By Daisy Gardner
LAUSD Public School Parent

On August 22, a text popped up on my phone: “They made it here.” A terrified friend who works at Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) headquarters in downtown LA was pinging me, panicked about the members of the anti-LGBTQ Leave Our Kids Alone coalition (LOKA) who had gathered to march on an LAUSD board meeting.

Unbeknownst to her, I was on the scene, facing the LOKA members as bewildered school district employees looked on. I gazed down the hill, where a caravan of angry people wearing “Leave Our Kids Alone” T-shirts was stuck on the Third Street Bridge, unable to bypass a line of police, parents, United Teachers Los Angeles and SEIU members, and assorted LGBTQ activists. Stalled, unable to move, the group blasted Pink Floyd’s “The Wall” over and over again, as a few people half-heartedly swayed.

I texted back, “Nope. They didn’t make it to LAUSD.” Not this time, anyway.

As an LAUSD parent, my hope is that anti–public education, anti-LGBTQ groups will never breach the district’s inclusive walls, either literally or figuratively. However, I fear that not even Los Angeles will ultimately be able to withstand the so-called “parental rights” movement that targets LGBTQ families, school districts, and teachers—and that is spreading like wildfire across the country.

Read the full piece on The Nation