New documentary profiles a group of moms who fought back against anti-LGBTQ activists
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Good Morning, I’m Lawrence K. Jackson, it’s WEDNESDAY, JUNE 24TH>>>> A NEW DOCUMENTARY DETAILS HOW A GROUP OF MOMS GOT TOGETHER TO FIGHT BACK AGAINST HATE GROUPSMore on that next. But first... let’s do the headlines….########
NEW E BIKE RULES ARE LIKELY COMING TO THE CITY OF SAN DIEGO.
THE SAN DIEGO CITY COUNCIL YESTERDAY PASSED A SLEW OF NEW REGULATIONS THAT NOW REQUIRE A SECOND READING ON JUNE 30TH...
IF APPROVED, THEY WOULD TAKE EFFECT 30 DAYS LATER
THE RULES IMPOSE AN AGE LIMIT OF 12 YEARS OLD TO RIDE AN E-BIKE
THEY ALSO REINFORCE THAT A HELMET IS REQUIRED AND PASSENGERS ARE ONLY PERMITTED IF THE E-BIKE IS DESIGNED FOR MULTIPLE RIDERS
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WATER RATES IN THE COUNTY COULD AGAIN INCREASE IN 20-27
THE COUNTY'S WATER AUTHORITY IS PROPOSING A THREE PERCENT INCREASE FOR NEXT YEAR...
WITH SIMILAR RATE INCREASES THROUGH 20-32
WATER AUTHORITY LEADERS SAY THAT WHILE THE HIKE IN RATES IS PAINFUL, THE PROPOSED-INCREASE FALLS BELOW CURRENT INFLATION RATES
THEY CREDIT THIS TO TWO WATER SHARING AGREEMENTS WITH OUTSIDE AGENCIES THAT WILL CREATE TENS OF MILLIONS IN PROJECTED REVENUE FOR THE WATER AUTHORITY
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THE SAN DIEGO ZOO SAYS THAT THEIR NIGHT-TIME ZOO WILL END FOR GOOD IN AUGUST
NIGHTTIME ZOO HAS BEEN GOING ON FOR MORE THAN 25 YEARS. IT EXTENDS THE PARKS HOURS TO 8 P-M DURING THE SUMMER MONTHS
BUT, YOU CAN STILL TAKE PART IN THEIR NIGHTTIME ZOO HOURS UNTIL AUGUST 9TH, WITH THE EXCEPTION OF A FEW DAYS
THE ZOO SAYS THAT IN 20-27, THEY ARE DEBUTING A NEW SUMMER FESTIVAL THAT THEY HOPE WILL HELP TO CREATE NEW AND EXCITING MEMORIES FOR ZOO ATTENDEES
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HEADS UP FOR THOSE WHO LIVE IN OUR COUNTY'S DESERT AREAS !
BEGINNING AT 11 AM TODAY, THERE IS AN EXTREME HEAT WARNING IN EFFECT THROUGH, WEDNESDAY AT 8 P-M
THE COUNTY SAYS EVEN OVERNIGHT LOW TEMPERATURES ARE EXPECTED TO STILL LAND IN THE 80’S, OFFERING LITTLE RELIEF FROM THE HEAT
From KPBS, you’re listening to San Diego News Now.Stay with me for more of the local news you need.
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A new documentary tells the story of some Southern California moms who got together to fight back against anti-LGBTQ activists. Military reporter Andrew Dyer says their work led to a series of KPBS reports about an active duty Navy SEAL involved with members of a hate group.
MOMSCLUB (ad) 3:48 SOQ
Intro, protests nats from Doc
In the trailer for Moms Club we’re brought back to the intense fights over LGBTQ student rights at school boards in 20-22 and 23.
More nats
And we’re introduced to the team of moms who fought back.
Trailer 00:00:47:19 - 00;01;04;20:
Voice 1: I'm talking about what's happening here. They're talking about what's happening in their communities. And we see a pattern.
Voice 2: It's like joining a heist crew. Everyone's got a really specific set of skills.
Voice 3: Nobody should mess with moms who grew up on social media because we have. The ability to find anything.
Moms Club is a new documentary from directors Rocky Romano and Miranda Winters.
It tells the story of a small group of Southern California moms brought together when right-wing activists began showing up at school board meetings — including in Temecula.
Some of the same activists were also involved in anti-LGBTQ demonstrations in 2023 at the Santee YMCA.
Independent photojournalist Kelly Stuart started documenting the protests. She’s featured in the film.
Momsclub.mp4: 00:12:47:06 - 00:13:05:17
Kelly Stuart, photographer
So I started just driving around Southern California and at each place I would meet, you know, I would meet some of the moms and they would say, hey, we saw this picture of this proud boy at this other place. Who is that? And so I kind of connected all these moms from different areas into a single group.
Signal is an encrypted texting app.
The moms noticed one person at the front of a lot of the ant-LGBTQ protests. He hung around members of the Proud Boys and other hate groups and used a fake name.They had no idea who he was.
In 20-23 K-P-B-S first reported the man, Bryce Henson, was an active duty SEAL.
In the film Stuart recounts how they identified him.
Trailer: 01;07;16 - 01;24;17
There was one member of the Moms Club. She went back through all the school board meetings. She found the very first meeting he ever spoke at where he used his name. How can you have someone who has been trained to kill people roaming throughout Southern California organizing Proud Boys?
Co-director Rocky Romano says they didn’t set out to film a documentary on school board protests — they were following dark money trails.
Momsclub.mp4: 00:02:11:07 - 00:02:23;02
Rocky Romano, co-director, Moms Club
So we covered probably almost 300 protests in the streets of Los Angeles since the George Floyd murder. And slowly but surely, we started putting together these different factions and how they would keep showing up. And they were working together
Momsclub.mp4: 02;25;15 - 02;40;01
Rocky Romano, co-director, Moms Club
We really didn't have a connection. But then we found an interesting connection that led to higher up organizations, and we thought, wow, can we prove that these upper shadow network is actually helping control what's happening in our streets and the violence in the streets, and that's what we set out to do.
Romano connected with Stuart during those Los Angeles area protests. Protests over masks, vaccines and racial justice. So many different issues at first what the documentary would be about wasn’t clear.
Momsclub.mp4: 08;44;05 - 08;52;17
Kelly Stuart, photographer
we didn't know that it was going to go in this direction about the attacks on trans kids until the moms got involved.
Telling the story of a nebulous web of donors and political groups Romano says were behind many protests was going to be a tough undertaking.
Momsclub.mp4: 03;15;06 - 03;21;12
Rocky Romano, co-director, Moms Club
it is so complex and almost unbelievable so we really felt the moms were the perfect vehicle to tell the story.
He says the organized anti-LGBTQ groups were just looking for a winning issue.
Momsclub.mp4: 08;54;20 - 09;13;00
Rocky Romano, co-director
they went from , you know, anti BLM to anti-vax anti you know, it just kept shifting. It kept changing like a new culture war point would would come up and then they would all shift over. But the trans wedge is really the one that they've stuck with and has been the most effective for them.
Romano says the school board fights are a national story — one he thinks can’t wait for the traditional route many documentary films take.
There’s a GoFundMe to help them with finishing costs but in the meantime they’re hosting screenings for community groups.
For more information about screening the film go to moms club film dot com.
Andrew Dyer, KPBS News
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County supervisors are poised to vote on increased staffing in some of the county’s justice and law enforcement offices. As Kevin Trevellyan [TREV-uh-lyn] reports, the move is in response to a spike in felony charges tied to a recent statewide ballot initiative.
36BUDGET 1 TRT (1:26) SOQ
TREVELLYAN: California voters overwhelmingly supported Proposition 36 in 2024. It created harsher penalties for some repeat drug and theft crimes… while mandating time behind bars or treatment.
But Prop 36 didn’t provide new funding to help counties deal with the jump in felony cases they began seeing after it took effect…. as San Diego County Supervisor Monica Montgomery Steppe acknowledged during a recent budget hearing.
MONTGOMERY STEPPE: “It’s one of the largest drivers of rising costs and staffing needs across the public safety group departments. I do understand why – it represents a significant shift in how counties must respond to repeat theft and drug offenses.”
TREVELLYAN: That’s why the county’s latest budget proposal includes more than 24 million dollars to create 56 new positions across the Sheriff’s Office, Probation Department, District Attorney’s office, and Public Defender’s Office.
Still, Samantha Itazawa, a staff attorney for the ACLU of San Diego and Imperial Counties… says the proposed spending doesn’t address one of Prop 36’s core issues.
ITAZAWA: “In dire times when the state faces tough choices of belt tightening, it should invest in the solutions proven to work, health care services and treatment, not just more punishment and incarceration”
TREVELLYAN: The county is receiving some 3 million dollars in one-time funds from the state to build out behavioral health services for Prop 36 defendants.
The County Board of Supervisors is expected to finalize the new budget Thursday.
KT, KPBS News
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A NEW NATIONAL SURVEY FINDS WORKPLACE VIOLENCE REMAINS A WIDESPREAD PROBLEM FOR NURSES. BUT AS HEALTH REPORTER HEIDI DE MARCO REPORTS SOME SAN DIEGO HOSPITALS SAY EFFORTS TO IMPROVE SAFETY ARE SHOWING RESULTS.
NURSES 1 trt: 51
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National Nurses United is the country's largest labor union for nurses. It surveyed its members this year. More than 12-hundred responded. It found 8 in 10 nurses experienced at least one form of workplace violence in the past year. The union is pushing for a federal workplace violence prevention standard.
Jane Thomason is with National Nurses United.
JANE THOMASON
NATIONAL NURSES UNITED
The federal bill is based on our experience in California.
California already requires hospitals to maintain workplace violence prevention plans and train employees.
At Scripps Health prevention efforts have led to..
CHRIS VAN GORDER
SCRIPPS HEALTH
A huge improvement in the reduction of injuries.
Chris Van Gorder is CEO.
CHRIS VAN GORDER
00;12;37;18 - 00;12;45;17
Are we going to reduce it to zero? No.
But he believes hospitals and community partners can make a difference.
Heidi de Marco, KPBS News.
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For the second year volunteers counted microplastic beads in and around waterways… to put a number on the problem.
REPORTER JACOB AERE SAYS a report released yesterday (Tuesday) says over 1 million so called ‘nurdles’ were found, with thousands across California.
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NURDLES 1 (ja) :55
The 2026 International Plastic Pellet Count shows the tiny plastic pellets are polluting waterways all over the world.
During the month of May volunteers combed sites around railways, beaches and other waterways in six countries … counting and removing the pollutants.
San Diego Coastkeeper’s Patrick McDonough (MIC-dunna) took part in the count in Carlsbad, near a rail line. He says the beads are the raw material for plastic items, and about the size of a lentil.
“The more we looked along the rail lines … especially in north county … where there are a lot of our protected lagoon habitats … we noticed nurdles almost everywhere we looked.”
This year’s count found a 22 percent increase in nurdles overall from 2025.
Coastkeeper is organizing another independent count this July. JA KPBS News.
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A SAN DIEGO LANDMARK IS OPEN TO THE PUBLIC FOR THE FIRST TIME IN MORE THAN 30 YEARS.
THE MORMON TEMPLE IN SAN DIEGO IS HAVING AN OPEN HOUSE AFTER A THREE-YEAR RENOVATION.
REPORTER ALEXANDER NGUYEN TALKED TO SOME OF THE VISITORS.
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LSDTEMPLE 1(an) TRT: 0:51 SOQ
NATS
Dozens of people were anxiously waiting Tuesday morning for a once-in-a-lifetime experience.
NATPOP “It's very beautiful”
It’s the first time in 33 years that the San Diego California Temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is open to the public.
Mira Mesa resident Muhammad Burhan Manzoor was one. He says the experience was spiritual. He was awestruck by the Celestial room.
SOT Muhammad Burhan Manzoor // TEMPLE VISITOR
“Which is supposed to be heavenly place and looks very beautiful. And you're supposed to be quiet and ponder.”
Rob Thompson from Vista says what struck him the most was the paintings.
SOT ROB THOMPSON // TEMPLE VISITOR
“I could just come in here and look at the paintings for forever. I just, I found them very inspiring.”
With its 10 spires… the temple is an iconic landmark, not just in San Diego but also within the church.
More than 350,000 people are expected to see the temple over the three-week open house. AN/KPBS
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That’s it for the podcast today. This podcast is edited by Brooke Ruth AND hosted and produced by me, Lawrence K. Jackson. As always you can find more San Diego news online at KPBS dot org. Thanks for listening and have a great day.
