'Live with it:" Lafayette board member addresses critique of his LGBTQ views

LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Community members showed up at Monday's Lafayette school board meeting to voice their disapproval of Chuck Hockema's November election to the board.

Hockema seemed unfazed last month by the comments made by his opponents, but this month, the comments appeared to bother him.

“Feeling like there’s a lot of misrepresentation of my personal beliefs," Hockema said Monday. "They don’t know who I am, but they’ve made an assertion that I’m a bad guy and somehow.

Newly elected 'anti-woke' member a focus of Lafayette school board meeting

"They’re in opposition to me," Hockema said, "and they won’t allow me to have my background, my interest and my feelings. I can’t expose that without them being upset, but I’m not going to quit.

"They’re just going to have to live with it,” he said.

Hockema was sworn in last month after running on the promise to preserve “traditional values and beliefs.” Notably, in prior interviews, he highlighted how he didn’t want teachers to promote the “gay agenda” and "woke ideology” in the classroom.

These aspects of his campaign are what led to the initial uproar from some in the community.

“I don’t want to be misconstrued that I hate these people or anything else," Hockema said after last month's meeting. "All I want is for them to keep their personal life personal and to not be bringing it into the school system."

During the public comment section of Monday's school board meeting, about six people spoke, highlighting the importance of schools being a safe place for LGBTQ youth.

One parent spoke of how her child, who is transgender, doesn’t feel safe at the school anymore knowing that there are adults who oppose their existence.

Another parent spoke about the importance of social and emotional learning in the educational field, as well as trying to dispel some misinformation regarding the idea of social and emotional learning.

“Mr. Hockema, you are the elephant in the room for why I’m here this evening,” Betty Tousing said, evoking a standing ovation.

“We really share something in common, and that is that our children are safe," Tousing said about the people opposing Hockema. "I want my children to be safe in school against things like bullying and harassment and the gun violence that’s going on.

“With students, it was found that schools are often unsafe for the LGBTQ community," Tousing said. "It is the bullying, and it is the harassment.”

Tousing highlighted how suicide is the second-leading cause of death among children between ages 10 to 24, and how for LGBTQ students, the rates of suicide are significantly higher.

Tousing expressed her desire for Lafayette schools to create an environment where students of all backgrounds feel safe and welcomed.

“When people come to the fast-growing city in Indiana, where do we want them to invest their tax dollars when they buy a house, and when they’re going to send their children to school?” Tousing rhetorically asked.

After the school board meeting, Hockema shared his frustration about being the target of public comments.

“I wish there would be a fair dialogue of understanding," he said. "There was a famous statement I heard one time and that I think sometimes talking those individuals: ‘They may not be able to be my friend, but we don’t have to be enemies.’ We can have a dialogue, kind of like the Republicans and the Democrats try and get together and make something happen.”

He also wants to investigate the school board rules to determine what bars him from speaking openly to people during public comment.

Board members told him about this rule, but no one showed him the written rule.

Hockema: A larger group 'on my side,' supports his views

Although the group in opposition to Hockema on Monday was significant, he stated that there is a larger group in Lafayette that supports his views. He might encourage them to come to the next meeting.

"There’s a much much greater size group that are on my side of the ideology. And I attend Citizens in Action meetings and We the People groups," he said. "And between the two groups, there’s a couple hundred people there that are parents and grandparents, that are totally on my side of this issue.”

Noe Padilla is a reporter for the Journal & Courier. Email him at Npadilla@jconline.com and follow him on Twitter at 1NoePadilla.