We need The Landing Spot but not Project Veritas

The Landing Spot is recognized for creating a safe place for LGBTQ+ youth suffering from depression, anxiety, suicidal thoughts, hunger, homelessness or loneliness, and creating a healthy, strong gay community here. Since 2016, Loomis Basin Congregational United Church of Christ has operated The Landing Spot, a non-religious support group for LGBTQ+ youth and their parents in Placer County. The Landing Spot activities include hosting monthly support groups and organizing activities, speakers and events. In addition, The Landing Spot has met at high schools to work directly with school wellness center staff and counselors to provide support to LGBTQ+ students. Compare that to Project Veritas, which has a bad reputation throughout the country for infiltrating progressive organizations to make highly-distorted videos. And yet several area community leaders took as gospel truth a recent Project Veritas video targeting Rev. Casey Tinnin, the Loomis Basin Congregational United Church of Christ pastor and The Landing Spot founder. The Western Placer Unified School District, the Roseville Joint Union High School District and the Placer Union High School District no longer allow The Landing Spot volunteers to be on campus. And Loomis Mayor Danny Cartwright posted on the town website on March 21: "...Make no mistake - the Town shares the concerns of the Loomis community regarding statements in the video made by the Pastor. While this issue does not directly involve the Town, as the Landing Spot was active on school campuses, the Town will fully cooperate with any potential investigation should one occur. The Town is committed to providing a safe community for all Loomis residents and visitors." The school districts should not make rash decisions. Neither should the Loomis mayor make rash statements. And yet they did within a day or two of the shady video. The deceptive Project Veritas's video released March 19 is focused on destroying the reputation of The Landing Spot and Tinnin. As a result of the video, Tinnin has received death threats and the Proud Boys outside his home March 22 and March 23 called Tinnin slurs through a megaphone while livestreaming and giving out his address. His church postponed In person-events and worship services, due to safety reasons for staff and congregants, according to a Loomis Basin Congregational United Church of Christ Council statement. When I watched the video, it definitely looked like a hit piece by Project Veritas edited for that purpose. Project Veritas video creators posed as parents seeking support for their transgender child and illegally videotaped a conversation with Tinnin, according to church officials. The video creators twisted Tinnin's words into making it seem like he was encouraging students to lie to parents. That simply wasn't what Tinnin told the video creators posing as parents. Leaders of three area school districts and the Loomis mayor hastily jumped on a community bandwagon and halted partnerships with Loomis-based The Landing Spot. It has been disheartening to watch hard-working community leaders in south Placer County who should know better jeopardize the good work of The Landing Spot last week. Did the school districts and the Loomis mayor do their homework? Did they ask Tinnin if he made the comments as is or did Project Veritas take his words out of context to the extreme? Did our community leaders do any research on Project Veritas? If they did, our community leaders would have seen that Project Veritas' MO is undercover reporting using false identities against a variety of organizations, including Planned Parenthood, NPR, CNN, the Washington Post and the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, according to NPR. Project Veritas, for the last 13 years, often uses clandestine recording methods to record subjects in media and politics in an effort to catch them making compromising statements, according to The Hill, a non-partisan newspaper for and about Congress. According to Reuters News Agency on Sept. 23, a federal jury found Project Veritas liable for violating wiretapping laws and misrepresenting itself in an undercover effort to target Democratic political consultants. Project Veritas used "heavily edited" footage in videos falsely suggesting the consultants conspired to incite violence at then-Republican candidate Donald Trump's rallies and schemed to promote voter fraud, according to Democracy Partners in court. Consider the source making the viral video, which is Project Veritas that targets organizations with a different perspective from its members and uses deceptive practices. Then consider all the good that The Landing Spot provides for youth who have no safe place to be themselves. While it will take Tinnin some time to repair the damage done by our community leaders who falsely called out The Landing Spot, maybe those community leaders will learn not to fall to hysteria. The three school districts' representatives and the Loomis mayor owe The Landing Spot and Tinnin a huge apology. And next time, they should do their homework when an organization such as Project Veritas makes outrageous comments and videos. Our leaders are supposed to know better.