How To Talk To Kids About Anti

May 02, 2023

For many, Pride Month is a time of celebrating, honoring and recognizing sexual and gender identities and expressions within the LGBTQ+ community. It's also a time of learning about LGBTQ+ history and the challenges the community has faced over the years in order to be recognized and accepted.

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But while California is known to many to be a bastion of freedom of expression and liberal mindsets, there's been some significant pushback recently against people who identify as LGBTQ+.

In case you missed it, Orange County officials took action this week to restrict the flying of flags during Pride Month (already, Huntington Beach made a similar move). Last week in North Hollywood, protests escalated at an elementary school over its Pride assembly; a transgender teacher's flag was burned. And in Glendale on Tuesday, a fight broke out at a school board meeting over its acknowledgement of Pride Month.

Given that these last two incidents occurred around schools, in plain view of students, my colleague Jackie Fortiér pulled together a guide with a few things to think about when talking to kids, of all ages, about these clashes over LGBTQ+ rights and what they’ve seen in the media. For some advice, Jackie interviewed Brandi Hawk, a psychologist at the UC Davis CAARE Center who specializes in child psychology and trauma.

Here are some of the points they explored:

Jackie also included additional resources that could guide you in this process. You can read more about it here.

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All kinds of ceviches. Seco de pollo. (Súper) Bolón de verde. These are just some of the things you may find being cooked under a blue tent on Nordhoff Street in the San Fernando Valley.

And after you read the descriptions of the food served up here in Sebastian Miño-Bucheli's article, you’ll definitely want to check out this pop-up called Las Guayacas, Qué Chevere. It's one of the few spots to grab some great Ecuadorian food in Los Angeles.

There you’ll meet Denisse Sandoval, business owner and chef behind the eatery specializing in her home country's food. For her, Ecuador is her love and food is her life.

"I swore there weren't that many Ecuadorians out here besides my friends and family," Sandoval said. But soon, according to Miño-Bucheli's story, "she began to see an influx of Ecuadorians asking about her food — and connecting her with others from the country."

Read her fascinating story here.

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