City council removes plus sign from LGBTQ+ Pride proclamation after deciding it promotes BDSM

The City Council of Temecula, California voted on Tuesday to remove the plus sign from LGBTQ+ in its proclamation recognizing LGBTQ+ Pride Month after councilmembers decided it promoted inappropriate queer subcultures to children.

The Press-Enterprise reported that the change came after an emotional, hours-long meeting to debate it. Two council members, Jessica Alexander and James Stewart, led the charge against the plus sign. Alexander also advocated for removing any mention of the Stonewall Uprising from the proclamation and tried to ban the council from disseminating the proclamation to high school gay-straight alliances.

Related: Anti-trans actor Kevin Sorbo claims his children’s book about saving masculinity is not anti-LGBTQ+

Kevin Sorbo has been railing against the rights of trans youth in his interviews to promote the book, but got pissed when someone called it anti-LGBTQ+.

The latter two proposals failed, but in a 3-2 vote, the plus sign was eliminated.

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Alexander claimed that her research taught her the plus sign refers to BDSM. “Are we okay with condoning subcultures such as BDSM?” she asked at the meeting. “Are we okay with promoting that to our children?”

Stewart added, “I personally don’t feel comfortable with the plus category only because I don’t understand it and I have never gotten a clear answer.”

Stewart was fine with the Stonewall Uprising staying in the proclamation but supported Alexander’s proposal to ban the procalamation from being disseminated to student groups.

“Until the age of 18, I believe you belong to your parents,” he said.

In reality, the plus sign is a symbol of inclusion to acknowledge that there are so many more sexual and gender identities than the term “LGBTQ” can encompass. It is also shorthand for longer references to the community, such as LGBTQIA.

Alexander also explained that her position against mentioning Stonewall was due to the fact that she “cannot sit here and promote activism against police officers.” Alexander is a former officer of the New York Police Department.

Temecula has positioned itself as an epicenter of the so-called culture wars currently facing our nation. Just this week, over a hundred students walked out of class at the city’s Great Oak High School to protest a wave of anti-LGBTQ+ policies implemented by the local school board.

The latest policy among a slew of actions directed at erasing LGBTQ+ identity from the school district came earlier this month when the district voted to ban all flags except for the U.S. flag and the California State flags on any Temecula Valley Unified School District properties, including in classrooms.

The latest policy among a slew of actions directed at erasing LGBTQ+ identity from the school district came earlier this month when the district voted to ban all flags except for the U.S. flag and the California State flags on any Temecula Valley Unified School District properties, including in classrooms.

In June, the district caught the attention of California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) when it rejected a new social studies curriculum because a teacher’s guide for the textbook refers to slain San Francisco Supervisor and gay rights advocate Harvey Milk.

“My question is, why even mention a pedophile?” asked Temecula Valley School Board President Dr. Joseph Komrosky before the vote.