Since the Pride Month proclamation fiasco in Porterville, California, in the summer of 2013, I’ve written several blogs on ‘Hate In A Small Town’. You can find them here: Hate In A Small Town (1) 9-18-2014, Hate In A Small Town (2) 6-18-2014, Porterville City Council Still Snubbing LGBTQ Community 9-24-2014, and Hate In A Small Town 4 – It’s Déjà vu all over again 3-19-2025. The first blog was printed in the Weekend Edition of the Visalia Times Delta on September 21-22, 2013. Those blogs all dealt with a nearby city, Porterville, California. My city, Visalia, has been better about LGBTQ issues, for the most part, until this incident. (Not that Visalia has been a gay beacon, by any means. In 2002, the ACLU settled a lawsuit against the Visalia Unified School District, in which the District “agreed to adopt sweeping reforms to address anti-gay harassment, including groundbreaking measures to train staff and students with the goal of preventing harassment before it happens,” *see below for the Consent order)

The picture above started making the rounds on social media on Thursday, February 12, 2026. Here’s the background, as I know it at the time of this publication.

A class picture was taken in an auditorium, with some of the ASB officers wearing white t-shirts with lettering, designed to spell out “Always Legit Class of 2026”. See the image below.

The event was apparently also hosting freshman orientation, with students from feeder middle schools on campus. The current story circulating is that two eighth grade boys were seen holding hands, triggering the students in the above picture to spell out a homophobic slur, and have other students take pictures. It’s not known if the targets of the slur saw it in the moment, but they have certainly seen it on social media since. It’s also not clear where Redwood High School staff and teachers were during this incident, as they appear not to have put a stop to the students posing for the picture.

Students immediately posted to Instagram and other social media sites, and the shit hit the fan. “Going viral” doesn’t do justice to how those posts took off, and how they were received by the community.

Visalia Unified School District began immediate damage control. Click on ‘more’ for the rest of the story.

Meanwhile, social media had a field day. As you might expect, remarks ranged from “how terrible and homophobic”, “where were the teachers?”, to “they did nothing wrong”, and comments on how LGBTQ individuals were mentally ill. It’s quite revealing how many individuals are quite willing to label themselves as homophobic bigots. Lots of anonymous accounts, of course, with little to no content on their profiles, but also “real” folks quite happy to put their name on their remarks.

Friday, the Visalia Unified School District put out another notice.

The interesting thing about this release is that it is not the original. That post was very vague about what the District did, and I posted a comment to that effect, and said it would not calm the brewing storm. I got a DM a few minutes later.

The “final” statement is what I posted above. It’s more wordy, but doesn’t really express more than the original. I’m kicking myself now for not having screen captured the original.

Rumors floating around social media claim the students were allowed to select one from three options as their punishment.

  1. Be dropped from ASB (associated student body).
  2. Don’t walk at graduation.
  3. Don’t attend Grad Night.

I think I know which option I would pick. While fun, missing Grad Night isn’t really much of a punishment. I suspect this will be the one (only one) chosen.

Do you think the punishment fits the ‘crime’?

The Source LGBT+ Center, of Visalia, California, released the following”

Some decided to not see a problem, and declare the story “fake news”.

(You’ll notice I’ve blocked out the names of some of the posters, but not the other. This follows my bio warning that “some names have been omitted to protect the innocent, but the guilty will be hung out to dry!”)(Except for the possible juveniles in the first picture, as much as I want to post it in the clear.)

*Consent order of 2002

consentorder2002-2005Download

A lot of folks are upset, and rightly so, about this incident. Because the Visalia Unified School District’s Board of Trustees meets only once a month, the next meeting will be on March 10. A large crowd is expected, and public comments should be heated. Unless, of course, the current furor dies down in the meantime, or some other incident captures the mind of the public. I wouldn’t count on that, however. A lot of folks are really pissed.