CA MassResistance Catholics Protest LGBT Mass in San Deigo

 

California MassResistance Catholics confront “gay pride" Mass and radical priests in San Diego

For “Pride” - church interior is desecrated and Mass service altered

Our Catholics have had enough: “Go, and sin no more!”

July 16, 2026

 Contrasting messages from San Diego Catholics: Traditional Catholics outside (left) vs radical message inside (right) during the St. John the Evangelist Church's "pride" Mass.

For many years, faithful Catholics have endured a disturbing pro-LGBT turn in many of their churches. But lately, in some places, that has gone completely overboard. And many Catholics have had enough of it.

The Hillcrest neighborhood of San Diego is the most “LGBTQ+” area in town. One would hope that the most prominent Catholic Church there, St. John the Evangelist, would be a beacon of light and truth on that issue. But sadly, it has gone in the other direction.

 St. John the Evangelist Church in San Diego.

Throughout San Diego County, July 11-19 has been designated as “San Diego Pride Week” by the various LGBT organizations – with the Hillcrest neighborhood being the center of activities. As part of that, the St. John the Evangelist Church advertised that it would have an LGBT-themed “All Are Welcome Mass” on Sunday, July 12.

When our MassResistance Catholic leaders in San Diego saw that promotion, they contacted us. They wanted to do something to confront this outrage and let everyone know that there are Catholics standing up to it!

We got right to work with them. At the very least, a strong protest was in order. They also wanted to document what happened inside during that blasphemous Mass. Over the next several days they contacted other local Catholic activists.

Catholics confront the blasphemy

On July 12, our protesters gathered across the street from the church entrance. So the theological tension surrounding the event was evident even before entering the church! The protesters held a Rosary prayer vigil. They held a large banner depicting the Sacred Heart of Jesus and signs reading “God’s Marriage = 1 Man + 1 Woman” and “Go, and sin no more” (the latter echoing Jesus’s scriptural words to the woman caught in adultery).

 Across the street from the church entrance Catholic demonstrators prayed the Rosary and sent a strong message.

The vigil drew sharp, hostile reactions from the surrounding Hillcrest traffic. The demonstrators  received numerous obscene gestures, horn blasts, and profane shouts from car windows – much worse than at vigils outside abortion clinics, one of the demonstrators told us.

Inside the church – worse than imagined

Upon entering the church, one immediately noticed the extensive array of LGBT symbols, decorations, and banners everywhere – on the walls, doors, and pews. They were a vivid contrast to the traditional sacred church architecture.

Toward the front, several rows of pews were specifically reserved for representatives of regional parish "LGBTQ ministries," each with rainbow ribbons affixed. In the sanctuary, the visual theme extended to large rainbow flower bouquets and ribbon adornments surrounding the altar space. Even the candles flanking the tabernacle were fitted with decorative collars matching the colors of the pride flag, and a single rainbow ribbon was tied to the parish collection box.

As the Mass was about to begin, representatives from several Catholic churches across the region marched down the center aisle carrying their respective parish LGBTQ ministry banners.

Catholic priests and deacons from across the region participated. Some clerics wore rainbow-patterned stoles over their liturgical vestments. A special pro-LGBT welcome from the Bishop of San Diego was read aloud to the congregation.

While the structural layout of the readings reflected the universal Catholic calendar, the liturgy incorporated a specific scriptural substitution. The universally slated responsorial Psalm for the day (Psalm 65) was replaced with Psalm 139, with the congregation singing the refrain, "I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made."

The petitions explicitly prayed for the LGBT community, transgender individuals, parents of LGBTQ children – as well as refugees, the homeless, the marginalized, and those struggling with mental illness or addiction.

For more detail about this disturbing service, see the Liturgical Observation Report on this "All Are Welcome" Mass, written by one of our Catholic activists who was inside. [Photos by MassResistance]

 Also note the "progress pride" flag hanging from the balcony.

Final thoughts

It’s clear that the local Hillcrest neighborhood residents – and those who attended the Mass that day – got our protesters’ message. Our activists prayed the Rosary, but their signs were bold and hard-hitting (and spoke the truth). It shows how important it is in these situations not to just stand there and be polite.

As we’ve been saying, even if you feel outnumbered, it’s necessary to do at least something!

   

Please help us continue to do our uncompromising work!

Our successes depend on people like you.

Donate to MassResistance

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MassResistance Helps CA Candidate Get Elected to Norwalk-La Mirada School Board!

 

MassResistance helps elect parent – and bring conservative majority – to School Board in deep blue liberal Southern California.

Latest victory after removal of toxic “wellbeing center” from the high school.

Ready to move forward to change the culture in the schools!

She was definitely not the local political establishment’s favorite.

November 18, 2024

 In Aug. 2023, Becky rebuked the School Board for ignoring the "wellbeing center" agreement regarding informed consent, no Planned Parenthood involvement, and other outrages. Now she can take action!

Becky Langenwalter is a long-time conservative activist in Southern California. She has worked on a number of issues, including school choice and recall initiatives to get rid of Soros-like left-wing politicians. She has also been an articulate activist for pro-family causes. Her recent election to the Norwalk-La Mirada School Board tips the scales and will have a huge impact.

Norwalk and La Mirada are adjoining suburbs of Los Angeles. The Norwalk-La Mirada Unified School District (NLMUSD) serves largely minority families. Unfortunately, the school board has long been overwhelmingly leftist. And the minority citizens especially, who tend to be more conservative, have felt shut out and helpless.

Shutting down the toxic “wellbeing center” at the high school

In particular, the parents were very upset over the “wellbeing center” at the local high school. It was staffed by people trained by Planned Parenthood. Students were given access to a range of birth control methods (by so-called “trusted adults”), and were referred to abortion providers and transgender sex-change clinics. There was “mental health” counseling by people with questionable credentials – including by students who were recruited and paid to “counsel” other students. Parental consent was not required for any of that.

In May 2023, a local parent reached out to MassResistance for help. We organized a large group of minority parents there to fight back. They came to every school board meeting with strong testimony, and also canvassed the town with information. It was a nasty struggle. The school board members were arrogant in their support for the center. And the school officials were dishonest about what was really happening there.

But in June 2024, the School Board basically surrendered and did not renew the contract to keep the center going. It was shut down. The parents had won!

 Parents and grandparents filled the room at the August 24 School Board meeting.

 The parents made sure that their school officials - and the public - got the message!

Becky Langenwalter also joined the battle

During the battle to stop the wellbeing center, Becky Langenwalter, who lives in La Mirada, came and testified at school board meetings at least twice. She experienced how duplicitous, arrogant, and self-serving these “public servants” were toward the parents.

Her testimony at the Sept. 11, 2024 meeting (though limited to three minutes) was calm but powerful. (See video below.)

Becky made several points about the center and the school board’s dishonesty about it: Most parents didn’t know that it even existed. Those who did had difficulty finding information about it. Even though it was described as an “important resource,” it was virtually impossible to find on the school website. The “survey” the School Board published to show “support” was not a representative sampling. It included a very small number of respondents, and excluded many who were critical of it. The school’s “fact sheet” about the center was confusing, blatantly inaccurate, and outright untrue. And the center had just one source of information for students: Planned Parenthood.

VIDEO: Becky's strong testimony at Sept 2023 School Board meeting (3 min 4 sec)

It’s refreshing to have a school committee member who’s experienced this first-hand!

Getting elected

Becky had run for school board in 2022, and almost made it. That gave her name recognition in the district. But she was actively opposed by the left-leaning local political establishment. And she was running against a Democrat. So it was an uphill battle.

MassResistance volunteers assisted her, and walked the precincts door to door for her. On election night, she pulled off the win!

A new conservative majority

The seven-member Norwalk-La Mirada School Board had been divided 5-2, leftists vs. conservatives. Another conservative parent also won on election day. So Becky’s win tipped the scales for a new 4-3 conservative majority!

This is a big deal in that deep-blue part of California!

Final thoughts

The minority parents and other conservatives throughout the district are hoping that there will be big changes in the current “woke,” pro-LGBT, and aggressively anti-Christian culture in the district schools. California MassResistance will be there to help make that happen. We’ll keep you informed.

   

Please help us continue to do our uncompromising work!

Our successes depend on people like you.

Donate to MassResistance

Your support will make the difference!

HUGE WIN for CA MassResistance: Liberal City Votes to Stop Flying PRIDE Flag

 

MassResistance citizen outcry stops June “Pride Flag” requirement for public buildings in Los Angeles suburb.

Statewide LGBT group & prominent politicians tried to keep the order alive.

“Gay” mayor goes on rant blaming MassResistance.

May 23, 2024

 MassResistance activists pose in front of Downey City Hall just before the City Council meeting where the "pride flag" vote was taken.

Dedicated pro-family citizens – along with the right strategies and tactics – can win eve in leftist-dominated locales.

Downey, California is a suburb of Los Angeles and a predominately Democrat city. Its 5-member City Council includes two openly “gay” men, including the Mayor. The Mayor helps run the Los Angeles County LGBTQ+ Elected Officials Association.

Nevertheless, four years ago MassResistance had a surprising victory in that city! We organized Downey families to successfully force the School Board to completely remove a Planned Parenthood sex-ed curriculum from the school system.

Pride Flags ordered to fly during June for past 3 years

For the past three years, the City Council enthusiastically passed a resolution ordering City Hall and other city properties to fly the LGBT rainbow flag during the month of June to commemorate “Gay Pride” month. This outraged lots of families in the city who see it as a blatant act forcing the city to celebrate an anti-Christian movement pushing sexual perversions.

Last year, local MassResistance activists came to the City Council meeting and spoke out against the resolution. They urged the Council to adopt a “neutral flag policy” instead that would only allow government flags – US, California, Downey,, and POW flags – to be flown on city property. But the City Council ignored them and passed the “Pride flag” order again for June 2023.

Getting to work fighting back!

Right after that, the MassResistance families decided they weren’t going to let that happen again in 2024 and got to work.

A few months later, in November 2023, there were two special elections – to replace City Council members who had left office before their terms ended. Our activists confronted all the candidates about supporting a neutral flag policy. Many agreed, and some even supported stopping city funding for the local Pride festival. In the end, one pro-family candidate won, though one “gay” candidate also won. It was a good start!

Starting in late November, our activists consistently emailed and called the City Council members to demand a neutral flag policy. If at first they didn’t respond, more calls were made until they did! Local activists also provided sample language for the ordinance.

In March 2024, nearby Huntington Beach, CA voters passed a referendum banning non-government flags on city property. And Joe Biden reluctantly signed a budget bill that included a ban on LGBT flags at US embassies. But getting this policy past the leftist Downey City Council definitely presented a challenge.

At the April and May City Council meetings

At the April 9 Downey City Council meeting, our activists came and spoke passionately in favor of the neutral flag policy. Why should one group get honored and everyone else left out? One of our activists pointed out that the whole LGBT movement is about people who suffer loneliness and a lack of love, and are seeking to meet their needs in unnatural relationships.

Our hard work clearly made a difference. After the public comment portion of that meeting, it was moved and seconded to put a neutral flag policy on the agenda for an upcoming meeting.

At the next Downey City Council meeting on April 23, more of our activists spoke out in favor of the neutral flag policy. The City Council reportedly had also been discussing it in their closed session. Things were happening!

A few days later it was announced that the City Council would take up the matter at the May 14 meeting – just days before “Pride month” was to begin.

The LGBT movement and the leftists were clearly alarmed. On May 5, the statewide LGBT group Equality California sent out an email blast telling their members to attend the Downey City Council meeting on May 14, warning them that “anti-LGBTQ+ extremists” are out to “silence your pride” and make the city “unwelcoming.”

 The Mayor had already organized a special "Pride Flag Raising Ceremony" - and then had to cancel it! [Photo: ABC News Channel 7]

At the May 14 meeting, it was clear that the political establishment did not want this to pass. Besides the LGBT activists who came (only two or three showed up), staff from the district’s State Assemblywoman and staff from a member of the L.A. County Board of Supervisors (who had pushed for a county-wide Pride Flag resolution) came to urge the City Council to reject the neutral flag policy.

State Assemblywoman Janice Hahn, who sent staff to the Downey meeting to fight the neutral flag policy, is shown here a recent L.A. Gay Pride Parade.

The policy was on the meeting’s agenda, but it was placed at the end of a very lengthy item that took nearly three hours to finish. Then there was an hour of public comment – which several MassResistance citizens participated in.

“Gay” Mayor makes nasty speech blaming MassResistance

Just before the vote, when it had become clear the neutral policy would pass, the openly homosexual Mayor made an angry speech castigating MassResistance. He started off,:

This motion strikes me as a direct attack on the Pride flag. Let’s be clear on what we’re doing. This motion came about because of a group called MassResistance. Some of their members are sitting in the back… It’s an organized group … This is a step backward for our city …

He went on to say that our two goals are “anti-immigration” (offering no evidence) and “anti-Pride flag.” Not surprisingly, he labeled us a “hate group,” which is a typical leftist and “gay” projection of their own hate. His rant bashed religious people who read the Bible as hypocrites who harm their children. He said the Pride flag needs to fly because homosexuals need to feel welcomed.

The Mayor’s statement upset some of the City Council members. One of them immediately spoke out:

I firmly disagree with that statement. This is not an attack on any one community. We stand united under the flag of this country. It unites all of us regardless of race, color, or religion. We are called to represent all of our residents.

 MassResistance activists gave strong testimony during the public comments and stayed until the end!

 Just before the vote, the Mayor (center) goes through his rant against MassResistance. The woman toward the right (in front of the white California flag) is the Council member who strongly disagreed with him — and voted for the policy.

The vote

The neutral flag policy passed 3-2. The two “no” votes were by the two homosexuals on the City Council. This was another stunning pro-family victory in a city dominated by Democrats, in one of the most pro-LGBT counties in the country, with a City Council headed by one of the most outspoken LGBT activists in the region.

 When the vote was displayed — 3 yes, 2 no, and 0 abstaining — the leftists were shocked and angry!

Final thoughts

Our MassResistance group in Downey has stuck together for years, and is willing to do what it takes to get good things done. A lot of activity went on (purposely) behind the scenes, which was part of the plan. And they’re not done in Downey. We see this as a springboard to even greater achievements there!

One more thing: To get an idea how shocked and angry this made leftists, one need only look at how the mainstream media in L.A. County (and beyond) exploded over this City Council vote. And the Mayor continued to publicly complain about MassResistance. We will report on that in our next post!

 Thanks to our activists' work, only the US flag, California flag, Downy city flag, and POW flag will fly over City Hall and other government buildings there!

   

Please help us continue to do our uncompromising work!

Our successes depend on people like you.

Donate to MassResistance

Your support will make the difference!

MassResistance marks 30 years of activism

 MassResistance marks 30 years of activism

We’ve made a big difference already – across the country and beyond.

And we plan to step up the fight!

December 18, 2023

 In 2016 these California MassResistance activists visited their State Senator's office in Long Beach to strongly disagree with his sponsorship of a an oppressive LGBT anti-religion bill. As a result, he agreed to back off on the bill and compromise.

This year, 2023, marks our 30th year of activism! Many people don’t realize our organization has been around that long. And we’ve accomplished a lot during that time! We’ve expanded our reach incredibly and the momentum is with us to do even greater things.

Our Archives section and our home page have links to hundreds of our posts documenting our engagement in the culture war. Here’s an overview:

Starting out as a parents’ group in one city

Five years ago, we wrote about our 25th anniversary of activism. We described how we got started as a parents’ group in Newton, Massachusetts back in 1993, how we became a statewide group a few years later, and how we engaged the “culture war” battles during those early years. Here are two of our best known efforts:

The “Parental Notification Law,” which we wrote and successfully got passed in the Massachusetts Legislature (and signed by the governor) in the mid-1990s, still stands as the only major pro-family legislation to be enacted into law in the state.

We led principled opposition to the illegitimate “gay marriage” ruling in late 2003 by the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court. A full account of this period can be read in the book by our activist Amy Contrada, How Gay Marriage Began in Massachusetts (available here).

Our first fifteen years were a real trial by fire! We learned (often by trial and error) about what tactics actually work, and the difference between focusing on success versus “looking dignified.” (Note that even the name “MassResistance” carries a psychological impact that most conservative groups are not comfortable with. There’s a reason for that.)

Continuing to make a difference in Massachusetts

For several years starting in the mid-2000s, we were the major force in Massachusetts stopping horrible anti-family bills in the legislature pushed by Planned Parenthood, the LGBT movement, and others.

Planned Parenthood tried several times to replace our Parental Notification Law with one requiring their sex-ed programs. It was stopped each time through determined activism. We were the major force derailing the LGBT movement’s attempts to pass “transgender rights” legislation for years. And there were many other bills that we made sure never got out of committee.

In 2007, the pharmaceutical industry was heavily lobbying a bill to mandate the often-dangerous HPV vaccine to all 6th-grade girls in Massachusetts. It was cruising to passage. But MassResistance organized a big push against it – and we successfully got it killed! We also successfully opposed the effort to mandate the H1N1 vaccine in 2009.

Even when we weren’t successful, the leftist forces felt our presence! We forced the budget committees to take out money for LGBT indoctrination in the schools, though the leadership would often replace it later. We forced then-governor Mitt Romney to disband the loathsome “Massachusetts Commission for Gay and Lesbian Youth” (though the legislature later recreated it as an independent agency). We aggressively publicized the depraved state-sponsored “Youth Pride Day” parade and events in Boston and in local schools, which embarrassed state officials.

National media attention

From the late 1990s to early 2010s, MassResistance’s activism was often covered by national news media. This was before Fox News became “pro-LGBT” – and while the other media outlets, though still biased, were at least willing to cover both sides of the issue.

Thus, we appeared fairly often on the Fox News Network – The O’Reilly Factor, Fox & Friends, Hannity & Colmes, Megyn Kelly, and others. Our activism (and opinions) were also covered in the NBC Nightly News, CNN, CBS News, ABC Evening News, MSNBC, National Public Radio, the New York Times, and many others.

Unfortunately, those days are long gone. Now, even conservative media are often hesitant to cover opposition to anything "gay."

Expanding across the country

We were becoming very well-known across the country and others wanted to take advantage of our serious approach to activism. In 2009, we started our first state chapter in Virginia. Then a few more came on board. Within four years we had MassResistance Chapters from Hawaii to Maine! Over the years we’ve organized chapters in the majority of states, plus Puerto Rico and DC.

A lot of impressive people have been part of them. For example, Marjorie Taylor Greene, now a firebrand Member of Congress, was an activist with our Georgia MassResistance chapter.

Gay marriage battles. Before the 2015 Obergefell ruling, many of our state chapters were fighting the “gay marriage” battle in numerous blue states where their legislatures were working to pass it. In far-left Maryland, we played a major role of stopping it in 2011. Unfortunately, the following year when it was re-introduced, the other pro-family groups ignored our advice and it passed.

Barack Obama’s federal “Safe Schools Czar.”  In 2009, Barack Obama appointed Kevin Jennings, the notorious LGBT school activist and founder of GLSEN, as his “Safe Schools Czar” in the Department of Education with a huge budget to push the LGBT agenda in the nation’s schools. MassResistance led a successful campaign to lobby Congress to act. As a result, fifty-three Congressmen signed a letter demanding his removal. A resolution was submitted in the US House also demanding his removal. In 2011, Kevin Jennings was forced to resign.

Drag Queen Story Hour. MassResistance has taken the lead in stopping the toxic Drag Queen Story Hour events across the country. We have also exposed several of the “Drag Queens” as convicted criminals, including child molesters.

Pornographic books in schools. We have also taken the national lead in getting pornographic books removed from schools and libraries across the country. In several places we’ve forced the perverted employees who bring them in to quit or be fired. And we’ve persuaded several library districts to leave the leftist American Library Association.

Hard-hitting conferences. Our Texas activists put on three incredible pro-family conferences. The speeches from those are still being circulated, years later. Our biggest blockbuster was the Teens4Truth Conference held at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in 2017. Teenagers came from around the state and learned how to fight back against the culture war in their schools. The presentation by pediatric endocrinologist Dr. Quentin Van Meter’s at that event (“The terrible fraud of ‘transgender medicine’ ”) has received 647,000 views on YouTube.

State Legislatures. We have organized people to help stop bad bills and get good pro-family bills passed in legislatures across the country - more than we can list here. A great example was in 2018 – we stopped an anti-therapy bill in the California Legislature that was on its way to easy passage.

And around the world …

When pro-family people in other countries heard of us, they desperately wanted our help fighting their own culture war issues. Many of them feel isolated and under siege. So we’ve been glad to step in! As a result, we’ve had MassResistance chapters form literally around the world.

We've been active in Australia, Barbados, Canada, Cayman Islands, Chile, Costa Rica, Finland, Ghana, Hong Kong, Ireland, Jamaica, Kyrgyzstan, Mexico, Nigeria, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, and the United Kingdom.

We’ve also been featured in more foreign media news sites than we can list (even Russia). So we can honestly say that the sun never sets on MassResistance activism!

An interesting note: In 2012 the Australian Parliament was taking on the “gay marriage” fight. Our Australian activists asked us to do a video on how “gay marriage” affected Massachusetts, for them to send across the country. The video, What ‘gay marriage’ did to Massachusetts, became an instant international hit, and has been translated into Chinese, Finnish, Spanish, and other languages by local activists.

Hated by all the right people!

It goes without saying that if you’re effective, then the Left will hate you. The number of sleazy left-wing attack groups that smear and demonize MassResistance is pretty impressive: the Southern Poverty Law Center, Media Matters, GLAAD, ACLU, and ADL to name just a few.

Their attacks don’t intimidate us – because we recognize that we are in the midst of an actual battle, a culture war.  But too many conservative groups go out of their way to avoid being labeled by the Left, and as a result are simply ineffective.

Moving forward

MassResistance sees everything we’ve done as laying the groundwork for bigger successes. We believe the next few years will be our most powerful yet. We have a first-rate staff, the world’s best activists, and incredible momentum!

   

Please help us continue to do our uncompromising work!

Our successes depend on people like you.

Donate to MassResistance

Your support will make the difference!

California MassResistance Parents Force Charter School System to Remove all LGBT Propaganda Books

 

California MassResistance parents force online public charter school to remove all LGBT propaganda books.

School officials strongly resisted, but finally caved in to parents’ demands.

Officials also agreed to find out who brought the books in!

November 5, 2023

 Screenshot of second grader's online class lesson - which the mother thought was supposed to be an academic subject.

It’s difficult enough for parents to confront their local School Board over pornographic books. But taking on a corporation running online schools presents even bigger challenges. But our California MassResistance parents succeeded!

California Virtual Academies (CAVA) is a group of nine online public charter schools located across the state (Fresno, Kings, Los Angeles, Maricopa, San Diego, San Joaquin, San Mateo, Sonoma, and Sutter). The schools are entirely online, i.e., “virtual” schools.

CAVA schools get their online curricula from a national company in Virginia called Stride (formerly named K12). However, CAVA has some flexibility to decide what it uses and what it doesn’t.

Why enroll in a virtual school? Parents enroll their children in an online school such as CAVA for various reasons. For example: They are tired of the “woke” indoctrination and unreliable academics in the public schools. They move a lot and want consistent schooling. They have a child who is in the hospital or convalescing at home. Their child was being bullied at school. And during COVID it was a better alternative to their public school’s online experience.

Books pushing LGBT indoctrination

Last fall, a mother of a second-grader in a CAVA school contacted MassResistance. She was very distraught. She had noticed that many of her child’s online classes were readings from children’s books containing explicit and objectionable LGBT themes, gender ideology, and other radical topics. This was a clear attempt to normalize these behaviors and ideas to her child.

 More screenshots of indoctrination for second graders under the guise of "social studies and history," using LGBT children's books.

She also saw that CAVA’s online collection available to the students had MORE of these kinds of books.

 The mother found many more from CAVA's online book collection for second graders ...

And she noticed that LGBT themes and instruction (often using the books) seemed to be mixed in with several subjects throughout the school day.

Fighting back

When the mother contacted MassResistance for help, we got right to work. We helped her organize a small group of CAVA parents which soon began to grow. The virtual setting and corporate backing brought new challenges. We began investigating ways for the parents to force changes.

We noticed that the CAVA administration held virtual “coffee” Zoom sessions for parents. That seemed like a good place to start, so the MassResistance parents began attending. They brought up the perverted and objectionable nature of the curriculum and demanded it be cleaned up.

That certainly wasn’t what the local CAVA administrators wanted to discuss, and they reacted with hostility, attempting to deflect and curtail that criticism. The parents were told to “give their phone number and be contacted later” or “use the link to provide feedback.” But complaints submitted that way were dismissed or ignored.

The parents persisted. More conservative parents shared their comments and their email addresses in the chat areas during the sessions. So the local administrators reacted by disabling the chat of the “troublemakers,” shunned them, and told them they needed to address the “policy makers” in the company instead.

Taking it to the corporate level

So the parents began working their way up the ladder. They began complaining directly to CAVA officials in the statewide office. To justify the books, the CAVA officials used a common technique by leftist educators: They told the parents that CAVA needed to include this LGBT material for second graders to conform to the California Social Studies Frameworks. However, MassResistance informed them that the “Frameworks” are merely a recommendation based on the actual required Social Studies Standards – which do not mention LGBT issues at all.

Parents flooded CAVA’s head administrator with phone calls and long descriptive complaints. We also considered filing complaints to the California charter school licensing authorities.

From there, the parents contacted Stride’s national corporate offices. They submitted lots of feedback on the Stride website. They complained bitterly to Stride’s Director of Curriculum. All this began to get attention higher up the corporate ladder. The corporate leadership could see that the parents weren’t quitting.

And finally success!

Eventually, a Stride VP got involved and agreed to work with the statewide CAVA VP to make changes to respect the various cultural backgrounds, family values, and religious beliefs of all the parents, not just a few leftists.

Within months, CAVA removed ALL the inappropriate books! They also created a committee to investigate who purchased them and to analyze the curriculum.

Final thoughts

This email to MassResistance from the mother who first contacted us says it all:

Thank you to the whole MR team for the amazing and so needed work you do on a daily basis.

I will be forever grateful for the support my family received when our son started encountering indoctrination at California Virtual Academy. Other groups and church leaders to which we reached out did nothing and simply encouraged us to homeschool.

Thanks to MR's guidance and the participation that you had attending those meetings and speaking up against their practices, it has stopped. They removed those inappropriate and graphic books. CAVA's VP started an investigation to identify who purchased those titles and who made them available to children.

I hope you all will continue to have the strength and the courage to carry on.

   

Please help us continue to do our uncompromising work!

Our successes depend on people like you.

Donate to MassResistance

Your support will make the difference!

 

California MassResistance parents in minority LA suburb fiercely fighting radical “student wellbeing center”

Set up in high school by School Board against parents’ wishes. Now livid parents want it removed.

Funded by federal money. Staff trained by Planned Parenthood. Steers kids to terrible outside services – and more.

Minority parents are unafraid to confront their officials (see video below) – and local leftists have backed off from this fight!

September 11, 2023

VIDEO: Parents blast school board over 'Wellbeing Center' in their school (13 min 30 sec). These minority parents have no fear of being blunt with their (mostly white) school officials.

The federal government is quietly funding radical “health centers” – also called “wellbeing centers” in high schools across the country. Among other things, without parental knowledge they refer children to abortion and transgender “clinics,” access to birth control and condoms, and perform “mental health” counseling.

But in one California school district, the MassResistance parents are aggressively fighting back!

“Wellbeing Centers” being set up in Los Angeles area high schools

Since 2019, the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health (DPH) has been using federal grant money to set up so-called “wellbeing centers” in its schools. Their goal is to be in 50 schools; as of this year they are in 41.

Norwalk and La Mirada are adjoining suburbs of Los Angeles (located between LA and Anaheim). The Norwalk-La Mirada Unified School District (NLMUSD) serves largely minority families.

On July 19, 2021, the NLMUSD School Board signed a “memo of understanding” with the county DPH – committing to have a wellbeing center at the district’s John Glenn High School until 2024.

When parents saw that memo, they were outraged. The DPH staffers coming into the schools to staff these clinics were being trained by Planned Parenthood, as well as by bureaucrats from the county’s far-left Department of Mental Health and Department of Education. These staffers apparently have no medical or psychological credentials of their own.

As part of the agreement, the school must “Coordinate trainings with Planned Parenthood of Los Angeles (PPLA) to implement PPLA trainings.”

The wellbeing center would provide students counseling on: (1) “sexual health and education,” (2) mental health problems, and (3) drug abuse issues.

The DPH staffers would counsel students and train school staff. Even more frightening, they would also train some students to do “peer counseling” with classmates, and set up call centers for that.

There were several red flags. Planned Parenthood’s version of “sexual health” translates to referrals to abortion clinics, dispensing birth control pills and condoms, “transgender therapy,” and graphic “sex ed” including instruction in homosexual sex.

“Mental health” help offered by laypeople can make problems worse. They might offer as an antidote to a student’s suicidal feelings, “You’re really gay or transgender.” And schools are horribly ineffective at stopping drug abuse.

There is no moral compass underlying any of this. It all stems from the leftist mindset of bureaucrats and Planned Parenthood which has a long history of misery and failure.

Moreover, according to the memo, the DPH is targeting “high need” school districts – which is bureaucrat-speak for “minority districts.” This implies that minority parents are less able than white parents to raise their children well. This infuriated the Norwalk-La Mirada parents even more!

The School Board delays – then goes forward

Parents immediately began complaining to the School Board that they did not want this clinic. The Board delayed through 2021 and 2022 – first due to COVID and then giving the impression that they were not going through with implementing it at all.

But in March 2023, they opened the Wellbeing Center at the John Glenn High School. At first, parents didn’t know what to do. Many were shocked.

The memorandum of understanding specifically says that “written consent” of parents was necessary for their child to participate. But that has been simply ignored, parents said. They have reported that their children have been referred to abortion clinics and “transgender” clinics, and given “Plan B” (“morning after”) pills.

MassResistance gets involved – and the parents are on fire!

In July, the parents contacted MassResistance for help. We got right to work! We organized a California MassResistance chapter in Norwalk-La Mirada. It has now has grown to over 150 parents. And it’s attracted many more – recently 200 people from one local church offered to get involved.

 A group of the parents passed this flyer (in both English and Spanish) around the community. Lots of people thanked them for informing them.

The local California MassResistance parents have been filling the School Board meetings and testifying. They are demanding that the Wellbeing Center be shut down immediately.

 These parents and grandparents filled the room at the August 24 School Board meeting.

We wish parents across the country were as hard-hitting as these when they testify. Unlike too many conservatives, these minority parents have no fear of being blunt and emotional with their (mostly white) school officials. (See video above of clips from the testimony.)

 People were unafraid to rebuke the Board members in strong terms!

 The 7-member School Board hears a parent's testimony.

Moreover, pro-family complaints like this usually attract a horde of local leftists who come to the meetings to intimidate and harass the parents. But no leftists have been showing up here. They clearly realize that these parents would lash back even harder!

School Board attempts to respond with a “Fact Sheet”

The School Board members have attempted to answer the parents’ complaints with a “Fact Sheet” about the Wellness Center which they published earlier in the year.

But not surprisingly, the Fact Sheet is misleading and dishonest. While it correctly says that the Wellbeing Center does not “perform abortions,” it fails to mention they do (as parents have told us) refer girls to abortion clinics. The Fact Sheet says that the board has rejected the requirement that Planned Parenthood be at the school. But the Wellness Center staffers are trained by Planned Parenthood. Also, the Fact Sheet basically admits that parental consent is not required, and that students are given advice by so-called “trusted adults.”

The parents have the momentum

It’s unusual to see parents rise up this fiercely against a school “health center,” and the Left hasn’t really developed much of a plan to counter this the way it has with other “culture war” issues.

The parents’ outrage has made the officials so uncomfortable that last month one of them contacted one of the mothers asking what could be done to solve this. It’s as if they weren’t quite listening. The mother said: “Get rid of the Wellness Center!”

In this kind of situation around the country, local officials are usually helped by a horde of unhinged leftists who come to meetings and verbally attack and intimidate the pro-family parents. But that’s not happening here. As mentioned above, the anger and fearlessness of the parents has clearly scared the leftists away. The local newspaper (which is not widely read) has tried to fill the gap by printing outrageously vicious articles against the parents (more on that coming up), but it’s not working.

The School Board is now reacting by spending money on some gimmicks (such as school-wide “surveys” about the center) to sway the community (which we will be reporting on soon). They are clearly on the defensive and looking for a solution to the “problem.” And the parents continue to grow stronger.

This is the way battles like this need to be fought! We’ll keep you informed!

   

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