by
Nick Bennett
Chair, Roseville Junction Democratic Club; PCDCC Member
The other side thinks they are winning. They think they have the momentum. Those who support policies that would harm transgender, and gender non-conforming youth are becoming increasingly emboldened. At the recent Dry Creek Joint Elementary School District board meeting, “Proud Boy” Jeffrey Perrine received a round of applause from the audience after speaking on the district’s parental notification policy. That board then went on to unanimously approve their policy to “out” students who want to be themselves at school, without any board discussion on the policy. No explanation for why it was on the agenda; no justification for why the policy was needed. Two school boards in Placer County now have policies that explicitly target and harm LGBTQ+ students. The other school boards are watching, and the other side is pressuring them to adopt these policies.
The other side is becoming more outspoken about the reasons why they support these harmful policies. Many openly want to impose their own religious beliefs through government. Other supporters have baselessly accused teachers of grooming students or trying to indoctrinate them. To many of these people, students who are transgender or gender non-conforming are confused, gullible, or suffering from a treatable mental disorder, even though such beliefs are not supported by the consensus within modern medicine. They believe their rights are unlimited while anyone under 18 does not have any. They believe that because Placer County is conservative, they are entitled to do whatever they want to keep it that way.
Despite all of this, many teachers, LGBTQ+ community members, and other concerned residents have sent emails and passionately voiced their concerns and the reasons not to pursue these anti-trans policies. Thanks to many of you, the Placer Hills Union School District is not rushing to adopt such policies. We must continue these efforts where these policies pop up. More importantly though, we must encourage parents to become more involved with their children’s schools and eventually run for school board positions. This is the only way that we can ensure the other side cannot continue to implement their schemes to purge LGBTQ+ forms of expression at school, remove safe spaces, push biased history and science curriculum, and ban contemporary literature that does not reflect their narrow world views. As the Placer County Democratic Party, we must also become better at supporting young families trying to get more involved in activism and supporting first-time, local candidates.
We cannot wait for the Legislature or a lawsuit to save us. Unless we continue to organize, more school boards will follow. The other side is still planning and finding new ways to force their agenda in local government. If we want 2024 to be different from 2022, we must not be afraid to speak up for what we believe in and shine a light on what we know is wrong. We must replace these school board members with members of the community willing to fight for students and teachers.