KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Grain Valley School District will host listening sessions about LGBTQ safe place signs.
The district alerted parents and community members Tuesday after reaction to the district banning staff from putting up the signs.
Justice Horn, candidate for the Jackson County Legislature and former Grain Valley student, said the decision brings up difficult memories from his time as an openly gay student.
Horn said the decision will be detrimental to students in the LGBTQ community.
"We are sacrificing kids' comfort for adults being uncomfortable," Horn said.
He said the decision triggers emotional trauma he endured as a middle school student.
"It was in 2011 that I felt so alone, and felt that there wasn't a community and I was strictly bullied because I was gay," Horn said.
Horn said the bullying led him to attempt to take his own life.
He said the safe space signs are a way to prevent LGBTQ students from feeling the same loneliness he felt.
"I think it is getting rid of the only safety net queer students may have, and to some, which is a majority, this is just a sticker, it's not that big of a deal, but to students who may feel that they don't have a place, this means the world to them," Horn said.
