Elk Grove Unified School District’s (EGUSD) highly controversial covert lunchtime LGBTQ+ clubs at Pleasant Grove Elementary School (PGES) and five other elementary schools, which target young children, is being legally challenged by the National Center for Law & Policy (NCLP) on behalf of concerned parents. Today, the NCLP submitted a comprehensive cease and desist letter to EGUSD, demanding the district permanently suspend its UBU and Rainbow clubs in all district elementary schools.
In January 2024, based on a politically and ideologically aggressive approach promoted in recent years at California Teacher Association (CTA) conferences, Daniel Bishop, a third-grade teacher at PGES, began to covertly recruit young children to a new secret school club. He told the young PGES students the club was for “boys who crush on boys” and “girls who crush on girls,” but that anyone could come. Bishop delivered his plea to minor students in the third through sixth-grade classrooms, children in the 8 to 12 age range. He also proactively attempted to recruit all students to come, promising that there would be fun games for the children to play.
Parents were told nothing whatsoever about the existence or purpose of “UBU Club” before their own children were invited by Bishop. The UBU Club was not listed on the school’s website nor was it disclosed by PGES activist Principal Deidra Wood in the school’s newsletter. The club met on campus during lunch, apparently allowing Bishop to avoid the normal requirement of parental notification and consent via permission slips. Furthermore, PGES students were instructed to not tell their parents about the UBU Club. It is believed that similar clubs were recently rolled out in five other district elementary schools.
Mary Congdon, a concerned PGES parent, said, “It was secretive with no permission slips. This is a clear violation of our parental rights. Parents decide when to have life altering discussions with their child. We are the parents. My husband and I reminded our sons that we are your safe space, not the UBU Club. These clubs are too much, too soon for young children.”
“Children belong to their parents, not the state,” said the NCLP’s Dean Broyles, a constitutional attorney. “Parents have the fundamental constitutional right to direct the education, care and raising of their children. Elk Grove Unified School District’s process of forming these intentionally covert LGBTQ+ clubs cleverly cloaked merely as an ‘anti-bullying’ effort is unlawful because it violates my clients’ civil rights. The district seems to think it’s appropriate to hide the existence of these sexuality and gender clubs from parents, secretly recruiting their young children to inappropriately discuss sexuality during lunchtime and also pressuring kids to not tell their parents. As a PGES dad who is a police officer pointed out at a recent EGUSD board meeting, this is what groomers do.”
Broyles continued, “We are bringing that which EGUSD hid in darkness into the light. The NCLP is proud to represent parents who are legitimately concerned about EGUSD’s complete lack of transparency and accountability or compliance with the law. Parents must be the ones who decide when to talk to young children about sensitive issues surrounding human sexuality, including sexual orientation and gender identity. That is precisely why we submitted a cease and desist letter to EGUSD today demanding the district stop violating my clients’ civil rights and agree to permanently suspend the UBU and Rainbow Clubs at the elementary school level.”
The National Center for Law & Policy is a non-profit 501(c)(3) legal defense organization dedicated to the protection and promotion of religious freedom, the affirmation of life, parental rights and other civil liberties. Please visit our website at www.nclplaw.org.
