More than a hundred protesters and counter-protesters stood on opposite sides of a normally quiet suburban Los Angeles street on Friday.
The two groups had come for one reason: the local primary school was hosting a Pride Month event.
But they had very different views on Saticoy Elementary’s choice of programming.
One group of parents had launched a boycott of the school, labelling the Pride event “indoctrination” and inappropriate for children.
But counter-protesters said the demonstration was discriminatory and that children had the right to learn about different types of families.
At one point, police had to intervene when a fight broke out among protesters. One adult received minor injuries and was treated at the scene, said Los Angeles School Police Department. No arrests were made.
A school employee who answered the phone on Friday said that Saticoy Elementary had planned to read a book to students about some children having “two mommies and two daddies”.
The employee did not provide further details about the event.
Renato Lira, the director of the San Fernando Valley LGBTQ Center, took part in the school’s assembly.
He told the BBC that the children enjoyed the event, which he said involved educators reading from a book that talked about families of different cultures, including families with same-sex parents.
With the event, “we wanted to show our love, respect, we’re united”, Mr Lira told BBC.The parents who protested were “trying to bully us”, he added.
Gay marriage has gained widespread acceptance – including among most Republicans, according to opinion pollster Gallup – since the US Supreme Court legalised same-sex unions in 2015.
But over the past couple of years, the teaching of gender and sexuality in schools has provoked a conservative-led backlash. (BBC)