DAVIS, Calif. — Hundreds of people gathered in downtown Davis in a show of unity after a series of bomb threats and hateful messages directed at the LGBTQ+ community were sent to schools and the public library in recent weeks.
Davis Police say it’s clear the sender of the threats wants to terrorize and disrupt the community “to advance their particular hateful ideology.”
Holding signs and shouting cheers of support, parents, students, teachers and elected officials came together to say “Davis is for everyone.”
“It makes me feel a lot safer, seeing all of these people that are here in support of my community,” said one high school sophomore, who asked not to be named for fear of their safety.
Davis police say they are working with the FBI, but so far haven’t been able to identify the group or individual responsible for the threats, which were accompanied by hateful, anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric.
“To know that there are so many people that think that I am some kind of abomination, I try not to even think about it most of the time because it’s so much. But sometimes when it does sink in, it’s so overpowering,” the sophomore said.
Community leaders said that overpowering feeling had to be met with a big response.
“It’s important for all of us in the general community to say that that’s not going to stand. Those are tactics, bomb threats... those are tactics from a long-gone era, and we’re not going to revisit that,” said Woodland Joint Unified School District Trustee Noel Rodriguez.
“The result of all this is that students have missed mornings at school, and some teachers have been awakened by police knocking on their door, asking to search their homes for bombs. And so it’s this kind of disruption that we’re united here to speak out against,” said Davis Joint Unified educator and Los Rios Community College Trustee, Kelly Wilkerson.
As law enforcement continue their work to bring someone to justice, and the threats to an end, the crowd’s support for the LGBTQ+ community was clear.
“The majority of people are supportive. There’s a giant crowd of support,” the sophomore said.
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