show would have been their third such annual event and was intended to be a fundraiser for further LGBTQ youth activities.

The American Council is the political arm of Destiny Church in Rocklin, and is run by Tanner DiBella, who is active in local Republican politics. The American Council has been active in promoting extremely conservative candidates for school board races in Placer County and has been involved in trying to ban books from Roseville area high schools. The American Council is currently taking positions on several pieces of California legislation, including urging the support of SB 31. Here is the official text to SB 31. SB 31 is very similar to AB 257, which I have previously discussed. SB 31 is a bill intended to criminalize homelessness and would make it a misdemeanor or infraction for any person to "sit, lie, sleep, or store, use, maintain, or place personal property upon any street, sidewalk, or other public right-of-way within 1000 feet of" a "school, daycare center, park, or library." And for further clarification, personal property under the Penal Code includes the use of money. This bill would literally make it a crime to use money within 1000 feet of every school, park, library, and daycare center just to try to make unhoused people disappear. The American Council supports SB 31 because it is "essential... to uphold the law...maintain social order..." and for "Reestablishing public security..." I am pretty sure that is what led to Jesus being crucified, but who am I to judge. Our local State Senator, Roger Niello, who represents South Placer County in Senate District 6, is also a coauthor of SB 31.

As Democrats, it is vital that we defend the rights of people to express themselves without fear of persecution and to push back against the lies being told about LGBTQ people and these kinds of events. Please show your support for the Landing Spot and LGBTQ youth by donating or by following them on social media.

We must also shine a spotlight on the Roseville Joint Union High School District for their role in the cancellation of this event and push for policies that allow schools to host these kinds of events in the future without fear of being cancelled. Please join us and voice your displeasure with the Roseville Joint Union High School District Board at its next meeting at 6:30pm at West Park High School on Thursday, March 9th. This will also be an important school board meeting because they will be voting to approve the process that they will be using to approve future curriculum and instructional materials. Please let others know about this and share our post on Facebook.

In solidarity,

Nick Bennett
President
Roseville Junction Democratic Club

in partnership with the Placer County Democratic Party Central Committee