Members of California high school’s Gay-Straight Alliance allegedly confronted by students waving MAGA flags
But one of the accused students disputes the notion that straight students intended to cause conflict
A California school district is investigating an incident in which students from a high school’s Gay-Straight Alliance were reportedly confronted by straight students waving “Make America Great Again” flags, holding hands, and yelling “This is what’s right.”
According to a parent’s Facebook post, the GSA of Frontier High School in Bakersfield, Calif., held its first meeting on Wednesday.
But as the club’s members were leaving the meeting, they were reportedly confronted by students from the Future Farmers of America, who yelled at and intimidated them, reports Bakersfield-are affiliate 23ABC.
The parent who wrote about the alleged confrontation, saying the straight students were waving “MAGA flags” and holding hands, telling the LGBTQ students, “This is what’s right.”
She adds that her son has told her there is tension between the students affiliated with FFA and “any kids they’ve determined as liberal.”
“The gay community there is apparently the one they’ve decided to mess with,” the parent writes. “Not my kid and his friends. I will not go down without a fight. I want these kids punished.”
The Future Farmers of America is supposed to be a nonpartisan organization, but President Trump received an overwhelmingly positive response after he spoke at FFA’s national convention.
The Kern High School District confirmed to 23ABC that it is investigating the incident.
“The Kern High School District and Frontier High School recognize that students have varying viewpoints and opinions,” the district said in a statement. “One of the goals of the educational process is to teach students how to communicate respectfully. The reported incident that occurred on Wednesday afternoon at Frontier High School is currently being investigated. Once the investigation is complete, appropriate follow-up measures will be taken.”
But one of the students accused of harassing the GSA students, Matthew, says he and his friends joined the meeting out of curiosity, and not to provoke a fight.
The Frontier High School senior claims that he received “dirty looks” from the GSA members when they entered the meeting.
After the meeting, Matthew claims a GSA member picked a fight with some members of his group, which led to arguments and name-calling on both sides.
“It wasn’t just us saying stuff to them, and it wasn’t just them saying stuff to us, we were all screaming and yelling at each other,” he says.
Matthew says he and his friends were suspended from school for harassment, intimidation, and sexual harassment, but disputes the allegations levied against them.
“If you have an opinion that people don’t agree with, you get hated on for it,” he says. “Sometimes it just makes people not want to have an opinion, because they’re worried about the backlash that’s going to come from it.”
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