The Internet meme definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over, and expecting a different result. I’m beginning to think it might be slightly insane to expect Porterville to ever join the rest of us in the 21st century. Here we go, again.
My previous blogs about Porterville and it’s LGBTQ+ community can be found at these links:
Hate In A Small Town (1) – where a Mayoral Proclamation proclaiming June 2013 as LGBT Month in Porterville is trashed by the rest of the Council and results in the Mayor and Vice-Mayor being removed from their ceremonial offices, the proclamation rescinded (a first anywhere, as far as I could find), and a bland replacement proclamation designating June 2013 as “a month of community charity and goodwill to all in Porterville”. They also changed the rules so that a vote of the Council would be required to issue a proclamation, rather than leave it as a function of the Mayor alone.
Hate In A Small Town 2 – Does Your God Hate? – One the one year anniversary of the Pride Proclamation, the LGBTQ+ community held a rally across from City Hall. Some haters joined in proclaiming the hate of God towards gay folk.
Fast forward to 2019, and a different City Council.
We thought Porterville was finally growing and becoming a loving place. On May 21, 2019, a proclamation was issued by the City Council (a different council than the first mentioned above, and different from the current one), recognizing Harvey Milk Day In Porterville. On Tuesday, October 15, 2019, by a three to two vote, Porterville’s City Council declared October 11, 2019 as National Coming Out Day in the city. Things were looking up.
We should have known better.
Hate In A Small Town 4 –
The current city council of Porterville, California (ironically enough, an “All American City”).
Mayor Greg MeisterVice Mayor Ed McKerveyRaymond BeltranStan GreenAJ Rivas
The Mayor and Vice-Mayor have teamed up to introduce anti-trans resolutions in Porterville. One would ban trans women and girls from bathrooms, locker rooms, and team sports. The other would require schools in the city to report to parents any requests by students to use names, pronouns, restroom facilities, or play on team sports that do not match their birth sex. (This would violate California state law, but that doesn’t seem to faze this council. They know about it, but are trying to find a way around that messy problem.)
From the March 4 agenda:
24: Consideration of Proposed Establishment of Ordinance to Protect Women’s Safe Spaces
Re: Council direction on the proposed establishment of an Ordinance to Protect Women’s Safe Spaces.
From the March 18 agenda:
21: Consideration of Proposed Establishment of Ordinance Safeguarding Parental Rights in Education and Child Upbringing
Re: Council to provide direction on the proposed establishment of an Ordinance
If you want to find these documents online, go to this page, and select the appropriate date.
A lot of people spoke during “oral communications” (they really need to change that name. ‘Public Comments’ seems much more appropriate). You can see the You Tube video here, but the whole show is almost six hours long! (they love to talk, and talk, and talk. It’s important that they express how MAGA they are) Most comments by the public were against the proposed actions.
Dr. Kathryn Hall, M.D., a long-time pediatrician in the area, who has treated many from Porterville over the years, spoke.
I said a few words, too.
The MAGA runs deep in this council. The Mayor and Vice-Mayor, at least in the two meetings I attended, tried very diligently to out-MAGA each other. Go watch some of their meeting video, if you have the stomach for it.
The Vice-Mayor doesn’t like being challenged on his ignorance. He takes it personally. He views folks who oppose these hate proposals as “triggered activists”. And after I spoke, he amended it to “triggered activists, from out of town”. He said he would not “participate in their psychosis”, referring to anyone who believes differently from him. The Vice-Mayor spoke disparagingly of the local LGBT+ center, essentially blaming it for gains made by the LGBT+ community in Tulare County. He was annoyed that anyone would speak confrontationally, and not grovel or kiss his ring. He condemned speakers for (paraphrasing, I’m not going back and try to find the exact words he used) yelling at them, rather than having a ‘conversation’. He seemed to forget that during ‘oral communications’, the public can only speak, and the council can only listen. There is no ‘conversation’ allowed by the Brown Act. He chastised speakers for being condescending towards the council, when most of his remarks on the issue were truly condescending of the public. I tell ‘ya, it’s all projection with these guys.
I did invite the council to contact The Source LGBT+ Center, and educate themselves with factual information on transgender issues. I’m not holding my breath on that.
Hate in a small town. It hasn’t been rooted out yet. It’s discouraging, but like I said during my comments, “we’re here, we’re queer, and we’re not going away”.
From Executive Order 14168, issued January 20, 2025:
…
Sec. 2. Policy and Definitions. It is the policy of the United States to recognize two sexes, male and female. These sexes are not changeable and are grounded in fundamental and incontrovertible reality. Under my direction, the Executive Branch will enforce all sex-protective laws to promote this reality, and the following definitions shall govern all Executive interpretation of and application of Federal law and administration policy:
(a) “Sex” shall refer to an individual’s immutable biological classification as either male or female. “Sex” is not a synonym for and does not include the concept of “gender identity.”
(b) “Women” or “woman” and “girls” or “girl” shall mean adult and juvenile human females, respectively.
(c) “Men” or “man” and “boys” or “boy” shall mean adult and juvenile human males, respectively.
(d) “Female” means a person belonging, at conception, to the sex that produces the large reproductive cell.
(e) “Male” means a person belonging, at conception, to the sex that produces the small reproductive cell.
”Geneticists have discovered that all human embryos start life as females, as do all embryos of mammals. About the 2nd month the fetal tests elaborate enough androgens to offset the maternal estrogens and maleness develops.”
Since all mammals are, at conception, female, Orange Idiot’s Executive Order mandates that the United States government declare and recognize all of us as female.
See what happens when you let the back-row students make the rules? Nonsense.
Two items on the Porterville City Council agenda for Tuesday, March 4, 2025 are listed below. At the Mayor’s behest, and with the apparent support of at least the Vice-Mayor, the council will consider two items attacking the LGBTQ community in Porterville. The city council has a long history of hate directed at it’s LGBTQ community.
On the consent agenda:
17. Request for Proclamation – Women’s Rights Re: Considering approval of a request to proclaim Women’s Rights in the City of Porterville
On the Scheduled Matters agenda:
24. Consideration of Proposed Establishment of Ordinance to Protect Women’s Safe Spaces Re: Council direction on the proposed establishment of an Ordinance to Protect Women’s Safe Spaces
These are the first two steps in an attempt by the mayor to impose an ordinance prohibiting trans women from using women’s toilets or locker rooms, and ban them from women’s sports. Despite there being no credible examples, arrests, or convictions of trans women sexually assaulting cis women in those spaces, and that this ordinance will put the city in violation of California law, Meister has decided this is a solution he can get behind.
The head of the NCAA testified before Congress recently that in the 510,000 athletes in the association, he knew of fewer than ten who were transgender. A check of the sporting records does not show a takeover of top spots by trans women. They seem to fall in a random scale among women taking medals or setting records. There is no evidence of an ‘unfair advantage’ for trans women in any sport.
Safe access to public restrooms is an essential need for participation in civic life, in the workplace, in educational settings, and other public spaces. This is no different for transgender people. However, access to public restrooms according to gender identity has sparked controversy to the extent that transgender people face embarrassment and even expulsion from these spaces. The lack of access of the transgender population to public restrooms has a negative impact on the physical and mental health of this population. Thus, this article aims to address the main consequences that the ban on the use of bathrooms has for the transgender population, specifically the access of transgender women to the women’s restroom. We covered some legal aspects of “bathroom laws” and the main arguments in this discussion. We understand that the prohibition of access to the restroom constitutes a form of gender violence and discrimination, as we conclude that the arguments that express concerns about safety are not supported.
Now, I know research and facts will not sway right-wing nut jobs (not that I’m accusing the Mayor of being one, but if the shoe fits…), but the council should know that the larger LGBTQ community and our allies will not stand quietly by while they attack the trans community with lies and hatred. We will be heard and seen.
A public protest will occur before the City Council meeting, at 4:30pm, across from City Hall. The address of City Hall is 291 N. Main Street. Regular council meeting starts at 6:30 pm. Because of the way Porterville handles it’s council meetings, it could be late in the evening before the matter is handled, and public comments are heard.
It’s like déjà vu all over again. Porterville’s current Mayor, Greg Meister, has proposed a new city ordinance, which he is calling “Protect Women’s Safe Spaces”. In it, he wants to bar “biological men” from using women’s facilities, locker rooms, or playing in women’s sports. Meister is quoted in the Porterville Recorder saying the ordinance is “really drawing some lines for sure”.
In 2008, Porterville became the only city in California to adopt a formal position on Proposition 8, which would have inserted into the state Constitution limits that would only recognize marriage as between a man and a woman (it passed, but was later rendered moot as SCOTUS made marriage equality the law of the land with Obergefell v. Hodges)(In 2024, California voters removed the language of Prop 8 from the state Constitution with Prop 3). The city council voted to urge Porterville voters to support Prop 8.
In 2013, then Mayor Virginia Gurrola issued a proclamation recognizing June as LGBT Pride Month in Porterville. All hell broke loose. In a fiasco-ridden panic to rescind the Mayor’s Proclamation (a proclamation she was entirely authorized to issue), it took three months for the other council members to get their act together and not only rescind the proclamation, but to remove the Mayor and Vice-Mayor from their ceremonial positions.
In 2014, then Mayor Cameron Hamilton became the right-wing echo chamber’s darling for his infamous “grow a pair” remarks, when a student-led anti-bullying program called “Safe Zones” was brought before the Council for support, by councilmember Virginia Gurrola. The conservative majority on the council wasn’t having anything to do with what they thought was a LGBT positive proposal. They shot it down, and Mayor Hamilton earned his 15 minutes of fame on Fox by uttering his now-infamous line.
In 2019, glimmers of hope were seen in Porterville, as then Mayor Martha Flores issued a proclamation recognizing May 22, 2019, as Harvey Milk Day. It was signed by the Mayor, and council members Milt Stowe, Monte Reyes, and Daniel Penaloza. Vice Mayor Brian Ward (author and instigator of many previous anti-LGBTQ actions by the Porterville City Council) did not sign the proclamation. (He was out of town at the time, but rest assured he would not have signed it regardless, in my opinion)
Also in 2019, on October 15, (a few days late due to scheduling issues) Porterville City Council recognized October 11 as National Coming Out Day. That proclamation was signed by Mayor Martha Flores, Vice Mayor Monte Reyes, council members Virginia Gurroloa, Milt Stowe, and Daniel Penaloza. Mayor Flores did throw some cold water on the festivities, however, when she, in an attempt, I assume, to sound inclusive, mentioned that she had “it” in her own family, referring to homosexuality.
We thought Porterville had turned a corner. We should have known better.
In 2021, more animus towards the LGBTQ community was on display when the city council decided that it needed to regulate billboards in the city, after The Source LGBT+ Center put up a couple of advertisements for STI testing.
Fast forward to 2025, and with a new administration in power in Washington, D.C., Porterville has decided it hasn’t been demonstrating it’s LGBTQ animus strongly enough recently. The Mayor, therefore, has decided to jump on the ‘transgender women are the devil’ bandwagon. Even though it very likely violates California’s Unruh Civil Rights Act, Meister wants the city staff and attorney to bring an ordinance before the council that would ban “biological men” from “women’s spaces”.
Here’s an email I sent to Mayor Meister and the other members of the city council:
Greg Meister, Porterville Mayor, and members of the City Council:
If the anti-trans bathroom ordinance proposed by Mayor Meister passes, and should the person pictured below have reason to visit your city, do you REALLY want him to walk into the women’s restroom?
Meet Luke Ireland, U.S. Air Force. Both of these pictures are from the Air Force Times, the first from about a decade ago, the other from about three years ago.
He is a trans man, and your proposal would require him to use the women’s facilities in Porterville. This proposal is a solution in search of a problem. There are no verifiable arrests or convictions of a trans-woman sexually assaulting a cis-woman or girl in a bathroom or locker room. It’s just not a thing, but you seem determined to embarrass Porterville by adding to its already notorious reputation as anti-LGBTQ. I thought Porterville was making progress, but we’ll see if and when this comes up for a vote if that progress is real, or just fantasy.
I want you to consider the following scenario:
A man decides to follow a woman (or a young girl) into a restroom in order to sexually assault her. He does not want to attract attention, so what does he do? Just walk in? Risky. He stands out dressed like a man. Maybe someone sees him following his target into the restroom. As the ordinances stand now, if he wants to get in without attracting attention, he’ll need to get into some kind of women’s wear.
Under your proposed ordinance, it will be common to see people who look like men walking into the women’s restroom, because you’ve required trans-men to use them. Our bad guy can now just walk right in, and if anyone challenges him, he can claim to be a trans-man, who you required to use this restroom. Nobody will know the difference, unless you’re going to post genital inspectors at the door.
Knock off the anti-trans discrimination and hate, Mr. Mayor. It’s a bad look for you, and sets Porterville back a decade.
In the Trump administration’s ongoing attempt to make transgender people disappear, they’ve removed the “T” from LGBT on the Stonewall National Monument webpage. How incredibly ironic (and stupid) is that? Do they think we’ll forget who started the resistance to the police raid? Do they think they can tell the history of Stonewall without mentioning the “T”?
Martha P. Johnson is, at least apocryphally, credited with throwing the first brick (or rock, or bottle, or whatever it might have been), as police raided the Stonewall Inn in 1969.
The National Park Service, is of course, bending to the Executive Order that Orange Idiot signed recently. I don’t know how they’re going to be able to tell the story of Stonewall without mentioning transgender activists who led the fight. In moments of cynicism, I suspect they’ll figure out some way to credit the resistance to some obscure white guy, a bit like a recent movie tried to do. (whatever happened to that movie? I think it might have clunked it’s way down to the basement of forgotten films rather quickly.)
From the National Park Service’s Stonewall opening page:
“By the time of Stonewall…we had 50 to 60 gay groups in the country. A year later…1500.” Before the 1960s, almost everything about living openly as a lesbian, gay, bisexual (LGB) person was illegal. The Stonewall Uprising on June 28, 1969 is a milestone in the quest for LGB civil rights and provided momentum for a movement.
Check out our video series about the history of the Stonewall uprising, the LGB rights movement and Stonewall NM today!
Last updated: February 13, 2025
(bolding and italics added by me)
From another part of the Stonewall page on the National Park Service’s site I ran across the following:
(Someone missed some banned language and letters here.)
The Stonewall Inn, a bar located in Greenwich Village, New York City, was the scene of an uprising against police repression that led to a key turning point in the struggle for the civil rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) Americans. In a pattern of harassment of LGBT establishments, the New York City police raided the Stonewall Inn in the early hours of Saturday, June 28, 1969. The reaction of the bar’s patrons and neighborhood residents that assembled in the street was not typical of these kinds of raids. Instead of dispersing, the crowd became increasingly angry and began chanting and throwing objects as the police arrested the bar’s employees and patrons. Reinforcements were called in by the police, and for several hours they tried to clear the streets while the crowd fought back. The initial raid and the riot that ensued led to six days of demonstrations and conflicts with law enforcement outside the bar, in nearby Christopher Park, and along neighboring streets. At its peak, the crowds included several thousand people.
The events of Stonewall, as the uprising is most commonly referred to, marked a major change in the struggle for “homophile rights” in the U.S., with lesbian women, gay men, bisexual and transgender people beginning to vocally and assertively demand their civil rights. Stonewall is regarded by many as the single most important catalyst for the dramatic expansion of the LGBT civil rights movement. The riots inspired LGBT people throughout the country to organize and within two years of Stonewall, LGBT rights groups had been started in nearly every major city in the U.S. Stonewall was, as historian Lillian Faderman wrote, “the shot heard round the world…crucial because it sounded the rally for the movement.”
Today, the site of the uprisings in Greenwich Village is recognized as a National Historic Landmark (NHL) by the National Park Service and is considered significant under NHL Criterion 1 because of its association with events that outstandingly represent the struggle for civil rights in America. This NHL includes the bar, Christopher Park, and the streets where the events of June 28-July 3, 1969, occurred. The Stonewall Inn is located at 51-53 Christopher Street, New York City, New York and is open to the public.
The link to the President’s Proclamation, however, leads to this page:
Now, I don’t think Trump himself is all that worked up about transgender people. It’s his minions, especially Elon Musk, who are driving this. Musk has misgendered and dead-named his trans child, so I suspect much of this erasing is coming from his personal hatred of transgenderism. He’s not a person used to not getting his way, and he’s striking out and hurting whoever he can. And he doesn’t care who gets hurt.
Oh, BTW, don’t let NPS know they missed some of the forbidden words on this page. Let us hope they’re there because someone at NPS’s IT office knows the Orange Idiot’s minions wouldn’t think to look past the splash page. shhhhhh
Although this day of observance and education was originally started in the UK, it has spread to be a global phenomenon. You can click on the image below to check out their website. You can also click here for a great overview of some of the major AIDS and HIV related news and highlights in 2010. … Read More
In honor of GLBT History Month, sponsored in part by Equality Forum, we have placed a link to glbthistorymonth.com on each of our metropolitan area blogs. We currently host and manage 12 local blogs in 5 different states and we're excited to lend a hand to such a great project! We hope to continue and leverage even more of our resources for GLBT History Month … Read More
Random thoughts, occasional rants, illuminating commentary, and an odd story now and then from the world of 9-1-1 dispatching. All this and more from a gay liberal atheist living in California’s Bible belt. I recently married, so MAGA beware! I’m your worst nightmare! Some names have been omitted to protect the innocent, but the guilty will be hung out to dry!
JimmieJoe / KC6YRU 
Hate In A Small Town 4 – it’s Déjà vu all over again
March 19, 2025
Jim Reeves 9-1-1, commentary, Gay, Personal city council, history, LGBT, local-government, News, politics, porterville, porterville city council, The Source LGBT+ Center, trans rights, transgender, Tulare County Leave a comment
The Internet meme definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over, and expecting a different result. I’m beginning to think it might be slightly insane to expect Porterville to ever join the rest of us in the 21st century. Here we go, again.
My previous blogs about Porterville and it’s LGBTQ+ community can be found at these links:
Hate In A Small Town (1) – where a Mayoral Proclamation proclaiming June 2013 as LGBT Month in Porterville is trashed by the rest of the Council and results in the Mayor and Vice-Mayor being removed from their ceremonial offices, the proclamation rescinded (a first anywhere, as far as I could find), and a bland replacement proclamation designating June 2013 as “a month of community charity and goodwill to all in Porterville”. They also changed the rules so that a vote of the Council would be required to issue a proclamation, rather than leave it as a function of the Mayor alone.
Hate In A Small Town 2 – Does Your God Hate? – One the one year anniversary of the Pride Proclamation, the LGBTQ+ community held a rally across from City Hall. Some haters joined in proclaiming the hate of God towards gay folk.
Porterville City Council Still Snubbing LGBTQ Community – (3) the same council as above refuses a Coming Out Day proclamation request.
Fast forward to 2019, and a different City Council.
We thought Porterville was finally growing and becoming a loving place. On May 21, 2019, a proclamation was issued by the City Council (a different council than the first mentioned above, and different from the current one), recognizing Harvey Milk Day In Porterville. On Tuesday, October 15, 2019, by a three to two vote, Porterville’s City Council declared October 11, 2019 as National Coming Out Day in the city. Things were looking up.
We should have known better.
Hate In A Small Town 4 –
The current city council of Porterville, California (ironically enough, an “All American City”).
The Mayor and Vice-Mayor have teamed up to introduce anti-trans resolutions in Porterville. One would ban trans women and girls from bathrooms, locker rooms, and team sports. The other would require schools in the city to report to parents any requests by students to use names, pronouns, restroom facilities, or play on team sports that do not match their birth sex. (This would violate California state law, but that doesn’t seem to faze this council. They know about it, but are trying to find a way around that messy problem.)
From the March 4 agenda:
24: Consideration of Proposed Establishment of Ordinance to Protect Women’s Safe Spaces
Re: Council direction on the proposed establishment of an Ordinance to Protect Women’s Safe Spaces.
From the March 18 agenda:
21: Consideration of Proposed Establishment of Ordinance Safeguarding Parental Rights in Education and Child Upbringing
Re: Council to provide direction on the proposed establishment of an Ordinance
If you want to find these documents online, go to this page, and select the appropriate date.
A lot of people spoke during “oral communications” (they really need to change that name. ‘Public Comments’ seems much more appropriate). You can see the You Tube video here, but the whole show is almost six hours long! (they love to talk, and talk, and talk. It’s important that they express how MAGA they are) Most comments by the public were against the proposed actions.
Dr. Kathryn Hall, M.D., a long-time pediatrician in the area, who has treated many from Porterville over the years, spoke.
I said a few words, too.
The MAGA runs deep in this council. The Mayor and Vice-Mayor, at least in the two meetings I attended, tried very diligently to out-MAGA each other. Go watch some of their meeting video, if you have the stomach for it.
The Vice-Mayor doesn’t like being challenged on his ignorance. He takes it personally. He views folks who oppose these hate proposals as “triggered activists”. And after I spoke, he amended it to “triggered activists, from out of town”. He said he would not “participate in their psychosis”, referring to anyone who believes differently from him. The Vice-Mayor spoke disparagingly of the local LGBT+ center, essentially blaming it for gains made by the LGBT+ community in Tulare County. He was annoyed that anyone would speak confrontationally, and not grovel or kiss his ring. He condemned speakers for (paraphrasing, I’m not going back and try to find the exact words he used) yelling at them, rather than having a ‘conversation’. He seemed to forget that during ‘oral communications’, the public can only speak, and the council can only listen. There is no ‘conversation’ allowed by the Brown Act. He chastised speakers for being condescending towards the council, when most of his remarks on the issue were truly condescending of the public. I tell ‘ya, it’s all projection with these guys.
I did invite the council to contact The Source LGBT+ Center, and educate themselves with factual information on transgender issues. I’m not holding my breath on that.
Hate in a small town. It hasn’t been rooted out yet. It’s discouraging, but like I said during my comments, “we’re here, we’re queer, and we’re not going away”.
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