Two members of the Orange Unified School District board have been removed by parents who opposed a policy requiring school staff to out transgender kids.
Parents in Southern California have voted to remove two conservative school board members after they spearheaded a policy that forcibly outs transgender students to their guardians.
Members of the Orange Unified School District board voted 4-0 to enact the policy in September. It was passed at 11:30 p.m., after the three opposed members walked out and withheld their votes.
The policy states that parents must be notified when a student seeks “to be identified as a gender other than the student’s biological sex or gender listed on the student’s birth certificate or any other official records.” This includes names, nicknames, and pronouns, and applies even if the student hasn’t taken action but has discussed the matter with a counselor.
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At the initial meeting in September, the board was overwhelmed by crowds who showed up to either protest or support the policy. However, the majority of the attendees voicing support did not have children in the district’s schools, and most were not residents of the area, according to the Times.
Remember, people, being informed about who is running for even the lowest level elected positions is very important.
Those positions often have the most day-to- day impact on your individual life, and they are typically the least voted for races.
That happened with my local library system. We had a dipshit conservative try to ban pride displays. Turns out, even if this is a red county, the people who actually read books and care about public services don’t like that, and now knew to pay attention to local library politics. The hearing about it was packed, and she lost badly the next election.
I admit I didn’t consider voting in library board elections before, but now you bet I’m showing up.
And yet, local media has become such shit that it’s impossible to research the positions of many local candidates.
During the last elections here, the media sent out questionnaires to all of the school board candidates and half of them didn’t bother to respond.
The local subreddit crowdsourced background info on all the candidates and helped identify several of the wingnut wannabe authoritarians.
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Though one did manage to get elected and almost immediately got suspended for acting like the racist she is during the meetings, and then freaking out when called out for her behaviour.
I’ve emailed local candidates and asked them how they voted on other elections (like who did you vote for president or in the primaries). They’ve responded. I have had some respond very vague, which I interpret as a bad sign, and others were very clear.
If they don’t want to say, they either voted Republican or are afraid to be transparent (or both). Either way, they need to be voted out.
League of women’s voters website is usually a good resource. They send each candidate a questionnaire and publish what they get back.
You might be shocked at how accessible local politicians can be. It astonishingly easy to get into local politics.
Show up, introduce yourself, shake hands, rinse and repeat. You’ll soon get to know who’s who and how the tides are moving. You’ll see who has influence, and why, learn from there.
LOL, you got me thinking about jumping back in. Locally, some people got together to fight an initiative we didn’t like. Nobody powerful or monied, but they won.