Vishal P. Singh
The anti-LGBTQ+ hate movement Leave Our Kids Alone (L.O.K.A.) targeted the Glendale Unified School District (G.U.S.D.) board meeting yet again this evening. This comes after multiple violent clashes at similar G.U.S.D. board meetings instigated by L.O.K.A. alongside several Proud Boys and Capitol rioters.
L.O.K.A. supporters, who publicly call for young LGBTQ+ people to hang themselves, have also taken credit for spreading defamatory wanted-style posters of G.U.S.D. board members, local teachers, the mayor of Glendale, and three journalists (including me)— falsely declaring all of us to be “groomers.” At today’s meeting, L.O.K.A. supporter Narek Palyan filmed himself repeatedly yelling outside the G.U.S.D. building that same-sex marriage must be banned. He followed these remarks up by saying that LGBTQ+ people should be “erased” as a category.
VPS Reports exclusively exposed L.O.K.A. supporter and self-described nationalist Narek Palyan for performing the Nazi salute at a previous G.U.S.D. board meeting. On social media, Palyan has denied the Holocaust, shared Nazi-produced antisemitic propaganda, and called Adolf Hitler a “great man.”
Palyan responded to my reporting on his pro-Nazi social media posts by telling me that he’d “rather be fascist than be a f*ggot like you every single time of the day.” He also remarked how he wanted to keep the “spirit” of American Nazi Party founder George Lincoln Rockwell alive.
Meanwhile, another L.O.K.A. supporter named Ani Grigorian filmed fellow anti-LGBTQ+ extremists posing for photos with Glendale police and harassing photojournalist Kelly Stuart (while also participating in the harassment).
Targeted attacks against independent journalists from far-right extremists have made it difficult for reporters to go on the ground at these school board meetings in Southern California. In fact, L.O.K.A. supporters have messaged me personally and threatened me if I report on these school board meetings in-person.