The Newport Harbor High School in Orange County, California placed scannable QR codes in their hallways that link to the LGBTQ Center OC, which have since been taken down.
A high school in Southern California’s Newport Mesa Unified School District has partnered with an LGBTQ+ organization to promote the organization’s services among its students.
The school, Newport Harbor High School, has provided scannable QR codes in its hallways that direct students to the LGBTQ Center OC’s website. The website lists services which include men’s and women’s support groups, as well as transgender affirming care and “parent processing therapy” groups.
Per reports, the student can follow the link and get connected with therapists and doctors who can write reference letters as well as prescribe “sterilizing hormone-therapy regimens” as well as transgender surgeries.
The site also lists the types of surgical options they can refer students for who use their services per the online form. These types of procedures are irreversible and have a high rate of children who regret their transition after the fact.
This action comes within the context of the school district seeking to partner with the LGBTQ Center OC for the past couple of years. In fact, the district proposed a memorandum with the center, but withdrew it at the request of parents who opposed the action.
In fact, the Center held a presentation in the Spring of 2022 with Newport Harbor High School’s LGBTQ+ club in which they presented material on transgender healthcare and advertised their “groups for children.”
Parents have expressed concerns over the school’s desire to partner with such an organization, arguing that it creates a culture of secrecy from parents.
The district, however, has little financial incentive to hear parental concerns because it is “largely funded by property taxes,” meaning that even if parents take their children out of the school district, they are still paying for the local districts with their tax dollars.
As of July 25, however, the district has taken down the link from the QR codes, purportedly after the district’s actions were exposed.
