What stands out to me about this letter is how accurately it describes a leadership style that talks at the community instead of listening to it. That disconnect is especially clear when our local leaders repeatedly fixate on LGBTQ+ and particularly transgender issues, despite residents raising concerns about far more pressing needs like public safety, libraries, and youth services.
Time and again, politicians frame transgender people as threats to women or children, even though there is no evidence to support those claims. If city leaders truly cared about safety, they would be willing to look honestly at police reports, school records, employment-related calls for service, and data from the district attorney’s office. Those records consistently show that violence against women and children is overwhelmingly committed by cisgender, straight individuals not by transgender or LGBTQ+ people.
Meanwhile, real and documented abuses of power, corruption, and violence against women continue to come from people in positions of authority often from the very political circles that claim to be acting in the name of “protection.” It’s hard not to see the pattern: marginalized communities are used as convenient distractions while leaders avoid accountability, transparency, and the harder work of governing responsibly. That is not listening. That is agenda-driven politics.
If our mayor and vice mayor truly believe in ethical leadership, they should stop using fear-based narratives about LGBTQ+ people and start engaging honestly with the community they serve. Respecting public input means addressing real problems not manufacturing moral panics.
And it’s especially troubling to see symbolic gestures like “In God We Trust” placed on city property while the basic teachings those words represent honesty, humility, compassion, and truth are ignored. Faith should never be used as a prop to justify exclusion or misinformation.
Porterville deserves leaders who focus on facts, fairness, and accountability not scapegoats.
i live 12 minutes from Porterville, just go hangout by the bus station, that town has a lot of mental health that needs addressing
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