LA Leftists Attack Armenian-Americans for Resisting ‘Pride’ Agenda in Schools

June 8 2023

CV NEWS FEED // On Friday, a mob of Antifa and LGBTQ activists fought with a group of Armenian-American parents outside a school board meeting in Glendale, California. 

According to the city’s police department, three arrests were made following the event. Glendale is a large suburb of Los Angeles.

Journalist and anti-extremism advocate Andy Ngo tweeted a video of the scuffle. “Immigrant families have been furious that elementary schools are doing pride events,” he wrote. “Antifa have gathered to oppose the parents.”

As The Daily Signal reported:

Following the Glendale school board’s decision to incorporate LGBTQ+ “Pride” festivals and celebrations into June school days, dozens of parents pulled students from classrooms—with some elementary schools seeing only 40% of students show up for class on June 2.

Additional documents revealed that Glendale staff have attempted to incorporate LGBTQ+ materials and ideology into other curriculum. One assistant principal even told staff to teach children that every person is, by default, “queer” and “socialist.”

Parents from the traditionally conservative Armenian and Hispanic communities in Glendale planned to protest the board’s decisions at an upcoming school board meeting. Antifa Southern California called for activists to counter protest against these parents, whom they labeled “hate groups.”

One of the concerned parents who petitioned the school board said that one of his daughters was “afraid to change in the locker room because she knows (a) guy could come into the room.” When the father reached out to the principal, he informed him “there were no cross-gender bathroom policies.”

Armenians are a historically persecuted minority group from Western Asia who are predominantly Orthodox Christians. Approximately one million Armenians were killed in a genocide during World War I.

The city of Glendale is well-known for its vibrant Armenian-American community. Many local Armenians came in the 1970s to escape communism. The area currently has the largest Armenian population outside of Armenia.

Notably, one of the teachers at the Glendale School District was recently caught on camera downplaying the Armenian Genocide. This teacher also works at a Los Angeles children’s hospital with “queer and trans youth.”

She spoke at the school board meeting, saying: “I deal with a lot of the trauma of LGBT youth related to the hetero-normative, Judeo-Christian, patriarchal, imperialist, capitalist system that oppresses them.”

“Armenians talk about the genocide,” she added, “but they don’t want to talk about the indigenous genocide in 1850, and the lack of reparations for indigenous and black people in this country.”

Significant amounts of footage of the “all-out brawl” circulated on the internet in the hours following the incident. One of the leftist rioters, a man in a pink bandana, was seen assaulting the parent protestors before police arrested him. 

The riot was led in part by local far-left politician Maebe A. Girl, D-CA, a male drag queen who identifies both as “transgender” and “nonbinary” – preferring “she/they pronouns.” He serves on the Neighborhood Council of Silver Lake, an up-and-coming Los Angeles neighborhood that has been described as “trendy and hip.” Girl ran for Congress in 2020 and 2022, losing both times in landslides to incumbent Adam Schiff. Girl is currently running again in the crowded 2024 race to replace Schiff, who is running for the U.S. Senate.

Girl was present at the event and live-tweeted it, incorrectly using the term “Proud Boys” to refer to the group of fathers who opposed his mob.

A previous quarrel between Antifa and mostly Armenian-American parents took place outside of an elementary school on Friday, June 2. 

The attacked parents, many of them reportedly immigrants, were waving American flags and wearing shirts bearing the words “Leave Our Kids Alone.” Several of the aggressors were draped in “pride” flags.

https://catholicvote.org/la-leftists-attack-armenian-americans-for-resisting-pride/

Speaker meets SNP’s Drew Hendry, calls for cooperation between Armenia’s self-governing municipalities and Scotland

 13:36, 8 June 2023

YEREVAN, JUNE 8, ARMENPRESS. Speaker of Parliament Alen Simonyan and members of his delegation have met with Drew Hendry, Member of Parliament of the United Kingdom representing the Scottish National Party (SNP).

Hendry is the SNP Foreign Affairs Spokesperson in the House of Commons.

Regional challenges, post-war issues and consequences were discussed at the meeting, the Armenian parliament’s press service said in a readout.

Speaking about the ongoing Azerbaijani military aggression, the Armenian legislators presented the consequences of the Lachin crisis and spoke about the need to protect the rights of the Armenians in Nagorno Karabakh. In this context, the support and targeted statements by international partners were highlighted.

Armenia attaches importance to decentralized cooperation with the UK, the Armenian legislators said.

“The cooperation on the level of local self government supplements interstate relations, and in this context the experience of the UK is highly important for us. In this regard, we ask you to consider the possibility of partnership between Armenia’s local self governing entities and Scotland,” Simonyan said.

Azerbaijan releases disinformation in attempt to substantiate its ceasefire violations, warns Nagorno Karabakh

 11:11, 6 June 2023

STEPANAKERT, JUNE 6, ARMENPRESS. The Defense Ministry of Artsakh (Nagorno Karabakh) warned on Tuesday that Azerbaijan is spreading disinformation in an attempt to substantiate its ceasefire violations.

“The Azerbaijani Ministry of Defense has spread a usual disinformation, falsely claiming that it has disrupted reinforcement works in the Askeran, Martuni and Karvajar regions and about reinforcement works being carried out by the Defense Army. The Azerbaijani Defense Ministry is once again distorting reality in an attempt to substantiate the regular ceasefire violations committed by its units,” the Defense Ministry of Artsakh said in a statement.

Central Bank of Armenia: exchange rates and prices of precious metals – 29-05-23

 16:50, 29 May 2023

YEREVAN, 29 MAY, ARMENPRESS. The Central Bank of Armenia informs “Armenpress” that today, 29 May, USD exchange rate down by 0.35 drams to 386.17 drams. EUR exchange rate down by 1.46 drams to 413.78 drams. Russian Ruble exchange rate down by 0.01 drams to 4.82 drams. GBP exchange rate down by 1.71 drams to 476.69 drams.

The Central Bank has set the following prices for precious metals.

Gold price down by 26.27 drams to 24184.45 drams. Silver price up by 1.48 drams to 287.36 drams.

Warring parties turned to spyware in Azerbaijan-Armenia conflict

POLITICO
May 25 023

An investigation by Access Now, Citizen Lab, Amnesty Internationalʼs Security Lab and independent Armenian mobile-security researcher Ruben Muradyan found the Israeli-made spyware tool on phones of then-Armenian official ombudsman Kristinne Grigoryan, two journalists from Radio Free Europe, a United Nations official and a former spokesperson for the country’s foreign ministry.

“Inserting harmful spyware technology into the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict shows a complete disregard for safety and welfare, and truly unmasks how depraved priorities can be,” said Natalia Krapiva, tech-legal counsel at digital rights group Access Now and one of the authors of the report, told POLITICO.

Nagorno-Karabakh is a disputed territory in Azerbaijan, where the country has been in a protracted conflict with Armenia since the 1980s, with open war breaking out in 2020.

Thursday's report found infections with Pegasus software — one of the most sophisticated spyware tools created by Israel's NSO Group — in Armenia as early as 2020, during some of the most intense fighting of the war, and again when peace talks were taking place in October and a cease-fire was struck in November 2020. Overall, between 2020-2021, the researchers recorded over 30 successful Pegasus infections. The groups behind the research — which include some of the world's most renowned forensic analysts on spyware — said it was the first known case of spyware being used in an active conflict.

“This is the first documented evidence of the use of Pegasus spyware in an international war context,” the researchers wrote.

While there is no unequivocal evidence linking a specific government to the hack, the timing and the victims "strongly suggest" the intrusions were part of active warfare on Azerbaijan's behalf, the report suggested. However, it added that because the victims also included members of civil society that have been critical of Armeniaʼs government, it is possible Armenian services conducted the hack themselves.

Both governments were previously found to have purchased spyware; Azerbaijan-linked domains were identified in Pegasus one-click SMS infection infrastructure. Meta's December 2021 "Threat Report on the Surveillance-for-Hire Industry" also identified an Armenia-based customer of mercenary spyware firm Cytrox.

The Armenian and Azerbaijani government did not respond to a request for comment.

One of the victims of the hacking, Anna Naghdalyan, served as spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs at the time her device was hacked. Her work “put her squarely in the middle of the most sensitive conversations," researchers wrote.


I hope the process will start soon – EU Ambassador on visa liberalization dialogue

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 14:22,

YEREVAN, MAY 15, ARMENPRESS. Head of the EU Delegation to Armenia Ambassador Andrea Wiktorin commented on the visa liberalization issue between the EU and Armenia during a press conference on May 15.

Asked on the problem of queues at EU embassies for entry visas, Wiktorin said she personally wants the dialogue around visa liberalization to commence, but this requires consent from all 27 members of the EU.

“I know that now there is a difficult situation. We maintain close contact with the foreign ministry, also with member states to try to understand how to facilitate and improve the visa procedures,” she said at the press conference on Europe Day and EU-Armenia relations. 

The ambassador mentioned that many European embassies experienced problems in returning to normal course of work after the COVID-19 pandemic.

She added that many travel agencies in Armenia are booking all available hours in advance, which is a problem. “That’s why we need to work in this direction. That’s why Germany and Lithuania changed their procedures,” Wiktorin said, mentioning that it is highly important for people to know that making an appointment is free of charge in all embassies.

Speaking about launching the visa liberalization dialogue, the ambassador said: “We are ready. This issue must be discussed with member countries because we can only start the dialogue when we have consent from all 27 member countries. But I know that the Armenian foreign ministry is very much involved. And it is now working with countries that have some issues of concern. I hope the process will start soon. I personally want this process to start, but we need to listen to the positions, opinions and concerns of member states.”

Talks on situation in South Caucasus may continue in Russia — Armenian PM

 TASS 
Russia – May 5 2023
Neither Russia nor Western countries presented specific proposals for the resolution of the Armenian-Azerbaijani problem, Nikol Pashinyan said

YEREVAN, May 5. /TASS/. Talks between Foreign Ministers Ararat Mirzoyan of Armenia and Jeyhun Bayramov of Azerbaijan, which began in the United States and were mediated by Secretary of State Antony Blinken, may be resumed in Moscow, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said on Friday.

In an interview with Radio Liberty (listed as a foreign agent media), he said that neither Russia nor Western countries presented specific proposals for the resolution of the Armenian-Azerbaijani problem.

Earlier, Yerevan confirmed plans to hold a meeting between the top Armenian and Azerbaijani diplomats, but did not give any concrete dates.

Mirzoyan and Bayramov held talks in the United States on settling the situation in the South Caucasus from May 1 to 4.

PM Pashinyan stated that the key disagreements with Azerbaijan concern Nagorno Karabakh, but not only

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 17:29, 5 May 2023

YEREVAN, MAY 5, ARMENPRESS. There are key disagreements between Armenia and Azerbaijan on a number of issues, one of which concerns Nagorno Karabakh, ARMENPRESS reports, Prime Minister Pashinyan said, answering the following question of RFE/RL in Prague: What are the issues on which the foreign ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan remained in disagreement after the Washington negotiations?

"Although it was recorded in Prague and Sochi that Armenia and Azerbaijan recognize each other's territorial integrity, we are still unable to reach an agreement on the wording of the draft peace treaty that would give us confidence that Azerbaijan recognizes Armenia's 29,800 square kilometers", Pashinyan said.

The Prime Minister emphasized that there are differences in addressing the rights of the Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh, and they are preserved.

"Next, any agreement, even the most unambiguously written ones, have interpretations, the way these interpretations should be resolved is a very important issue, and in the end, the issue of guaranteeing peace after the signing of the peace agreement is a very important issue. Both international and local mechanisms are taken into account, particularly in connection with the withdrawal of troops, should we not have a demilitarized zone? Regarding addressing the rights of the Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh, there are misinterpretations, and they are preserved. Of course, there is a certain move, if before the difference between the positions of the parties was 1 km, now it is 990 meters, it is a move, but there is still a huge difference," the Prime Minister noted.

Czech PM expresses concern over humanitarian situation in blockaded Nagorno Karabakh

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 16:08, 4 May 2023

YEREVAN, MAY 4, ARMENPRESS. Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala has expressed concern over the humanitarian situation in Nagorno Karabakh resulting from the blockade of the Lachin Corridor.

“We are aware of the difficult situation , political, security and geopolitical,” Fiala said at a joint press conference with Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan in Prague. “We are concerned over the humanitarian situation in Nagorno Karabakh resulting from the blockade of the Lachin Corridor and we agree with the EU’s stance in this issue. We believe that all possible steps must be taken for peace and stability to be established in Nagorno Karabakh and the whole South Caucasian region,” the Czech PM said.

PM Fiala attached importance to a mutually acceptable peace treaty being signed between Armenia and Azerbaijan.

“During my discussion with Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan I understood that Armenia is interested in the prospect of strengthening peace and stability in the region. Armenia is eager to find lasting solutions,” PM Fiala said.

AW: Our Samvel

Baby Samvel and his sister Mariam

Samvel Vardani Gevorgyan was born on April 27, 1999 in Ararat Marz in the village of Gineved. When Samvel was in the fifth grade, he moved with his family to Russia. Samvel was a bright student who excelled in chess and soccer. 

Samvel Vardani Gevorgyan (1999-2020)

In 2019, Samvel decided that he had to go back to the homeland and serve his nation. He left for Armenia and voluntarily joined Armenia’s Armed Forces. He began his service on January 10, 2019 and served in Mataghis. “The soldier who serves in Mataghis is a king,” he once stated. He had two more months left in service when the Artsakh War began in September of 2020. On the first day of the war, he was instrumental in causing a tank to be dismantled. His mother Hasmik has videos of his actions. His mother was unable to reach him until he finally called. “Mom, don’t cry,” he told her. “You have a hero son. I was able to stop their progression causing havoc to their tank.” 

Final picture of Samvel Vardani Gevorgyan and his comrades on the battlefield

Samvel and his fellow soldiers were barricaded for five days. His friends on the field told his mother of his heroics and how he helped the wounded to safety. Sadly, on October 10, 2020, Samvel entered his eternal rest. He is buried in the village of Gineved. He received many medals, including the Medal of Valor (Ariootian Medal).

Samvel and Mariam

Samvel was the only son of Vardan and Hasmik. His sister Mariam is married. After her brother’s death, Mariam gave birth to a baby boy and named him Samvel in his honor.

Mariam’s son Samvel, named after his hero uncle

Samvel was skilled with a particular style of weapon called Erbegah. He was known as Erbegah Samo. His last phone call to his mother was on October 6, 2020, where he stated, “Mom jan (Dear Mom), stay, darling. I love you very much, tsavet danem (let me take your pain away).” 

Samvel was a hardworking, diligent and responsible student. There was a time when his mother asked him not to work since he was working multiple jobs in Moscow. He responded with, “Mom jan, I won’t allow myself to ask you for money.” He was a kind and vibrant young man with a wonderful sense of humor. He had the utmost respect for the elderly. He had won a big chess tournament and made his city proud.

Samvel Gevorgyan, a chess champion

Hasmik states that he never exhausted her. She stated that she’s not just saying this because he’s her son, but all those around Samvel knew it. Hasmik said that he did everything in his power to make her and the family happy. His friend Aram stated that no matter what, Samvel was always willing to give a helping hand. One day, Samo was very late to come home. He felt so bad for his sleepless mother, that the next day he came home with a bouquet of beautiful flowers and asked for forgiveness.

Hasmik, who organized a special memorial tribute for her son, is unable to retell these stories without getting emotional. Her tears flow as she remembers her patriotic son. She recalls him saying, “Mom jan, I took an oath to serve my nation. I will serve in the Armenian Army only.” Hasmik said that she was very close to her son, and he had so many goals and dreams that won’t come to fruition. She misses his kind spirit of honoring everyone around him, young and old. She asked him once how he had so much compassion and love for people, and he stated that he was raised that way. He’s a peaceful dove, she says. 

Samo was also very attentive to his sister. He purchased a car for her when he started working. He was very close to his grandparents and loved to dream big. He wanted to pursue his education in finance in Moscow. He loved sweets, especially Snickers and Mars Bars. He never smoked, but later confessed that he started smoking in the army. He promised his mother that he would quit. She states that so many promises were left unfinished. 

A family picture: Mariam, Davit, Samvel, Vardan, Hasmik

Talar Keoseyan is a mother, educator and writer. Talar’s book called Mom and Dad, Why Do I Need to Know My Armenian Heritage? is available on Amazon. Tigran’s Song is available at Abril Bookstore. She has been an educator for 25 years and resides in Los Angeles, CA. She can be reached at


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