Someone defecated on a Pride flag at Paso Robles High. Now LGBTQ students are speaking out
About three weeks ago, a student walked into Evan Holtz’s science classroom at Paso Robles High School with his friend at the end of class and ripped down the 3-by-5-foot LGBTQ Pride flag that was hanging on one of the walls.
The student then ran away, pursued by Holtz shouting at him to come back, but he quickly disappeared.
Later, a video surfaced on the TikTok of students attempting to flush the rainbow Pride flag down a toilet.
Then, the video showed one student defecating on the flag in the toilet, according to those who had seen and heard about the video.
“It was definitely an act of hate directed at the LGBTQ community,” said Geoffrey Land, social sciences teacher at Paso High. “And a lot of students felt it, you know, felt that attack very acutely.”
The students involved in the incident were disciplined for their actions, according to school and district administrators.
But for those who didn’t immediately see the TikTok video — which appears to have been deleted — or hear about the incident from their friends at school, they had no idea the attack happened.
It wasn’t until a little more than two weeks later that teachers at the North County school district were made aware of the incident.
“The Paso Robles Joint Unified School District (‘District’) has received multiple concerns about certain flag displays in teacher classrooms, including those that are large and distracting and those that alter the American flag,” District Superintendent Curt Dubost’s letter to teachers on Oct. 1 began.
“I want to start by reiterating my statement from last year that rainbow flags mean different things to different people but to many are a symbol of safety, inclusion and equity,” the letter continued. “All students deserve protection against bullying and harassment. A safe, caring learning environment is essential if students are to achieve their academic potential. We have a duty as a school district to ensure that hate speech and bullying conduct does not create an unsafe campus environment. Students in protected classes are often among the most vulnerable and susceptible to bullying and discrimination.”
Dubost’s letter then announced a new district policy: no flags bigger than 2 feet by 2 feet may be displayed in classrooms, and no flags that are “alterations of the American flag” may be displayed in classrooms.
In an interview with The Tribune, Dubost said, “We don’t want to turn it into a politicized issue where a student enters a classroom and looks up, ‘Oh, there’s a rainbow flag here, or there’s a blue lives matter flag here — that determines what the partisanship is of my teacher.’ We think that that’s a real slippery slope. And so we continue to believe that this is a very reasonable compromise solution that allows rainbows, but within reason.”
Paso Robles students and teachers react to incident
The chain of events was alarming, concerning and disappointing for some students and teachers at Paso High.
“It’s obviously just banning the Pride flag altogether unless you want those little mini ones,” said sophomore Eve Barajas, who is president of the school’s Equity Club. “It’s a way of subtly just getting rid of it. Their defense was that the Pride flag may be a trigger for certain students. But if I had said that the American flag was a trigger to me, I would be treated like a terrorist.”
Holtz said he had hung the Pride flag to show LGBTQ students that they were welcome and safe in his classroom.
After the Pride flag was stolen from his classroom, Holtz said three students bought him more Pride flags to display in his classroom, which he briefly hung up before he had to take them down to follow the new district policy.
“It was very encouraging to me when my students went out of their way and bought me a replacement flag because they knew the impact that taking that down, or ripping that down and destroying it, had on both my classroom and all the students that are in my classroom,” he said. “And students recognized that me trying to be an inclusive teacher and provide a welcoming and safe environment for all my students to learn in, is somehow not acceptable to other students.”
Students said the incident brought into sharp focus the bullying, microaggressions and hate they face daily at Paso High for being queer.
Barajas said she feels lucky “it’s mostly microaggressions, though physical violence has happened in the past.”
Students told The Tribune that “homophobia is a joke” at Paso High, and that they don’t feel safe or respected at the school.
“From a young age, I’ve seen my identity and my existence be debated in the media, in front of me, in real life,” Barajas, a 15-year-old, said. “So this isn’t something that’s new to me. But seeing it be allowed by my district is what is distressing me.”
And students said the district’s new flag policy sent a clear message: The flag that symbolizes their right to love is political and not welcome at school.
“My identity has been politicized,” said Danny Perez, a senior at Paso High. “Someone defecated on a Pride flag. So the school takes away the Pride flag, not the homophobia?”
“We can’t exist without being a controversy at this school,” said another senior at the school, Ava Hughes. “We’re minors, and they’re forcing us to hide or protest.”
After Dubost’s district-wide policy was announced and the Pride flags came down from the classrooms at Paso High, students said they felt they needed a way to express their disappointment in the administration and show their peers that LGBTQ students still exist at the school.
So, they made signs to hang around the school on letter-sized paper.
“Love over Hate,” “You’re Valid” and other affirming messages for the LGBTQ community at Paso High were taped up around campus this week.
Some at the school said they hope the incident will create an opportunity to change the climate at Paso High to be more welcoming to all students.
“We need to teach them to be college- and career-ready, but they also have to be ready for our community,” said Marcy Goodnow, Paso High’s director of theater arts. “We need to teach kids how, like, if you step out of Paso Robles and you’re going to be a good human, this is how we see each other’s differences and celebrate them. But it’s a total work in progress. And something that is very needed and has been needed for a long time.”
Land, the social science teacher, said students who have never really been outspoken about LGBTQ rights at school are now feeling the need to say something.
‘Coming Out Against Hate’ forum planned
Students have organized a community forum to be held on Oct. 20 from 6 to 8 p.m. at Paso High’s performing arts center.
The event, “Coming Out Against Hate,” is an opportunity for students to “share their experiences and visions for a more welcoming, inclusive educational environment,” and it’s the first forum of its kind in Paso Robles, according to a news release sent out about the event.
It’s intended to be an educational event that brings to light the homophobia students face at school and how that has impacted them. Students will share their stories, and a short film will be shown featuring LGBTQ students talking about the challenges of high school.
A Q&A for community members will follow the students’ stories.
Students say they’re excited and nervous about the forum.
“With the forum, we’re hoping that things change and they stop normalizing hate against us,” said Hughes, the Paso High senior. “I’m really proud of the fact that so many people are brave enough to come up against the adversity that is very obvious here. We might get a ton of hate for this. We might get hate-crimed ourselves.
“But we can’t let this continue. We have a culture of homophobia here. We literally have no other option than to put ourselves kind of at risk and in danger. Because we can’t let this continue.”
This story was originally published October 8, 2021 at 10:28 AM.
