LGBTQ students and allies at Los Positas College in Livermore are now demanding one of the school’s trustees to step down after they said he made a series of homophobic and transphobic remarks online.
“It’s a very dangerous thing for an elected public official to be making those comments,” said student Hayden Sidun.
Sidun is just one of dozens of students, faculty and alumni at Los Positas College calling for the resignation of board member Luis Reynoso after they said he posted multiple homophobic and transphobic social media posts to the platform LinkedIn.
“For someone to be leading a community college district, I feel like that is really harmful to the students and faculty who identify as openly LGBTQ,” Sidun said.
That concern started this month when this post appeared on Reynoso’s LinkedIn page, it shows an apple with the caption: “This is a banana. If you see an apple, you’re a right-wing extremist.”
Kyle Johnson, who graduated last year believes the post was meant to as an insult to the transgender community.
“The goal is for me to be wrong. I’m hoping that trustee Reynoso is in support of the LGBTQ plus community, but all the evidence that we've have seen goes against that,” he said.
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Since then, other political post have shown up on the professors account- including one questioning the “decay of masculinity.”
Reynoso has not commented on his intention, but his online claim they are being misinterpreted. NBC Bay Area has reached out to Reynoso multiple times for comment but have not heard back.
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“How is a student supposed to thrive academically, if they don’t feel safe? If a board member, the people who are governing over the students and school is not validating the identity of the student,” said Johnson.
In response, the school sent out a statement affirming support for diversity and inclusion. When NBC Bay Area’s Velena Jones asked the board of trustees if Reynoso would face any consequences, they tell sent her a statement that read, in part:
"The first amendment enshrines free speech as a basic right, even when that speech is considered hurtful, hateful, and goes against the very values of our institution. The best way to counter ideas that many find dangerous is with actions that foster a culture of diversity, equity, inclusion, accessibility, and belonging.”
Students calling for the trustee's resignation and they said Reynoso's position as a school representative should be a factor, and many worry if action isn’t taken, more harm will be done.
“I believe that it will create an environment of hatefulness. That it will allow other people to rise up and continue to spread this hateful rhetoric,” Sidun said.
