Anti-LGBTQ+ Orange School Board members Rick Ledesma and Madison Miner were recalled in the March Primary Election

Anti-LGBTQ+ school board members Rick Ledesma and Madison Miner of the Orange Unified School District were successfully recalled in the March 2024 Primary Election.

According to the Recall campaign, Ledesma and Miner were targeted for recall because:

• They fired the Orange superintendent without explanation or warning, ignoring her successful track record and achievements with no plan for a permanent replacement.
• Ledesma and Miner brought shocking proposals to every board meeting in 2023, attempting to censor libraries, steal facility repair funds for personal projects, sell out needed school sites to faith-based charters at deep discounts, and discriminate against special needs and LGBTQ students.
• Ledesma illegally changed meeting agendas on the fly and invited outside agitators in to box out concerned parents and turn meetings into a headline-grabbing battleground.
• 25% of the Orange principals and 1/3 of top-level administrators, eroding the stability of the classroom and directly affecting student learning.

Equality California, the nation’s largest statewide LGBTQ+ civil rights organization, released the following statement from Executive Director Tony Hoang following the successful recall election:

“LGBTQ+ youth have been increasingly under attack over the past year by extremists like Rick Ledesma, Madison Miner, and Emily MacDonald seeking to advance hateful agendas and put their wellbeing and health at risk. Anyone who seeks to single out and attack LGBTQ+ youth does not deserve to serve in public office. We are pleased to see the political careers of Ledesma, Miner, and MacDonald come to an appropriate end. The board members in Orange Unified sought to censor LGBTQ+ inclusive books and curriculum and discriminate against special needs and LGBTQ+ students. In Woodland Unified, Ms. MacDonald not only opposed a resolution affirming support for all students during Pride month, she called transgender people a ‘social contagion’ in her bigoted public remarks. Parents and teachers in these districts organized to force a recall, and we are thrilled to see their efforts yield these results.

The actions of extremist board members that create hostile and unwelcoming learning environments have all-too serious — and sometimes deadly — consequences, as evidenced by the recent death of Nex Benedict in Oklahoma. Parents, students, teachers, and allies in districts across the nation are rising up to demand more from those who represent them. Equality California will continue to stand against all efforts to discriminate against LGBTQ+ youth, which includes working to vote out lawmakers at all levels of government who would seek to cause them harm.”

Art Pedroza Editor

Our Editor, Art Pedroza, worked at the O.C. Register and the OC Weekly and studied journalism at CSUF and UCI. He has lived in Santa Ana for over 30 years and has served on several city and county commissions. When he is not writing or editing Pedroza specializes in risk control and occupational safety. He also teaches part time at Cerritos College and CSUF. Pedroza has an MBA from Keller University.

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