So, when my daughter was little, I told her that if any adult ever said, “don’t tell your mom or dad about this,” the very first thing she needed to do was tell mom and dad about it.
Every parent’s fear is an adult, particularly one in a position of trust, preying on your child. Have the Catholic Church’s sex scandals in the back of your mind as I tell this tale.
No. This is not a story about physical sexual abuse. But it is predatory abuse all the same. And unlike the church, public schools are government entities paid for by taxing your labor — subject to open-record laws and transparency.
Erin Lee’s 12-year-old daughter was new to school in the Poudre district. After more than a year in COVID-19 lockdown her shy, sensitive, artistic girl was back in the classroom, hopefully making new friends and fitting in.
Imagine the delightful anticipation when her girl asked if she could stay after class. Her trusted teacher asked her if she’d like to join Art Club after school. What a perfect fit.
Funny thing about Art Club, though: they didn’t pick up any pencils, paint brushes or clay. They didn’t even talk about art at all.
But by the end of her first Art Club meeting Erin’s 12-year-old was convinced by an adult in a position of authority that she was transgender and given gifts for embracing her transsexuality.
And she was instructed not to tell her parents ANYTHING about what they did or talked about in “Art Club.”
Turns out both mom and daughter were lied to. “Art Club” was a bait and switch for a gender and sexuality awareness indoctrination (I use that word not for effect but for accuracy) session.
The presenter who led the session, who isn’t a licensed counselor or educator, asked Lee’s daughter what people she was sexually attracted to, which at 12 could be absolutely no one at all, or at the very least no one’s business.
Speaking of no one’s business, the woman explained to (pardon me for constantly saying 12-year-old) the 12-year-old that, thanks to a new Colorado law, she could get medical treatment like hormones and surgery to alter her gender without her parents’ knowledge.
The presenter, a person of authority, brought in by the teacher — a person of even greater authority — made clear that if you are “not 100% comfortable” in your body you are transgender.
By this science 99% of all of us are trans. And certainly at least 100% of all 12-year-old girls are trans. (If your pre-teen girl is 100% comfortable in her own body, call an exorcist. That is not your daughter).
Now knowing that she is trans and professing it, Lee’s daughter was rewarded with bracelets, stickers and little flags celebrating her new sexuality.
The presenter gave out her private cell phone number and made clear that what happens in “Art Club” stays in “Art Club.” Do not tell your cruel, binary parents what we are doing.
The first rule of Art Club is you don’t talk about Art Club.
Erin Lee pulled her kid out of school the next day. She asked for the teaching materials used. She was basically told to pound sand.
She called the police who told her that if this happened in a public park they could act on it, but since it happened at a school-sanctioned activity and no kid was touched (but, since kids can’t talk about Art Club …) there was nothing they could do.
There is no way in this short column that I can do justice to the telling of this story and the impact it has had on Erin, her child and her entire family.
I’ve never asked this before in a column, but please watch my conversation with Erin so you can hear, firsthand, her story. It is unreal. And sadly, it is not unique. It is also embedded below.
LGBT kids should have support groups in school, professionals to talk to and peers to hang with. In fact, it’s great and needed.
But when government officials purposefully give false information to citizens, democracy itself is at risk.
When government officials purposefully manipulate the sexuality and behavior of trusting kids, much like the Catholic Church problem, maybe, just maybe, people should go to jail.
