A coalition of Redlands churches has called on the Redlands school board to be inclusive and protect LGBTQ+ students in a letter to be read at a prayer vigil before the board’s Tuesday, June 10, meeting.
The letter, sent in early June, follows several board votes that critics say target the LGBTQ+ community. Trustees are pursuing a policy that some say intends to remove pride flags from classrooms. The board also has encouraged CIF to bar transgender athletes from sports that don’t align with their gender assigned at birth.
Signed by eight pastors from some of the oldest and newest churches in the city, the letter states that the congregations are diverse and that they and Jesus Christ are open to all walks of life, which includes the LGBTQ+ community.
“Today we stand for the right of people of all gender identities to live free from discrimination, violence, and every form of injustice in our schools,” the letter read.
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Redlands faith leaders who signed a letter to the Redlands school board opposing what they consider anti-LGBTQ+ policies are seen Wednesday, June 4, 2025, outside Redlands United Church of Christ. (Photo by Anjali Sharif-Paul, The Sun/SCNG)
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Redlands faith leaders who signed a letter to the Redlands school board opposing what they consider anti-LGBTQ+ policies are seen Wednesday, June 4, 2025, outside Redlands United Church of Christ. (Photo by Anjali Sharif-Paul, The Sun/SCNG)
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At its May 13 meeting, the Redlands school board voted to move forward with a neutral classroom policy. The policy, introduced in January, would remove flags other than the United States and military flags from classrooms. The board directed officials to begin negotiations on the rules with the teacher’s union.
In April, the board passed a “save girls sports” resolution that parrots language from a failed state Assembly bill that would have barred transgender athletes from sports.
Critics of the move in Redlands said it aims to exclude transgender students. Proponents said the board is trying to protect girls’ sports by leveling the playing field.
The board was one of several to pass the resolution. Others include the Chino Valley and Temecula Valley school boards. In January, the Riverside Unified School District board agreed not to consider a similar resolution.
Redlands school board member Candy Olson said in a Wednesday, June 4, email that she believes none of the board’s new policies are harmful to students. Olson said she wasn’t sure how to address allegations against the board for “harmful rhetoric” because she feels she has said nothing harmful to or about the LGBTQ+ community.
Olson, part of the board’s conservative majority, was elected in November and backed by Together for Redlands, a Redlands-based political action committee that promotes “traditional family values.” Olson has supported the “save girls sports” resolution and the neutral classroom policy.
“Just because someone believes I’m transphobic, fascist, or whatever the current claim may be, certainly doesn’t make it so,” Olson said. “I have nothing but respect and love for all students. I also respect all parents and believe they have the right to raise their kids with whichever set of social and political values they choose.”
The letter says the coalition is concerned with the well-being and safety of students, particularly those in the LGBTQ+ community.
“When we speak together, the community of Redlands listens,” said Craig Hadley, pastor from Paradox Church, which opened in 2016. “Expressing a desire for justice for every student in every way possible is the best way to fulfill the gospel.”
Hadley, who has two children in the Redlands school district, said that when he talks to his children it is in the lens that “we are all Gods’ children … That includes queer students and classmates.”
Hadley said people often take the Bible out of context and added that asking the Bible to address sexual identity is irrelevant and that it doesn’t come up in the text.
However, the Bible speaks frequently about “how we are all God’s children and we are wonderfully and fearfully made,” he said.
Pastor Cheryl Raine, from First Presbyterian Church of Redlands, which dates to 1887, said the issue centers on maintaining a separation of church and state and creating a safe learning environment in which all students are welcome.
“When a state starts espousing a particular faith solely raising it as the standard, you start eliminating other people,” Reine said.
There is a difference between unity and uniformity, she said. Unity is working toward a goal of what is best for students, while uniformity looks to erase what makes members of the community diverse, she said.
The goal to create a safe space for all students, she said, is shared by the board and the religious community.
“The school board has significant issues to deal with outside of the culture war,” said Pastor Joe Zarro, of Redlands United Church of Christ, which opened in 1975. “… The policy may not mention pride flags but we all know why it is worded this way and what they are targeting.”
Zarro, also a parent in the district, said his church meets “discrimination with affirmation.” He questioned why the board is choosing to pass these policies now.
Olson said that classrooms should be welcoming to all students and schools’ main focus should be on academics.
“My stance has always been the same — create classrooms that are free from divisive ideology,” Olson said. “…The family home is where politics, religion, and other topics can be taught as each family sees fit.”
Zarro said the ideal outcome for the coalition would be a meaningful conversation and a way forward that encourages policies that welcome everyone.
“It is important for us to speak up for the justice and the dignity of all our neighbors,” Zarro said.
Some have called the policy and resolution a “copy and paste” of those passed by other school districts and that landed those school systems in legal trouble.
The Temecula school board passed a similar flag policy in 2023, but rescinded it in December after a California Public Employment Relations Board ruling found that implementing the policy violated the state Educational Employment Relations Act.
The Chino Valley school board passed a flag ban in June 2023.
The Inland Empire Prism Collective, an Inland Empire-based LGBTQ+ community group based, has invited the pastors to take part in a 3 p.m. prayer vigil outside the district office before the Tuesday, June 10, school board meeting.
The board’s session will start at 6 p.m. in the board room at district headquarters, 25 W. Lugonia Ave., Redlands.
