A In the Lamorinda community, daily protests have grown larger. Standing in front of Lafayette Elementary, two opposing organizations have decided to represent their opinions through signs, flags, and much more. Nikki Cowger is the organizer for Lafayette Loves All Kids, which is a group that represents the LGBTQ+ community. Their goals are to spread positivity and equality towards all people who walk, drive by, or attend Lafayette Elementary.
Lisa Disbrow is a part of the First Do No Harm organization and protests about how no child or person is “born in the wrong body” and demonstrates her opinions on children who may be questioning their gender identity.
Cowger and her group, Lafayette Loves All Kids, stand on the Lafayette Elementary School (LES) sidewalk. Cowger shared her experiences and observations about what some of the Lafayette community has felt about the messages that opposing protestors are sharing: “The children, staff and parents of LES and many people who run, walk, drive, bike past that corridor on Moraga feel really threatened by the posters and the people who hold them.” Cowger’s observations seem to be accurate; Disbrow shared how she knows what people think of her. Disbrow said, “I stand on Moraga Road where some think my motives are harmful because they believe the only loving response to gender confusion is to affirm so that the minor child is temporarily happy but irreversibly damaged in the long term.”
Elementary students are young, usually making them more impressionable. This can cause some confusion amongst the children. The Lafayette Loves All Kids organization has shared that they try to protect these children from seeing transphobic signs. “During the school drop off and pick up, its actually us (the affirming adults) who stand close to her/them (the anti-trans protestors) because we want to shield the kids (as much as we can) from seeing and reading her signs and words like ‘mastectomies’ and ‘suicide’ and ‘cross-sex hormones’ and many other inappropriate [words and messages] for young minds.”
Both organizations have opposite views of how innocence can be stolen from a child. Disbrow shared concerns about young children who may be questioning their gender identity. Disbrow stated, “Female minors as young as 7 are being seen in local gender clinics here in the Bay Area due to gender confusion. Girls as young as 12, 14 are having double mastectomies so they can appear as boys.”
Cowger also shared how Disbrow and her supporters go as far as speaking to the children directly to communicate their opinions on transgender people.“They sometimes shout and approach kids with anti-trans messaging, so it’s very hostile for many especially now that it’s more than 2 years ongoing,” said Cowger. Disbrow has not been hesitant to voice her thoughts, regardless of the audience’s demographic. Sharing her opinion for over two years, she is dedicated to spreading her messages.
Disbrow stated, “Their mental, emotional and physical needs deserve genuine diagnostic counseling, not name changes, binders, and deepening depression.” Cowger expressed how she is, “holding a safe space for them to feel accepted and seen, rather than vilified and silenced.”
Cowger spoke about certain things she has heard from the opposing protestors. Cowger said, “But [Disbrow] has stated that her efforts are to ‘make the community aware of Lafayette school district indoctrination of kids’ and she purposely targets the kids, staff and parents in an effort to get LAFSD to stop flying the trans flag in March and to stop all DEIB efforts across the district.’”
Disbrow spoke about her perspective. She said, “On Monday, April 14 the trans activists have requested the Lafayette City Council, agenda item 14b, create a new, never before crafted ordinance in Lafayette to prevent the exercise of free speech so I can not inform parents and community members about the Lafayette School District policies, activities, curriculum and resolutions that lead to gender dysphoria, social transition, puberty blockers, wrong sex hormones and the removal of healthy body tissue.” Disbrow also would like to clear her name from some rumors that are spreading about her. “I was accused of sharing videos over the internet with bad actors to harm our children. I was accused of paying people to stand with me. [These are] needless lies,” Disbrow said.
In light of the recent presidential election, some parts of these protests have become related to government politics. Politics have also been added to the mix of these protests. Cowger shared what she feels about this and what she has seen regarding politics throughout Lafayette, Orinda, Moraga and Walnut Creek. Cowger stated,“ The primary person is named Lisa Disbrow and she’s a very predatory fanatic who devotes a lot of time to being against the queer community and promoting MAGA agendas across Lamorinda (and beyond). Other adults have tried to talk to her to and ask her to stand down/move away from LES.”
The content on Disbrow’s signs is aligned with Trump’s recent letters on only using male and female pronouns.
Disbrow said “The Trump administration has issued letters to CA mandating a return to male and female only sex definitions in Title IX. The Department of Education is going to withhold federal funding where DEI programs like those in Lafayette, Moraga, Orinda, Walnut Creek and Acalanes are continuing,” Disbrow stated. She doesn’t feel the Trump administration should be attacked for using their federal power in this way because she believes similar tactics have been previously used by the Obama and Bush administration. She thinks Cowger and her supporters are revealing a double standard by criticizing Trump’s political strategies regarding the LGBTQ+ community.
Lafayette Elementary School has had ongoing protests throughout the years, but this year there has been more representation of LGBTQ+ community and of the spurring of controversies about the community. In front of Lafayette Elementary, both opposing groups have very different viewpoints, but ultimately they both have a common goal – it is to share their messages throughout the community.
