The council ‘failed to listen’: Hundreds of community members push back against DEI in Ellensburg

The community of Ellensburg is pushing to eliminate DEI funding from the city’s comprehensive plan, overflowing a Monday city council meeting with public comments.

More than 300 residents attended the meeting to address their concerns. In attendance was Joshua Thompson, an Ellensburg local council member who previously received death threats after voting against funding for DEI programs.

“We had standing room only, so it was packed, and everybody was there to talk about what’s been going on, and the pool was a big lightning rod moment for a lot of people,” Thompson said on “The John Curley Show” on KIRO Newsradio. “We have a 30-minute time limit on non-agenda comments, but it can be extended. We had the lightest agenda packet that we’ve ever had. It was less than 50 pages, which is tiny for us.”

Thompson said a significant reason for people attending the meeting was related to the city’s community pool, which is planning to allow changing rooms to be gender neutral. Thompson put forward a motion to have a 15-minute extension on the topic so that more citizen comments could be heard, but it was denied.

“Our job up here is to listen, and this council tonight failed (to do) that. I hate raising my voice, but I have to raise my voice for everybody that’s in this room and everybody that’s at home,” Thompson said at the meeting. “There have been too many people who have been told to shut up or come back later, or you can’t talk. It’s an embarrassment. Somebody’s got to raise their voice for these people.”

Previous pushback

In December 2024, the Ellensburg City Council initially met to discuss the allocation of their $10,000 DEI budget, which encompasses funding for the LGBTQ+ community. For example, a portion of its funding went to the Pizza Klatch program, an organization that aims to create inclusive spaces for LGBTQ+ high school students by hosting meetings and shared meals.

The council initially voted against funding the Pizza Klatch program, but after public comment was held shortly after, the city council changed its decision and granted $1,000 for the Pizza Klatch program. According to KIMA TV, the money was used to reimburse the cost of the pizzas.

Thompson spoke out against funding the program in December, stating that he did not believe that DEI funding should be aimed at minors.

“I am the only one up there that’s pushed back against this,” Thompson told Curley. “The pizza money was to be spent at the high school to essentially attract minors to that agenda without parental notice of any kind.”

Thompson faced multiple violent attacks 

Steve Verhey, who previously ran against Thompson for a councilmember seat, publicly opposed Thompson’s views, helping Pizza Klatch start a GoFundMe and stating that Thompson is a “homophobic evangelical Christian.”

What came next was what Thompson described as a “barrage of negative direct messages.”

“The comments were not just like ‘I disagree with you,’ but ‘you should die.’ And as a father of a young kid at that moment…I had to take a step back and get out of there just to make the family safe,” Thompson said. “The pushback I received for fighting for our citizens was so great that I had to leave the state for a week and then come back and hire armed security, just so I could go to a city council meeting.”

This was not the first time Thompson experienced threats. As one of the lone conservative-leaning members of the council, Thompson has had a long history of violent attacks.

“(When) I was running in (district) 23, I had the window of my front door shot out in broad daylight,” Thompson said. “I also had my lawn spiked with metal stakes to try to catch the lawn mower. So I’ve had a lot of mischief.”

But Curley said that no opinion justifies threats.

“This program is set up so that kids have a safe place to be, and it looks like you were the one who needed a safe space to be,” Curley said.

Thompson agreed, sharing that he has had to take drastic steps in order to keep his family safe, including spending $800 a night on security. Thompson said this has made a significant impact on his life, noting that he only gets paid $500 a month as a city council member.

“I think I’m at three police reports right now, and it’s just because I’m the one conservative on that council that’s pushing back,” Thompson said.

Looking forward to the city’s current budget plans, Thompson said he wants to ensure that the hundreds of community members who voiced their concerns at Monday’s council meeting are heard.

“We have a loud segment of our community that has had the ability to control the narrative for a very long time, but we’re a very conservative county,” said Thompson. “There’s a very liberal lock-and-step group that’s here, and they’ve had the ability to control the agenda for so long that we’ve gotten to this point where families don’t even feel safe going to a community pool.”

Ellensburg is still a year away from its broader review of the plan, which takes place on June 30, 2026. The council will reconvene this July to further discuss making any changes to the comprehensive plan.

Listen to the full conversation below.

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