In the small town of Ellensburg, Washington, pizza is turning kids queer.
At least, that’s according to city council member Joshua Thompson, who claims the savory pie is leading high schoolers into a gay lifestyle or to pursue transgender identities.
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He declared the deep dish was a “target on minors.”
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Thompson made the assertion during a city council meeting in the Yakima Valley town (population 18,703) while reviewing funding for the Ellensburg Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) Commission. At issue was whether to continue funding a weekly Pizza Klatch at the small city’s high school that consumes $1,400 worth of pizza each year.
The program began in 2023. The DEI Commission’s year-end report and proposed 2025 budget requested continued funding of the pizza pie program, which hosted an average of 27 kids a week through 2024. The get-together provides a safe space in a classroom setting for the LGBTQ+ community and allies, supporters say.
Thompson thinks the pizza party is turning students gay and/or transgender, and proposed an amendment to halt the pie program.
Councilwoman Sarah Beauchamp defended the funding request and mentioned kids who benefit from the weekly hangout. She noted she’s a mom to a child in the LGBTQ+ community.
“$1,400 a year,” she said, referring to the money spent on pizza per annum, “for these kids to hang out and have friendships. We are not making them transgender. We’re not turning them homosexual by having a place for them to gather and feel safe.”
Thompson was the lone vote in favor of his proposed pizza prohibition.
A second amendment, characterized as a compromise by councilmember Delano Palmer, would have kept the funding but required parental permission for students attending the weekly lunchtime gathering. That amendment failed as well.
In the end, the council agreed — four in favor and three against — to continue the pizza program and approve the DEI Commission’s annual $10,000 budget request — but without the funding for the pies.
That $1,400 would have to be raised from private sources — and it quickly was.
Within days, Ellensburg resident Steve Verhey, who previously ran against Thompson for his council seat, raised over $2,200 with an online fundraiser to keep the kids in pizza.
“I’m a little bit annoyed at having to do the city council’s job for them,” he told Yakima Valley’s KNDO News about the program’s slice of the budget. “The city council’s job is to keep everyone who lives in Ellensburg safe and to give them the conditions they need to thrive.”
Despite one council member’s objection, that includes pizza for another year and then some.
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