California MassResistance Takes on Anaheim Elementary School District and WINS!

MassResistance parent derails big “transgender” push in California elementary school district.

Horrible programs from “Welcoming Schools” and GLSEN targeting young children

Relentlessly confronting school officials -- and not backing down

Part 1 of 2

February 13, 2019

This sign in the window of the Betsy Ross Elementary School in Anaheim, CA shows the direction they were going -- until an activist mother derailed it!

When a California school district began to implement a full “transgender” indoctrination program targeting their elementary school children, one of the parents became a MassResistance activist, organized others, and successfully derailed its big week-long propaganda push.

In the Anaheim Elementary School District, most of the families are Latino and over 80% are Spanish speaking. These are poor, immigrant communities where the parents work two jobs to make ends meet. They often don’t have time to attend school board meetings and keep track of what the districts are teaching.

In these environments, the LGBT agenda often thrives. There is little citizen oversight of the school board meetings. Some of the parents don’t even know what “LGBT” means. Most of the school materials aren’t available in other languages, and therefore homosexual activist groups like the Human Rights Campaign and GLSEN get away with pushing their agenda without opposition.

Moreover, the Anaheim Elementary School Board is made up of mostly left-wing local politicians bankrolled by the teachers’ union, with little incentive to stop their radical agendas. It’s a recipe for very bad results. But this time, they ran up against a MassResistance buzz-saw!

Bringing in the “transgender” agenda

The whole thing seemed to be right out of the LGBT playbook. As the 2017 school year began, the school administration announced that two children in the district – one of them a kindergartener – were “transitioning” to a different “gender.” It was sad and bizarre. One mother told us that the kindergarten “girl” looked, acted, and sounded like the boy he really was. “It’s so tragic that his parents are doing this to him,” she said. “There’s no question he’d grow out of it if he’s just left alone.”

The school administration quickly announced that these two children must be made to feel “safe.” So the entire elementary school district must undergo “transgender” training. Every adult and child must become appropriately “transgender” accepting.

This is from a national LGBT group that the school district was using to justify pushing the "transgender" agenda on small children. Note how they make it into "anti-bullying" to intimidate parents who might question it.

By late September, 2017, a special district-wide committee was formed to plan the project. Not surprisingly, it included both LGBT-friendly school staff and outside professional activists.

To create and implement this, the committee decided to use local LGBT “experts” from nearby Univ of California Fullerton. And the apparent leader of the project was Laura Kanter, from the LGBT Center of Orange County. Kanter had previously done work for the district. She was the on-the-ground liaison for this effort.

They decided to focus on one of the elementary schools, Betsy Ross Elementary, as a starting point. They figured that Betsy Ross would be an easy target because over 90% of the families are Latino and over 80% are primarily Spanish speaking. After that, they would extend the program to the other schools.

However, one of the Betsy Ross Elementary School mothers, Shanda, a trained social worker, immediately recognized what was going on and became alarmed. Shanda could see that the radical transgender agenda was going to be pushed in a district where the parents were completely uninformed. She began to gather information. She organized a group of parents. And she began to work with MassResistance.

Shanda is definitely not a parent the schools want to tangle with!

Transgender "training" for teachers and administrators

The first phase of the project was mandatory transgender “training” for teachers, staff, and administrators. These kinds of teacher indoctrination sessions were pioneered by the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) and GLSEN, both national homosexual groups. HRC’s national elementary school push is titled “Welcoming Schools.” They used sophisticated psychological techniques to bring teachers into line. When Shanda found out about this – and that the school board was paying the LGBT Center over $12,000 for it – she was livid.

During the teacher indoctrination sessions at the Betsy Ross Elementary School, the LGBT Center of Orange County banner was prominent on the wall. NOTE: Baby blue, pink, and white are the transgender flag colors.

The pro-transgender teacher training was very aggressive – and very radical. One of the teachers told Shanda that during the training sessions, LGBT Coordinator Laura Kanter told them, “If a child is struggling with their gender identity, don’t tell the parents.” Shanda brought this to a vice-superintendent, who confirmed it.

This is one of the books that the Univ. of CA - Fullerton group recommended be included

Then, in early 2018, the “Safe Zone” indoctrination in the elementary students began. Children were taught that any of them with homosexual, cross-dressing, or “gender” issues need places where they can feel comfortable acting out those behaviors. “Safe Zone” signs began to appear around the school, and many school staff word “Safe Zone” tags. In essence, the whole campus was to be a “Safe Zone.”

The "Safe Zone" signs were everywhere. They were even being worn by the teachers and staff.

Diversity Week – transgender propaganda push on the children

But the big assault on the children’s minds at Betsy Ross Elementary was to come with “Diversity Week” – scheduled for the end of April. Shanda found out that it was to be a week full of horrific programs from the Welcoming Schools and GLSEN training frameworks. In addition, the “transgender” children’s book “Jacob’s Dress” was going to be read to all the kids.

This is what they had planned to read to all the children during "Diversity Week." Parents were furious!

(Welcoming Schools is particularly frightening. It uses psychological reconditioning techniques to cause children to accept and internalize cross-dressing, "gay" families, homosexuality, and a range of other LGBT behaviors.)

This frightening material from Welcoming Schools advises schools how to change a child's name, pronouns, and what they call "gender" - boy to girl, girl to boy - in school without the parents' knowledge.

Parents would not be given the opportunity to exclude their children from this. In fact, they were not even told what it really was, beyond the bland title of “diversity.”

Shanda and her team were outraged. They were determined to stop it. And they did!

A big success against the LGBT machine

What Shanda and her team did was to treat this very seriously. There was no question in her mind that this must not take place. Too many of us are willing to give it the “old college try” but eventually give up. Not Shanda.

To put it mildly, Shanda was relentless. She came to the school and approached key administrators. She was calm and polite, but very, very firm. Over and over, she showed them that as onerous as California law is on LGBT issues, this was not legally required. The school was doing this on its own, spending taxpayer money on its own that should go for useful things, and they had no right or obligation to do that. And the people being brought in to present it were not officially qualified under state law, she said. At the same time, she repeatedly made them listen to the mental health implications of their crusade for gender dysphoria.

Then came the second punch. She showed them examples of the unprofessional behavior of the person who is in charge of their “Diversity Week,” Laura Kanter. The woman they have teaching children about “tolerance” has a history of sending out rather repulsive social media messages, such as “F—k Trump” and colorful descriptions of school board members in a nearby district. See some examples here.

Finally, Shanda and other parents met with and confronted the principal of Betsy Ross Elementary School. It was a meeting the principal had organized to allay concerns about "Diversity Week." But it didn't work out that way. The parents were outraged that material from national homosexual groups would be used. As we’ve seen so often, the principal tried to deny it and talk around it. But these parents wouldn’t back down -- they knew it was planned and kept pressing it even harder.

At the parents' meeting, Shanda calmly but firmly unloads on the principal about the horrors of the upcoming "Diversity Week."

The principal's face during the meeting -- she's not enjoying it one bit.

Another upset parent addresses the principal about "Diversity Week."

Before very long, the school administrators decided that they’d had enough. They canceled the 2018 “Diversity Week” and its radical sessions. And so far it doesn’t look like it’s coming back in 2019 -- at Betsy Ross or the other schools. This is what pro-family activism looks like.

And more

Over the following months, Shanda filed several freedom of information (FOIA) requests, confronted the school board, and had even more successes against the transgender agenda in the Anaheim Elementary School district. At the same time, local LGBT activists tried to intimidate and harass her and her team to keep them from speaking out. But that didn’t work with Shanda!

Stay tuned for Part 2!

MassResistance parent has additional successes against LGBT agenda in California elementary school district!

After derailing transgender “diversity week,” she takes on the school board and wins

Also stands up to LGBT activists out to intimidate parents

Part 2 of 2

February 17, 2019

Not standing for it: Shanda holds up documentation about the children's LGBT book "Jacob's New Dress" as she berates the school board on Nov. 14, 2018.

When parents are willing to fight back – and organize others to help – they can make a huge difference! This is what MassResistance is promoting around the country.

In Part 1, we reported how Shanda, a mother with children at the Betsy Ross Elementary School in the Anaheim (CA) Elementary School District, successfully stopped a week of radical “transgender” indoctrination planned at the school. (It was blandly titled “Diversity Week,” but that didn’t fool Shanda, who is a trained social worker and understands that kind of deception.)

But there were more successes after that. Shanda forced the school library to pull back their “gay” propaganda, stood up to an LGBT mob out to intimidate parents at a school committee meeting, and even helped cause a pro-LGBT school board member not to run for re-election!

Shanda files FOIA requests

After the “Diversity Week” success, Shanda didn’t stop. She filed a series of FOIA (Freedom of Information Act) requests with the school district. She wanted to find out the extent of the collusion between the school and various LGBT organizations in putting “Diversity Week” together, and exactly what they were planning.

The school administrators had claimed that their programs were notfocusing on transgenderism – and were not coming from national LGBT organizations such as the Human Rights Campaign's “Welcoming Schools” from and GLSEN’s programs, both targeting schoolchildren across the country. But Shanda didn’t believe that and already had considerable evidence to the contrary.

Some very revealing answers

She received back a pile of material from the FOIA requests. Most of it was (purposefully, we believe) not relevant or duplicates and triplicates of the same thing. But it also included some very revealing memos and other material:

• The school officials have a true disdain for parents. The elementary school librarian emailed an LGBT consultant: “It is with great disappointment that we need to postpone the Diversity week and its presentations. Due to parent backlash we are finding that we need to educate the parents before we attempt to enlighten our students. Thank you for being on the forefront on inclusion, diversity and equality for all. I will be making a donation to your center on your behalf.”
• The administration was prepared to use “Title IX anti-discrimination policies” as their excuse for implementing “Safe Zones” in the elementary school. This idea came from the LGBT consultants. (This is a complete distortion of Title IX’s actual meaning.)
• There seemed to be an excitement among the school staff that they would be on the cutting edge of LGBT inclusion in California. “We have a chance to set the standard in our district,” one staffer wrote.
• Also as part of the Diversity Week effort, there was a suggestion of “a campaign to end gender stereotypes / gender roles” in the elementary school. (This would certainly disrupt the thinking of young children, said one parent.)
• The planning group’s internal resources included a video on “How to Use Children’s Books to Teach Diversity and Inclusion.”
• The material from the LGBTQ Center consultants described extensive materials on teaching “gender identity and expression” to young children, including diagrams, pictures, and a video of the book “Jacob’s New Dress.”
• One administrator complained that the flyer about “Diversity Week” given to parents had too much “LGBT” on it, which caused the parents’ backlash.

This showed that the planning behind “Diversity Week” was even more devious and dangerous than Shanda had realized.

This book by the California teachers' union is for elementary school children. It portrays parents' values critical of the LGBT agenda as "hateful."

Confronting the school board at their monthly meetings

Shanda and her fellow MassResistance parents and activists began confronting the Anaheim Elementary District School Board. Over the previous several months, Shanda had spread the word, with things like this simple but very informative PowerPoint presentation.

On Sept. 24, 2018, Shanda, along with MassResistance activists including Arthur Shaper (our Organization Director), attended the school board meeting. Shanda and the others were very direct and unflinching during the public comments to the school board members. They testified about what they had uncovered in the FOIA requests and the outrageous direction of the LGBT agenda in the elementary school. The board members were not pleased, and tried to stifle the parents’ comments by limiting their time. The parents made it clear that this wasn’t the last the board would hear from them.

LGBT activists come to intimidate parents at school board meeting

At the October 24, 2018 school board meeting, Shanda brought even more people along with Arthur Schaper. But this time, the board had set things up to thwart them.

A group of LGBT activists were there to confront and intimidate the parents. The group was led by Laura Kanter, of the LGBT Center of Orange County, who had helped the Betsy Ross Elementary School administrators put together the transgender programs that Shanda derailed back in May. Kanter and her friends were clearly still angry at those parents!

Intimidation tactics: LGBT leader Laura Kanter (center, in gray sweater) stands among LGBT activists at the school board meeting. Sign "The Future is Not Binary" refers to teaching children radical "gender" ideology. Note the policeman at right - very unusual.

The harassment started before the meeting began. Arthur and others were passing out flyers (in English and also in Spanish) to attendees informing them what had been happening in the school district. One of the LGBT activists grabbed and held Arthur’s arm, and yelled at him about being a “hater.” Arthur threatened to call the police and kept handing out the flyers.

More intimidation of parents from LGBT activists at the school board meeting.

As Shanda relates, this kind of bullying and intimidation has escalated since the parents have started fighting back. But it’s not working, she said!

This man jumped up and began harassing Arthur Schaper. But like the other MassResistance people, Arthur refused to be intimidated.

At a break during the meeting, Shanda and Arthur noticed one of the board members, D. R. Heywood, approach the LGBT activists and thank them for coming. It clearly looked like Heywood had invited them to come. Later during the meeting, other board members publicly thanked the LGBT group for coming.

There were also three Anaheim police officers present. Shanda had never seen police at a school board meeting before. This seemed like a way to intimidate the parents.

More intimidation by the school committee. As parents entered the building, they were "greeted" by a police officer.

School employees were also part of the intimidation effort. Several came prominently wearing their “Safe Zone” tags on their shirts or suits.

Most of the school staff that night were wearing "Safe Zone" tags on their badges. More intimidation directed at the parents.

During the public comment period, the LGBT message was a blatantly radical defense of their program. A woman who called herself a nurse said there is nothing wrong with permitting children to undergo surgery and hormone therapy to “change their sex.” Laura Kanter talked about implementing a strong LGBT curriculum in the elementary schools to make the district a “safe space” for all children.

Disinformation: LGBT activist Laura Kanter told the board that 6.4% of the county's students - over 15,000 - are gay, lesbian, or transgender. This absurd number came from "surveys" that were analyzed by the local ACLU! Furthermore, these children must be "supported and mentored" in their behaviors by the school district. The parents strongly dispute all of this - including the idea that a child can be legitimately labeled as LGBT.

When Shanda and the others got their turns to address the board, they hit back hard. They blasted the LGBT/sex-ed push in the elementary schools. They described the depravities of Kinsey, whose deeply flawed theories started much of this radical sexuality inclusion in public education. They berated the board for all the secrecy, and for not giving parents a choice in the matter.

Shanda also aimed her wrath at Heywood for inviting the LGBT group to come to the meeting. That kind of anti-parent move by an elected official is abhorrent.

Shanda (center) with some of the other MassResistance parents at the meeting hold up their MassResistance signs!

The confrontation continued outside the building after the meeting. This time, several of the MassResistance group decided to engage Laura Kanter and the others about why they came to intimidate and harass – and they were pushing their radical ideas on young children. The LGBT activists scurried away!

Success at the November school board meeting

The following month, at the Nov. 14, 2018 school board meeting, the MassResistance parents came back again – to achieve some significant successes!

First of all, the LGBT activists did not attend the meeting. Despite their best efforts to intimidate the parents, the LGBT group essentially had found themselves having to defend the indefensible: teaching elementary school children about horrible, unhealthy behaviors. They apparently didn’t want another round of that.

When the parents testified, they continued their confrontation with the school board. They railed against the plan to push LGBT agenda on the whole district – using the excuse that the schools need to accommodate two children whose parents claim they’re "transgender” (but who actually need mental health help).

Railing against the radical transgender agenda being pushed at young children by the school board.

Shanda reminded the board – again – that most of this LGBT push follows a false mandate: the schools are relying on a bill that was vetoed by the governor and did not become law. She also continued to berate Heywood for bringing in the outside LGBT group to intimidate the parents the previous month. Thanks to Shanda, that was becoming a topic of outrage among many parents in the community. All of this was clearly making the board uncomfortable.

The school board members were clearly not enjoying it as the parents were addressing them. Council member D. R. Heywood, who later announced he was not running for re-election, is seated at the center, in green coat.

Then came some pleasant surprises:

• During her monthly routine report, a librarian admitted that the school district had indeed invited an “LGBT spokesman” to speak to the students during Diversity Week. This “spokesman” had since been disinvited when the parents found out and complained.
• The librarian also admitted that the school library had received a children’s book on Harvey Milk, a known pederast – which parents bitterly fought against. The book has now been removed from the library, she told the board
• Then as the meeting was ending, the most pro-LGBT member of the board, D. R. Heywood, suddenly announced he was not running for re-election. His term was ending the following month. This clearly would not have happened without the relentless work of MassResistance exposing the depraved LGBT curriculum to more and more parents in the district.

And the momentum continued. The day after the November board meeting, Shanda’s daughter reported that all the pro-LGBT decorations had suddenly been removed from the elementary school library.

Parents can win!

Shanda and her group are really impressive. All of this shows that nothing is impossible! When parents work with MassResistance and take a principled, relentless, no-compromise – and fearless – approach, great things can happen.

The other side depends on disinformation, confusion, and intimidation by school officials, along with bullying and harassment from the LGBT movement and their allies. We make sure that parents are informed about what’s really happening, are armed with the truth, and are willing to confront anybody who gets in their way! That’s what freedom is all about. We all need to do it!