“Come to Art Club”
With these innocent words, one family’s nightmare began.
On May 4, 2021, when “Amanda” (not her real name), was a sixth grader at Poudre School District in Wellington, CO, her homeroom/art teacher invited her to stay after school one day in May 2021 for what she was told was “art club”. Amanda, 12 years old, was a new student at the school, and it had been a rough year for everyone. Between COVID protocols, not knowing anyone, being shy and not having the chance to build friendships, she was particularly vulnerable.
On May 4, she texted her mother, Erin, to let her know that she had been invited to “art club” and was going to stay late. Later, she texted her mother again to let her know that the meeting was running long and she wouldn’t be ready to pick up for another hour.
When Amanda got in the car afterward, she was clearly agitated. What was purportedly an “art club” meeting was actually a LGTBQ indoctrination session, run by an outside presenter named Kimberly Chambers who had instructed the kids NOT to tell their parents what had been discussed in the meeting. Ms. Chambers was there at the invitation of the art teacher.
Chambers, the facilitator, presented the children with the concept of being transgender, telling them that if they were not comfortable in their bodies and unsure of their sexuality that they were “queer”. The children were also presented with items including a “trans pride” flag, a lesbian flag and bracelets that said “Sounds gay, I’m In!”.
What’s more, Chambers gave the children her personal contact information and told them to contact her if they had questions or “felt unsafe”.
Needless to say, Erin and her husband were in shock at these revelations. For the next few weeks, Amanda’s relationship with her parents became strained. Concerned for their child, her parents took her to a therapist, who, unfortunately, turned out to be a “gender affirming” therapist. This made the problem worse.
A couple of days later, the principal of the school visited the family, ostensibly to see how the family was handling this traumatic event. As it turns out the purpose of the visit was actually more sinister – it was actually an investigation to determine whether or not the Lees were “affirming” their daughter. Because Colorado law requires “affirmation”, i.e. It is against the law to counsel a child that he or she may just be confused about their sexuality and not actually transgender. If Amanda had complained about her parents or if the school had determined that they were not supporting their daughter as a transgender person, they would have been at risk of losing her to Child Protective Services.
Four months later, because of this visit to “art club”, Amanda became suicidal. She wrote a letter to her parents – which they took seriously – that she was thinking about killing herself. Fortunately, Erin and her husband were able to get their daughter to a medical professional who was able to successfully treat her and she is now past the suicidal ideations.
Shockingly, the Lees learned that they could not opt their daughter out of “art club”, that indeed they had no say in the matter. These meetings apparently take place at lunch time and after school. Parents are not allowed to attend or to review materials beforehand.
Nefarious Intent
Through Colorado Open Records Act (“CORA”) requests, Erin learned that Ms. Chambers is indeed associated with the school district and that the school board members are pushing the LGBTQ+ agenda. According to Chambers, up to 50% of children are LGTBQ (a significantly higher percentage than in the population at large, where transgender people account for a miniscule 0.3% – 0.6%).
Through surveys, teachers identify children who may be lonely, confused, or having difficulty coping with the changes brought on by puberty. The Lees believe that Amanda was recruited for this LGBT grooming session because she was new to the school and didn’t have many friends.
The Lees have also learned through CORA requests that the school has three paid staff members whose sole responsibilities are the fostering and support of LGBTQ students – coaching them with “gender support plans”.
Not only are the school board members linked to various “social justice” organizations, they are also heavily supported by the teacher’s unions.
There are also ties between the school board, certain teachers and organizations such as SPLASH Youth Group of Northern Colorado, a 501(c)(3) organization whose mission statement is to “support LGBTQIA+ youth and their families to enrich and affirm their identities…”. SPLASH also runs a program called “Skittles” targeting children 5-11 for transgender “support”. SPLASH, not coincidentally, is run by the very same Kimberly Chambers who facilitated “art club”.
When Do We Call Child Abuse “Child Abuse”?
I’ll be honest – the whole leftist gender ideology morass is one I’d be just as happy to avoid. My regular readers know I focus on other topics. But when I heard Erin Lee’s story on Kim Monson’s radio show, I was horrified. Unable to find any written articles about it, I decided to write my own.
When any adult tells a child “What you hear in here stays in here”, as Ms. Chambers allegedly told Amanda, or when any adult tells a child to keep some incident, words or activity secret from their parents, it is a glaring warning sign that something inappropriate is taking place.
A publicly funded school would not allow children to be groomed by pedophiles, inviting them under false pretenses to a “club” meeting, yet they are allowing a different type of grooming activity to take place in promotion of the LGTBQ agenda.
Regardless of where one stands on these issues, I think we can all agree that this is any parents’ nightmare: to have their children indoctrinated in a damaging belief system against their will and without their knowledge.
In my view, what happened to Amanda was child abuse, plain and simple, perpetrated by a publicly funded school system. It is unconscionable, and I hope that the voters in those districts elect a new slate of school board directors next year.
What did the Lees do? They took their daughter out of that school system the very next day. She is now thriving at a private school.
After watching Matt Walsh’s What is A Woman? documentary film, I have to say that I find the entire LGTBQ agenda disturbing insofar as perfectly healthy children are being coached and encouraged to believe they are something they are not. What’s worse, “progressive” legislation prevents parents from helping their children navigate the difficulties of sexual awakening or even having a say in life-changing choices like “gender affirmation” surgery, hormone treatments and the like.
It’s child abuse. Let’s call it what it is and demand a stop to the promotion of this dangerous ideology in our publicly funded institutions.
Responses
This nonsense must be stopped! It is child abuse!
Is there a way back? If public schools are openly preying upon defenseless children, is there any hope of changing the system, or should it be avoided at any cost?