A California school board member faced relentless backlash from the community after he spoke out against transgenderism in schools, the Daily Caller reported.
Approximately 800 community members rallied together and signed a petition to force a special election to oust Kenneth Enney, a Paso Robles Joint Unified School District trustee and retired U.S. Marine Corps intelligence officer.
Enney, who was appointed to the seat in October, posted in a private group on Facebook that he stands against transgenderism and gender mutilation being taught in schools. He added that the ideology being pushed in classrooms attempts to “recruit and convert children.”
“You have a lot of people that have left the school district and a lot of it is over the progressive policies, basically the feeling that the LGBTQ agenda is being shoved down their throats,” Enney told the DCNF. “I basically made a stand and said I don’t have anything against the gay lifestyle or gay marriage. I have friends who are gay, I’m accepting of that. I honestly don’t understand the bi lifestyle or the queer lifestyle. So I guess I’m tolerant of that. But with transgenderism, I think what I reject is that you’re asking people to participate in a lie, because you can’t be something [you’re] not.”
The Paso Robles residents only need 455 valid signatures to trigger a special election for Enney’s position; however, the election would cost the school district roughly $500,000, KSBY reported.
Dr. Curt Dubost, Paso Robles Joint Unified School District Superintendent, noted that the district has already put money aside to conduct the election.
“When we were advised of this probability, we immediately reserved money to cover it, so it does not come from any existing project or any other assigned budget,” Dubost stated. “It comes from our reserves.”
The district and county superintendents pressured Enney to resign and retract his comments against trans ideology. He refused both of their requests.
The petition against Enney was launched on November 10 by Carey Alvord-Schof, an educator at the school district.
“We were just really disappointed in the choice that they had made because we felt that it was a person with more extremist views than what is appropriate for Paso Robles and our school district,” Alvord-Schof stated.
“My background [is] 25 years in the Marine Corps,” Enney told the DCNF. “I used to joke when I was on active duty that they don’t pay me enough to compromise my principles. I’m not getting paid to do this job. I really don’t see myself losing that much. I think it’s more important to make a stand and that’s the other reason why I think the teachers union is going to continue to come after me because they don’t want anybody that’s gonna make a stand. You gotta start somewhere. I may lose the special election. I’m certainly not going to take back what I said, I’m sorry, I’m certainly not gonna resign.”
Gary Lehrer, a member of the San Luis Obispo County Republican Party, reported that he plans to look into the legality of the petition started by Alvord-Schof. In response, Lehrer launched a petition in support of Enney’s position on the board.
“The legality surrounding the effort to terminate his position runs counter to the U.S. Constitution and the petition itself violates law as it is incorrectly worded,” Lehrer told the DCNF. “Frankly I was hoping to set an example to school districts across the nation how to fight against progressives trying to dominate school boards.”
Paso Robles Joint Unified School District did not respond to a request for comment, DCNF reported.