NORTH HOLLYWOOD, Calif.—Some parents at Saticoy Elementary School in North Hollywood are calling for a boycott of a Pride event scheduled at the school next month, encouraging other parents to “Keep your kids home and innocent.”
That is part of the message being distributed on a flyer to protest the Pride assembly, and some parents and educators say it is spreading intolerance.
“We respect everyone, but some things are appropriate for children [of] that age, and some things are not,” George Dzhabroyan, who is among the Saticoy parents unhappy with the school’s planned Pride event, told KTLA. “Hopefully the message gets across and people understand that parents should be the primary contact of what their children should be exposed to and shouldn’t be exposed to.”
The planned Pride assembly on June 2 will include a reading of a book called “The Great Big Book of Families,” which highlights diversity, a representative of the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) said. Parents can request that their children not attend the program, according to the district.
Parents who oppose the program have started an Instagram account. One of the posts invites parents who share conservative values and don’t feel the material is appropriate to teach children to protest outside the school on June 2.
LAUSD issued a statement saying, “As part of our engagement with school communities, our schools regularly discuss the diversity of the families that we serve and the importance of inclusion. This remains an active discussion with our school communities and we remain committed to continuing to engage with families about this important topic.”
