A man dressed as Jesus swore and accused Christians of grooming as pro- and anti-SOGI123 protesters faced each other at a Chilliwack School Board meeting..The board has been a magnet for controversy since 2017 when then-trustee Barry Neufeld spoke out against the pro-transgender SOGI123 materials entering B.C. schools and compared gender transitioning to child abuse. Neufeld was voted out as trustee in 2022, and the current board chair, vice-chair, and majority are pro-SOGI..An anti-SOGI protest was scheduled for in front of the Chilliwack School Board Oct 10, but counter-protesters upstaged the event and arrived early. According to Abbotsford News, the pro-SOGI group numbered “50 to 60 people” and “By about 6 p.m., approximately 25 to 30 anti-SOGI supporters could be seen standing across the street.”.Neufeld told the Western Standard by Telegram he went to the protest because he remains “a sucker for punishment.”.“Chairperson Willow [Reichelt]’s husband was there early preparing for the counter protest, chalking the sidewalk in rainbow colours and slogans. I was there on time to see mostly counter protesters (pro SOGI folks in rainbow coloured clothes) but then a lot of brown people showed up. The young Sikhs were very loud, chanting ‘Stop SOGI now!.“But then ‘Jesus’ showed up at the Chilliwack protest! It was Trustee Carin Bondar’s boyfriend, Peter Lang, in a Jesus costume. But unlike Jesus, he was uttering blasphemies and profanity on his bullhorn!”.Lang held up a sign saying, “The numbers don’t lie…the real grooming is happening in their churches! But these cult members don’t care.”.On X, podcaster Odessa Orlewicz said Lang was “screaming expletives at Christian, Catholic, Muslim, Mennonite, and Sikh parents while making fun of their religion, and making fun of Jesus.” She claimed he passed a breathalyzer test shortly after leaving the protest and posted a photo as evidence..In an interview with Western Standard, Neufeld said Lang was “dropping F bombs and [saying] ‘religious perverts’ and all this kind of stuff.” He said the police paid close attention to Lang, a man he has history with..“A couple of years ago, he took me to court and tried to get me tried to get the judge to bar me from being a school trustee. And he was alleging that I was in a fiduciary conflict of interest. And I was able to prove that he was lying. So I won the case. And the judge only ordered $10,000 of reparations, which was a pittance,” said Neufeld..Neufeld unsuccessfully sued then-BC Teachers Federation superintendent Glen Hantsman for defamation. Although anti-SLAPP legislation was designed to protect whistleblowers against the unions and departments they worked in, Hantsman used the legislation to defend himself and block the suit. Neufeld has to pay his opponents’ legal expenses of $208,000..Neufeld said the cops were paying close attention to Lang. And Orlewicz said they pulled him over for a breathalyzer test when he drove away from the protest–which he passed. Neufeld said Lang’s presence made him “nervous,” but he was encouraged by the Sikhs who came out..“It's interesting that the Sikh people have really gotten into protesting and they're much more energetic than any Christian group. The young Sikh men, they were really hollering, ‘Stop SOGI now! Leave our kids alone!’” he recalled..“I'm seeing more and more confirmation that the sexualization of school children is a spiritual battle. And it will not be stopped by political and legal means. We must plead with God to intervene…work as if everything was up to [us] and pray as if everything was up to God.”.In an interview with the Western Standard, trustee Heather Maahs, said the walls of the school board building could not block the noise..“Inside, it was quite loud. But at the very end of the meeting, Willow stated that it was very unfortunate that we all had to be subjected to all the noise and the disruptions of our board meeting. And she apologized for us having to go through that.”.Maahs said that “a bunch of apparently redundant policies” were repealed during the meeting, including ones on conflict of interest and expense claims. She believes they should have remained to “set out expectations.”.“They're removing the board's ability to give the public confidence…One of the policies that they made redundant just a short time ago was the alternate delivery for sex education policy. They said it's redundant because it's in the school act, so we're going to remove it..“And when I asked the question, ‘Well, how do parents find out about their rights to be able to remove their children from things they believe are inappropriate, [a trustee] replied, ‘Well, they can just Google it.’”.Maahs said the board’s power is being usurped and “diminished” in favour of school administrators..“Our Board of Education used to traditionally be involved in all the hiring of the principals and vice principals. And it was just recently decided, without a motion, to remove the board from those interviews entirely. So the board even though we signed the contract of the principals and vice principals, we have no participation in their hiring at all,” she said..“The superintendent decided via his bureaucratic how-to administrative regulation, he changed it, and the board went along with it. There was no vote. We're fiscally responsible for these people being hired, and yet we're going in blind.”.Maahs said the change seems like a “breach of procedure to her” and she lamented that the professionalism that formerly characterized the school board has been lost. She believes the role of parents is being undermined..“Our schools [are] now thinking that they know what's best for the kids over and above the parents and their authority,” she said..“It’s ridiculous. It’s absolutely abhorrent.”.The Western Standard called the school board office for comment, but were instructed to email Richelt and Vice Chair Bondar. However, they did not reply.
