On Aug. 22, 2023, students at McCallum High School were alerted before dismissal that a group of professional protesters were outside the school waiting for them. That day, many students’ social media showed videos of protesters yelling at students and holding anti-abortion and anti-LGBTQ+ signs.
One of those protestors, David Grisham, is a member of the national group Official Street Preachers and runs his own church group called For God and Country. Grisham was a leader in the McCallum protest and was contacted through his church.
“The group’s goals are to stand for righteousness in a nation that is sliding further and further into depravity,” Grisham said. “We were not protesting, we were proselytizing. We chose McCallum mainly because it provided road access: we wanted to address the students up close. The other high school we chose [was Travis] because someone had committed suicide the week prior. So our message there was ‘Look, if you promote the LGBT agenda, you are promoting a lifestyle that promotes or encourages suicide.’”
Grisham then referenced the suicide rate of LGBTQ+ teens, correlating it to their gender identity. He falsely claimed that gender-affirming care was harmful and medically unsound even though more than 2,000 scientific studies have examined gender-affirming care and the practice is supported by 30 of America’s leading professional medical organizations according to Glaad, a non-profit organization focused on LGBTQ+ advocacy.
“Gender-affirming care steals lives,” Grisham said. “Gender dysphoria is a fad. I’ve got an 1892 dictionary, and in that 1892 dictionary it defines gender as being the same thing as biological sex.”
Grisham said that parents’ safety concerns were unfounded, as the protest was completely within Texas law. He added that the protest group decided against openly carrying firearms to refrain from intimidating students, and closed the interview with a call to action to AISD students.
“Our message to the students is this: regardless of what they are teaching you in [school], you need to go to the Bible, you need to go to the word of God to know the truth,” Grisham said. “The truth will set you free. Men will lie to you, but God will always tell you the truth.”
Julia Rasp is a junior at McCallum High School. She was in her third-period class when an announcement came over the intercom alerting her to the protesters outside.
“The people in my class started cracking jokes about what was going on,” Rasp said. “I was curious and scared to see what was happening outside — I really couldn’t believe it. I was honestly pretty nervous about the people protesting. I didn’t want to get too close and when I walked by I tried to block out the things they were yelling. I didn’t want them to look at me and judge me.”
Rasp recalls being stressed as she was leaving the school and walking to the pickup area. She remembers that the protests were intense.
“I remember seeing a lot of teachers, [Assistant Principals (APs)], and police officers standing around the area,” Rasp said. “They tried to keep the angry students and protesters apart but there was a lot of yelling going on. Nothing physical happened to my knowledge, but it was heated.”
Leslie Baldwin, LASA’s yearbook advisor, is a parent of a McCallum student. She picked her daughter up from school that day.
“It was upsetting to know adults would specifically target teenagers who are at a very vulnerable stage of their life,” Baldwin said. “The kids are just going about their school day and have to be faced with hateful speech as they head home — I felt very sad. And angry.”
Baldwin said that many parents had safety concerns after the first day of protests at McCallum. Students’ stories on Instagram and video recordings had parents on edge.
“Once parents knew the possibility of protesters showing up for multiple days, I was concerned that something bad could happen,” Baldwin said. “I encouraged my daughter to just avoid the people, and steer clear… It was an eye-opener for her, I think, to see close up how hateful people can be.”
Baldwin emphasized that the protests were a hard problem to address. She realized the conflict between student safety and the protesters’ rights.
“This event perfectly embodies the tension point between free speech vs. discrimination,” Baldwin said. “There are no easy answers. I don’t think you can prevent it, but you can certainly continue to work hard at school to make all kids feel welcome and feel like they belong, and give them the tools to navigate these very upsetting situations when and if they happen.”