Templeton school board member faces scrutiny over SLO Tea Party meeting video 

Templeton school board trustee Jennifer Grinager found herself under fire from residents and the Gala Pride & Diversity Center for her connection to Moms for Liberty, which allegedly orchestrated a June 20 school board special meeting as a means to end protections for transgender students.

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• Photo Via Gala Instagram
• CALL TO ACTION This flyer was posted by Gala Pride and Diversity Center in response to several statements made by Templeton school board trustee Jennifer Grinager in a June 5 San Luis Obispo Tea Party meeting video.

"Far-right hate group 'Moms for Liberty' will attempt to end protections for LGBTQ-plus students of Templeton Unified School District tonight," an Instagram post from Gala said. "We are calling on our community to oppose them."

According to the agenda, the meeting was intended to be a study session on California laws regarding protections owed to students based on gender identity and whether or not that was included under California law.

However, according to Gala Content Curator Lola White-Sanborn, concerns about the meeting's intent stemmed from a YouTube video posted on June 5 where Grinager spoke at a SLO Tea Party meeting.

In the video, Grinager—who is introduced as a Moms for Liberty member, resident, and Templeton school board member—talks about a special meeting that will take place later in the month about transgender students.

"The topic is transgender students using opposite-gender bathrooms and facilities," she said in the video. "If you don't live in Templeton, it is important for you to know this and consider coming. ... You will learn things that will help you in your [own] school district."

She continued by explaining that in the meeting she hoped to find resolutions that work for an issue she says is "pretty rampant" throughout North County.

"I know for certain of four girls using the boy's locker room in seventh grade [in Templeton] and at least one student at the high school [in Templeton] that is transgender that is using the female bathroom there," Grinager states in the video. "Paso Robles, Atascadero, it's happening. If you think it is only happening in the big cities, I'm sorry to tell you that you are wrong."

She added that "they will need as much help as we can get" in addressing the issue but also clarified that she intended for the special meeting to be held later in June, telling meeting attendees that there would be a 72-hour notice on the school district's website.

"We are creating an unbearable, untenable, unsafe, and completely ludicrous situation," she said.

Grinager told New Times that she did not have time to elaborate on the comments she made in the video and directed the paper to tune in to the June 20 meeting for more information.

At the school board meeting, Grinager called out Gala's claims about her ulterior motive, saying that the Moms for Liberty had nothing to do with the meeting taking place.

"I want to say there seems to be an impression that Moms for Liberty directed this meeting, and they did not. They had nothing to do with it," Grinager said. "No one ever wants to end protection, no one ever spoke to us about ending LGBTQ-plus protects. Moms for Liberty is not a hate group."

She ended her comments on the matter at the meeting by inviting those who had made assumptions about her stance on the LGBTQ-plus community and Moms for Liberty to talk with her afterward—citing her experience working with individuals with HIV and AIDS, some of whom were transgender, and the sacrifices she made to be with them as they were dying in the hospital.

"To say this is a community I hate is hurtful to my heart," Grinager said. "No one ever spoke to us about ending LGBTQ-plus protection ... no one I have been involved with hates that group." Δ