Let’s pray away the anti-gay rhetoric

When was the last time you paid attention to goings-on at the Orange County Board of Education?

Maybe now is the time.

At the next board meeting at 10 a.m. Wednesday, the question will be addressed of whether it’s appropriate for an elected trustee to ask a Department of Education employee about the person’s sexual orientation at a public board meeting, or to refer to gay people as “Sodomites.”

Second District Trustee David Boyd brought the issue to light in an April 25 news release regarding Trustee Robert Hammond, who represents District 1.

Boyd is asking for a briefing by legal counsel on what constitutes a hostile work environment, as well as an investigation into Hammond’s conduct.

At issue are two emails Hammond sent.

On April 3, 2014, Hammond wrote to an employee saying, “I hope you don’t mind, but I plan on asking you about your sexual orientation publicly during our next board meeting.”

And on June 22, 2015, in an exchange with fellow Trustee Ken L. Williams of District 3, Hammond closed an email with a postscript: ``The U.S. Supreme court rules 5-4 that Sodomites can now be married!”

Boyd is requesting that the superintendent begin an investigation to determine the scope of the problem, as the “Constitution of the United States guarantees a right of privacy to all citizens, and various statutes provide even greater protections to employees.”

Though no lawsuits alleging a hostile workplace environment have been filed related to Hammond’s conduct, Boyd feels the “board and the department need to get ahead of this problem before it becomes a liability.”

Laura Kanter, director of policy, advocacy and youth programs for the LGBT Center OC in Santa Ana, called Hammond’s behavior “reprehensible” and “wildly inappropriate and an outrageous violation of their right to privacy.”

She says his actions have an impact on Department of Education employees, students and the entire community.

Hammond’s tone, she says, alienates multiple groups, not only the LGBT community, and undermines “the efficacy of the county Board of Education.”

Boyd tells me he’s “frustrated and disappointed,” saying he had no recourse other than to speak out and let legal counsel take it from there.

It’s undetermined whether the lawyers will allow the issue to be discussed in an open or closed session next week.

“It’s in their hands,” Boyd said.

Hammond, elected in 2012, is up for reelection this year.

This is not his first go-around with controversy — or with Boyd.

At one of Hammond’s first board meetings in 2012, he got into it with former Trustee Liz Parker after she scolded him publicly for using a cellphone in a meeting.

Parker later claimed that Hammond sent her a threatening email, and Boyd stuck up for her.

In 2014, I wrote about the contentious elections here and the struggle between religious-right conservative candidates and moderate ones, both factions vying for board control.

Boyd won reelection in 2014 over ultra-conservative opponent Tom Pollitt, whom Hammond and Williams supported.

Pollitt, chief of the Newport-Mesa Tea Party, is currently running for O.C. Republican Party Central Committee District 74 and was an outspoken supporter of Newport Beach Councilman Scott Peotter when he touted his controversial views against gay marriage last June.

There’s no disputing that what Hammond wrote is inappropriate, but the fact that he felt comfortable choosing his words as he did speaks to a bigger issue.

I wanted to address this with him, and what I believe is a troubling anti-gay culture bubbling below the surface of this organization, but he didn’t respond to my phone call or email.

My initial concern surfaced in 2011, when Williams challenged a column I’d written for the Orange County Register praising National Coming Out Day, suggesting, “A more fair and balanced column would mention the opposing available organizations and treatments on this issue.”

He suggested I call Joe Dallas of Joe Dallas Ministry and Genesis Counseling in Tustin, which advocates, as Williams does, for reparative therapy, a belief that prayer can “cure” homosexuality.

Pray away the gay?

Dallas didn’t want to speak to me.

It’s important to note that the American Psychological Assn. doesn’t consider being gay a psychiatric disorder.

And California, Washington, D.C., Oregon, Illinois, New Jersey, New York, Vermont and the District of Columbia prohibit subjecting LGBT minors to harmful conversion therapy practices that attempt to change their sexual orientation or gender identity.

The O.C. Board of Education, based in Costa Mesa, oversees about 500,000 kids in the public school system. The population certainly includes LGBT students, though there aren’t statics to show exactly how many.

Maybe instead of praying away the gay, voters in this election should pray away bigotry on the county Board of Education.

BARBARA VENEZIA lives in Newport Beach. She can be reached at bvontv1@gmail.com.