A contentious school board meeting in Riverside, California, sparked large opposition protests outside the district office Thursday night. One side championed “Save Girls Sports,” wearing t-shirts with that message, while the other side came equipped with transgender pride flags and signs.
Members of a women’s prayer group who attended the protests on the “Save Girls Sports” side alleged that the pro-transgender side harassed them during the event and disrupted their attempts to speak publicly and film content.
The prayer group, the Inland Empire chapter of Young Women for America (YWA) in California, was showered with insults by alleged pro-transgender activists Thursday in a statement provided to Pak Gazette Digital.
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“Members of pro-LGBTQ groups began heckling and harassing people in line who spoke against their values. Some of these adult protesters even walked up to young girls who were going to speak and yelled in their face.” , alleged Tori Hitchcock, president of the YWA Inland Empire chapter.
Hitchcock claims the harassment forced them to move their prayer circle away from the offices.
No specific person seen in any photograph has been identified in any of the harassment allegations reported by Pak Gazette Digital. Skylar Crawford, left, and Jadeynn Gallardo, both of Martin Luther King High School, and Tori Hitchcock, right, of Young Women for America, who supports “Save Girls Sports,” pray among the crowd gathering outside the meeting of the Riverside Unified School District to debate. the rights of transgender athletes to compete in high school sports Thursday, December 19, 2024. (Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times)
“Seeing how quickly these protesters wanted to make a scene, we decided we had to wait and move our prayer rally away from the main lot for safety reasons. We were able to find a spot that was secluded but overlooking the event, which allowed us to really visualize what we were praying for. We also spent time praying for the young athletes who were there to speak. “Many of them were students who were ostracized at their school,” Hitchcock said.
Hitchcock did not name any specific people in his harassment allegations.
Other witnesses present on Thursday have provided their accounts of the events to Pak Gazette Digital.
Julianne Fleischer, an attorney with the religious liberties law firm Advocates for Faith & Freedom, was at the protests Thursday to hold a press conference ahead of the meeting that featured a father whose family had been affected by a transgender athlete competing. on a women’s sports team.
No specific person seen in any photograph has been identified in any of the harassment allegations reported by Pak Gazette Digital. Supporters of transgender athletes hold the Progress Pride flag as “Save Girls Sports” supporters listen to the debate and join the crowd gathering outside the Riverside Unified School District meeting to debate transgender rights. transgender athletes to compete in high school sports on Thursday, December 19. , 2024. (Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times)
“At first it was peaceful, but LGBTQ activists became increasingly vocal and tried to stir up unrest by heckling people,” Fleischer said.
Fleischer also claims that pro-trans activists were using megaphones to drown out the sound of normal conversation.
“LGBTQ activists were shouting and blasting their megaphones to prevent SGS supporters from participating in media interviews. We moved the media away from the LGBTQ activists to a more secluded area so that the activists could not interfere with the ability of SGS supporters to talk to them in the media,” Fleischer added.
California Family Council Vice President Greg Burt told Pak Gazette Digital that he also witnessed pro-trans activists actively disrupting pro-girl protests and interviews.
“They had megaphones and every time someone used a camera to record a video, they would jump behind it and make noise,” Burt said.
ANGRY PARENTS SCREAM AT SCHOOL MEETING FOR ALLOWING TRANS ATHLETES IN GIRLS’ SPORTS: ‘TEACH THEM SELF-CONTROL!’
No specific person seen in any photograph has been identified in any of the harassment allegations reported by Pak Gazette Digital. Supporters of transgender athletes hold signs as an overflow crowd converges outside the Riverside Unified School District meeting to debate the rights of transgender athletes to compete in high school sports on Thursday, Dec. 19, 2024. (Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)
An anonymous parent told Pak Gazette Digital that they had witnessed a child being bombarded with vulgar insults by pro-trans protesters after the meeting.
“My 16-year-old son and a few others were outside after speaking when a group of LGBTQ people walked by intentionally pointing at each of them and saying, ‘FU FU FU,'” the anonymous parent said.
Footage reviewed by Pak Gazette Digital showed a considerable pro-LGBTQ presence at the event. The limited images reviewed showed protesters standing calmly. Multiple accounts have suggested that pro-LGBTQ protesters outnumbered “Save Girls Sports” protesters.
Pak Gazette Digital reached out to Riverside Unified School District (RUSD) for verification but did not receive a response.
Thursday’s RUSD board meeting was nationally anticipated amid an ongoing controversy at Martin Luther King High School, which has since spread to other schools in the district. A transgender athlete on the women’s cross-country team incited students to wear T-shirts that read “Save Girls Sports” in protest. But those students were punished by administrators, some with detention. A lawsuit filed by two female distance runners alleges that the school compared the T-shirts to swastikas.
Supporters of transgender athletes hold signs, left, while Tori Hitchcock, center, of Young Women for America, and Salomay McCullough, right, both former athletes, display their “Save Girls Sports” T-shirts outside Riverside Unified School District meeting. to debate the rights of transgender athletes to compete in high school sports on Thursday, December 19, 2024. (Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)
But the student body responded in support of their biologically female classmates by wearing the shirts in groups of hundreds at a time. Many of the students posted photos on social media of them wearing the shirts together, and some were detained.
The school eventually stopped disciplining students after more than 400 Martin Luther King High School students showed up wearing the shirts on December 11.
Sources told Pak Gazette Digital that students at Arlington High School, Riverside Polytechnical High School and Romona High School were also seen wearing the shirts at their respective schools.
Ryan Starling, father of a girl at the school who is involved in a lawsuit against the school, spoke at the news conference outside the district office Thursday. The lawsuit alleges that Starling’s daughter, Taylor, lost her spot on the varsity team to a transgender athlete and that her T-shirt to express opposition to the competing athlete was compared to a swastika.
“It’s heartbreaking to see what my daughter has been through this season,” Starling said.
“This is unfair. This is completely unfair. It breaks my heart as a father to see my daughter go through this and have it taken away from her, to come up to me and just hug me. And I can’t do anything about it. So, It’s just heartbreaking.”
The father of the other girl involved in the lawsuit, Dan Slavin, previously told Pak Gazette Digital that he “couldn’t even stomach” hearing that his daughter’s shirt was compared to a swastika.
“I didn’t even know how to digest that right away,” Slavin said. “There were no words. I still can’t digest it to this day. It’s unfathomable. It’s strange. It’s strange. I’m sure there would be better illustrations they could use instead of that.”
In a statement previously provided to Pak Gazette Digital, RUSD said it allowed the transgender athlete to compete on the team because it must comply with California state law.
“It is important to remember that RUSD is required to follow California law, which requires that students be allowed to participate in sex-segregated school programs and activities, including sports teams and competitions consistent with their gender identity, regardless of gender. that appear in the student’s records,'” the statement says.
“As these matters play out in our courts and the media, opposition and protests must be directed to those in a position to affect those laws and policies, including officials in Washington, D.C. and Sacramento.”
California has had laws in place to protect transgender athletes in women’s sports since 2014. That year, AB 1266 went into effectgranting California students at the school and college level the right to “participate in sex-segregated school programs and activities, including athletic teams and competitions, and to use facilities consistent with their gender identity, regardless of the gender listed on school records.” student”. “
