Who is Jordan Henry?
Jordan Henry is a failed Glendale City Council candidate. He is an extremist attention-seeker. Now Henry4Glendale is running for Glendale Unified School Board in the La Crescenta-Montrose area of the district. Keep track of his latest efforts to undermine our community on the Jordan Henry Updates page.
Jordan Henry has been spreading hate and disinformation since 2021.
Who is Jordan Henry?
"WE GOTTA TAKE THIS SCHOOL DOWN!"
Jordan Henry brings hate to Glendale (June 6, 2023)
Since moving to Glendale in 2021, Jordan Henry has established a pattern. He directs attacks by outside extremists and the far-right movement against the Glendale community, mainly targeting Glendale's award-winning public school district. He regularly makes public comment and does costly public records act requests.
On June 6th, 2023 over 100 peaceful parent and local community supporters showed up to support GUSD's long-established inclusive policies, which are mandated by multiple state and federal laws.
These parents and community members, including GALAS LA, were met with extremist violence from a group of mostly men and outsiders led by Jordan Henry on the bullhorn (photo above). Many are known far-right extremists from across the state with a history of targeting other California public school districts. Several, including Bryce Henson are now under investigation for ties to national extremist groups like the Proud Boys. These extremists with no stake in Glendale public schools harassed local parents outside GUSD headquarters. The shouted homophobic slurs and threats. Among the few local anti-LGBTQ+ activists mobilized by Jordan Henry was the small group of rightwing Glendale parents activated during the 2020 anti-mask/anti-vax "liberate" movement. These include Ani Torosyan and Aneta Krpekyan. Learn more about Jordan's team here.
Remember: Jordan Henry has no children enrolled in public schools in Glendale or anywhere else. On June 6th, he incited Proud Boys, January 6th insurrectionists, far-right Christian extremists, anti-government homeschoolers, and outsiders with no connection to GUSD or Glendale. One of the outside extremists arrested was Joseph Marashlian, who pepper sprayed the crowd and injured a peaceful clergyman. Right-wing corporate media, including Fox News, quickly amplified the event, making heroes of the perpetrators and falsely portraying it as a local clash between "Antifa" and "Armenian Parents." It was not. None of the 3 people arrested were GUSD parents. The coordinated attack on Glendale public schools is straight out of the extremist playbook - divide communities and demonize public education, with an ultimate goal of privatizing public schools and weakening the separation of church and state.
At the June 6th Board Meeting, GUSD's Board unanimously passed their resolution in support of recognizing June as Pride Month, as they have for many years without controversy. Almost 100 GUSD parents left work early to wait in line so that they could give public comment in support of students, teachers, fellow parents, and schools. GUSD continues to share facts to correct the disinformation spread by these outsiders to our community. GUSD administration has continued to make themselves readily available to address any parent concerns or confusion about policies in GUSD.
Meet Jordan Henry
Jordan Henry has no children involved in Glendale Unified Public Schools. Public records suggest that he moved to La Crescenta/Glendale in spring 2021.
Henry began to appear at GUSD Board of Education meetings to repeat national far-right activist Christopher Rufo's scripted attacks in July 2021. Henry exploited GUSD's remote public comment option during the pandemic to build his following.
Henry promoted himself with public comment videos in which he attacked GUSD by repeating disinformation. He:
-
falsely accused board members and individual teachers of conspiracies and misconduct.
-
repeatedly misrepresented popular, and intensively vetted curriculum standards required by state law.
-
falsely characterized the work of Black academics to stoke racial resentment and fear.
Online, he began directing Glendale-area parents to pull their kids from public schools, participate in the surveillance of teachers, and demand the removal of state and federally mandated protections in place for LGBTQ youth.
Glendale deserves better than Jordan Henry.
At the April 18th, 2023 GUSD School Board Meeting, Jordan Henry attended with former GUSD teacher Ray Shelton, who held up a swastika made out of the Pride Progress flag. Shelton was later placed on administrative leave before retiring as planned on June 9th. At the meeting, Henry and his followers were recorded harassing parents, teachers, and filming local LGBTQ+ students and other minors without their consent. Henry and his followers did this on Yom Hashoah, the Jewish holiday in remembrance of the Holocaust.
Jordan Henry appears to be part of a national movement to undermine public education.
Since 2021, a local group of concerned parents and allies have mobilized in Glendale to counter these efforts and monitor the escalation of these dangerous ideological attacks into physical threats. Glendale is now seeing how extreme rhetoric leads to extremist violence.
Shining a light on Jordan Henry's well-documented extremist beliefs and activities during his 2022 run for Glendale City Council proved effective. Although he tried to hide his past extremist activism and far-right perspectives on race, gender, and the project of liberal democracy, voters learned the facts about Henry. He came in second-to-last with 9.5% of the vote in a field of 8 candidates.
During the campaign:
-
He was caught misrepresenting his credentials.
-
His top campaign contributors included longtime Glendale extremist Mike Mohill and multiple LLCs registered to the same individuals.
Meanwhile, the outsider network he leads has continued to attack the board and teachers- making them targets of viral social media accounts and extreme right wing sites, making hateful scenes at school board meetings, and threatening families - including children - who speak up for inclusion.
GUSD has repeatedly countered Henry's disinformation campaign, but it's time to spread the word. This site serves as a community resource to document what is happening. Journalists with more robust resources must seek out the facts behind who is funding and organizing this anti-GUSD and anti-LGBTQ+ movement.
Glendale has excellent public schools supported by a diverse community of stakeholders.
Jordan Henry uses his incendiary public comment stunts to gain visibility on extremist sites. Here he is spreading disinformation on OAN on May 8, 2023. Most laws protecting LGBTQ+ students and governing LGBTQ+ curriculum standards have existed in California for nearly a decade.
Jordan Henry had to update his campaign website with a "disclaimer" upon being caught in a major lie about his credentials. The official campaign bio he provided for ballots sent to every voter falsely listed his occupation as a "Landscape Architect."
HELP FIGHT BACK!
Local elections are all about turnout.
jordan henry has announced his candidacy for GUSD Area E (La Crescenta/montrose) School board seat currently held by Jennifer Freemon. Assuming he qualifies for the ballot, the election will be on March 5th.
HIS HATE HAS NO HOME HERE.
How you can help:
-
Share this website on social media.
-
SUPPORT LOCAL LGBTQ+ ORGANIZATIONS (GlendaleOUT and GALAS).
-
talk to your Neighbors and community members about the real Jordan Henry and his extremist assault on our community.
-
Let's spread the word, protect our public schools, and keep bigotry out of Glendale!
BACKGROUND: PART OF A NATIONAL PLAN TO UNDERMINE DEMOCRACY:
In early 2021, right wing groups escalated a nationwide assault on public schools. Led by Christopher Rufo and a number of hastily created dark money-funded organizations, they quickly manufactured a modern day red scare and moral panic about broadly popular and widely adopted curriculum related to race, American history, LGBTQ issues, and sexual education programs. Rufo acknowledged his goal publicly:
Very quickly the Rufo-led anti-CRT panic led to:
- teachers and administrators being fired
- increasingly incendiary rhetoric by those seeking to completely destroy public education in the US.
