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Roseville school district cuts ties with LGBTQ group after undercover Project Veritas video

A Placer County school district cut ties with a Loomis pastor after Project Veritas, an organization known for recording undercover video, posted clips of the Landing Spot founder discussing the LGBTQ+ peer support group’s mentorship of transgender teens and how it communicates with parents.

More than a week later, the subject of the Project Veritas video, Casey Tinnin-Martinez, pastor of the Loomis Basin Congregational United Church of Christ, said he has received multiple death threats and had protesters outside his home. No legal action has been taken against the conservative activist group.

In an interview Tuesday, Tinnin-Martinez declined to comment on the status of his legal inquiry, but said he had received an “outpouring” of support “not just locally but from across the world.”

The video, which has received 1.7 million views on Twitter, depicts Tinnin-Martinez at a restaurant in which he was allegedly recorded without his permission as he discussed mentoring transgender teens and children through his church and peer support group.

The eight-minute video contains more than 15 cuts, edits that Tinnin-Martinez said take his words out of context.

In the longest stretches of audio, Tinnin-Martinez is shown talking about the Landing Spot’s partnership with Roseville Joint Union High School District schools, and how that partnership is used to refer kids to meetings.

“We used to meet at the church because it was free, and kids would say they’re going to ‘youth group,’ right?” Tinnin-Martinez said. “We moved to the library because kids said they were meeting their friends at the library. So it’s not lying, but it’s not fully the truth, right? But it keeps them safe, and that’s all I f------ care about.”

Tinnin-Martinez tells the Project Veritas representative, who he said posed as a parent of a transgender child, that parents are not notified of the referral to the LGBTQ support group, which can be a source of conflict with parents.

He is also shown saying that he has called Placer County’s Child Protective Services in instances where parents refuse to use a transgender child’s preferred name or pronouns.

Tinnin-Martinez said the Project Veritas representatives misrepresented their intentions to him and “took advantage of his kindness.”

Project Veritas could not be reached Tuesday for comment.

A day after the video published, the school district sent a statement to parents saying it had decided not to continue its relationship with The Landing Spot.

“Based on what we have learned, the District has no intention of pursuing any contractual agreement of services with, or referrals to, the Landing Spot” the district said to parents.

President Pete Constant said the district had already stopped the Landing Spot activity on school following their request to host a drag show at Roseville High School.

“Way before the Project Veritas video, in early February, the district and board discovered that the Landing Spot had been working on the campuses for some time, but there was no agreement on what they should be doing,” Constant said. “So we put a pause on their actions until that got worked out.”

Tinnin-Martinez said he was disappointed in the district’s actions, saying they chose to believe “fake news” rather than the testimonies of students and parents who had utilized the Landing Spot and had a positive experience.

But the release of the video and the wave of parent feedback prompted district officials to cut ties with the group, Constant said.

“It’s a little bit of everything at this point,” he said. “(Memorandum of Understanding) issues, status issues and the parental concern over the claims in that video. We don’t have the resources to do the fact-checking of some of the claims in that video. That’s not our job. It’s not our role.”

This move did not allay concerns of many parents, however. Hundreds of parents attended the board’s March 23 meeting at West Park High School, filling the audience and lining the walls.

The large attendance prompted the board to postpone its agenda and open the meeting to hours of public comment. Two hours later, it came to an abrupt end. A self-described Proud Boy, Jeffrey Erik Perrine, used his time to encourage others to join him in demonstrating in front of Tinnin-Martinez’s home.

“The LGBT cult is taking over everything in this state, you understand?” Perrine said. “ . . . I’m glad to see people with a backbone because you know what, they need to be exposed . . . I appreciate you taking the time to let Casey Tinnin know he’s not safe on campus, he doesn’t belong on campus, he should be banned from every campus.”

Perrine also used a slur directed at LGBTQ+ individuals in Placer schools. His language drew shouts and push back from audience members, and groups of people got up and started to exit as he spoke.

Constant adjourned the meeting immediately after Perrine’s comments.

Perrine was arrested later that night outside Tinnin-Martinez’s residence on suspicion of disturbing the peace and using offensive words, according to the Citrus Height Police Department.

“I would just continue to say that no allegations have been brought before me,” Tinnin-Martinez said. “This is all due to me being a gay man . . . I’m disheartened by all of this. It’s very dangerous rhetoric.”

Tinnin-Martinez said Tuesday that he had not received any communications from district officials and was disappointed in the district’s actions.