SUNOL, Calif. (KRON) — A Sunol Glen school board was cleared out by sheriff’s deputies Tuesday night after it became disorderly, according to a KRON photographer at the scene.
The board passed a resolution to restrict all non-state-required flags on school campuses. It only allows flags like United States and California flag, and bans items such as Pride flags.
At about 9 p.m., before it was voted on, the school board asked everyone to leave and called in Alameda County Sheriff’s deputies to escort people out. The vote passed 2-to-1 at about 9:40 p.m.
The resolution raised questions about whether the school board was discriminating against the LGBTQ+ community, and the meeting became heated when some people felt the comments were becoming one-sided.
“It takes away educational factors for our school,” said a parent at the meeting named Rhiana B. “LGBTQ rights are part of our social studies history curriculum here in California. And I think the flag is a very big symbol of that and is a part of our education.”
“I mean, all we really need is the American flag,” said another attendee. “The American flag represents everybody, whether you’re lesbian, gay, trans, questioning, queer, bisexual. The American flag is for everybody.”
The issue came about in June when Sunol Glen School put up a flag celebrating Pride Month that was reportedly torn down two days later. The school then raised another flag on the campus flagpole.
After that decision caused controversy in the town, the board president ultimately proposed the resolution that was passed on Tuesday.