San Diego school districts end programs, limit support for LGBTQ students

Amid the ongoing debate weighing the rights of LGBTQ+ students, some San Diego County school districts are cutting ties with programs and initiatives that support LGBTQ+ youth, The San Diego Union-Tribune reported.

Grossmont Union High and Cajon Valley Union school districts ended contracts for student mental health resources, such as therapy, from the nonprofit organization San Diego Youth Services, according to the Union-Tribune. The organization, which works with over 80 schools in the county, offers support for students experiencing homelessness, domestic violence, juvenile detention and human trafficking as well as counseling for  LGBTQ+ youth. Community members, the Union-Tribune reported, protested the provision for LGBTQ+ youth.

Even though the districts have replaced the San Diego Youth Services contract, Grossmont students face a two-month wait before the new mental health services can start.

“Our LGBTQ+ youth are some of the highest-need kids…” Walter Phillips, CEO of San Diego Youth Services, told the Union-Tribune, “so if you’re making decisions based on the fact that we… proudly support the LGBTQ+ community, then that’s unfortunate.”

Cajon Valley, as well as Santee and Rancho Santa Fe school districts, also prohibited staff from displaying LGBTQ+-supportive materials such as “safe space” posters, according to the Union-Tribune.

Arguing that LGBTQ+  topics constitute a political issue, some districts justified the canceled mental health service contracts and barred materials by saying it makes the district neutral, the Union-Tribune detailed.

“Labeling LGBTQ+ identities as political ideologies effectively persecutes LGBTQ+ people” in an attempt to erase or belittle them, the Union-Tribune reported.

“It has become political because it has been made political by the people who would have us be erased or just not part of the public life,” said Jen LaBarbera, director of education and advocacy at San Diego Pride.