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The Ellensburg community raised more funds than the city had previously allocated to rescue the program that provided pizza and a safe space for LGBTQ+ teens.
A small-town city council in Washington state has voted to cut public funding for a program that provides LGBTQ+ high school students with a safe space to gather, igniting outrage from advocates and sparking a grassroots campaign to save the initiative. The Ellensburg City Council’s December 2 decision to remove $1,400 earmarked for the Pizza Klatch program comes as debates over LGBTQ+ rights and representation in public spaces escalate nationwide.
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The Pizza Klatch program, first explored in 2023, according to that year’s annual report, meets weekly at Ellensburg High School and serves as a critical support system for LGBTQ+ youth and their allies, offering pizza and a safe environment for connection. Funded through the city’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Commission, the program averaged 27 attendees weekly in 2024, according to the commission’s most recent annual report. The DEI Commission has described the program as central to its mission of fostering inclusivity and addressing the mental health needs of marginalized youth.
Despite its success, Councilman Joshua Thompson led the charge to strip the program’s funding, claiming without evidence that it could influence students to join the LGBTQ+ community or pursue transgender identities. Councilwoman Sarah Beauchamp, the parent of a transgender child, strongly rebuked his remarks.
“[W]e are not making them transgender. [The program is] not turning them homosexual by having a place for them to gather and feel safe,” Beauchamp said during the meeting, Central Washington NBC affiliate KNDO reports.
Thompson proposed amendments to eliminate the $1,400 allocation or require parental consent for students to participate. Both proposals failed. Instead, the council voted to reallocate the funds to other DEI programs, stipulating that the Pizza Klatch must now rely on private funding.
The decision comes as the DEI Commission has worked to expand inclusivity in Ellensburg through initiatives like listening tours, cultural celebrations, and youth engagement programs. In 2024, the commission allocated $6,000 in grants for diversity and equity projects, including educational video projects, healthy eating workshops, and the Pizza Klatch program. Listening tours that year engaged underrepresented groups such as the LGBTQ+ community, disabled residents, and Nepalese immigrants, with participants highlighting the need for more cultural events, visibility, and safe spaces, according to the commission’s report.
Community members quickly mobilized to keep the program running. A local resident, Steve Verhey, launched a fundraiser that has already exceeded $2,000—well over the city’s original allocation. Verhey criticized the council’s decision and hoped that public funding might be restored in future budgets. “It should have continued to be funded by the city,” he told KNDO. “And after this next year, maybe the issue can be revisited.”
