A Colorado mother, Erin Lee, has accused a middle school of recruiting sixth-grade students, including her daughter, into a secret after-school club that focused on gender and sexuality issues under the guise of an “art” club.
Lee shared her story with Fox News‘, explaining that her daughter and other students were misled about the true nature of the club.
“When she got there, she very quickly learned it was actually a gender and sexuality awareness club,” Erin Lee said.
According to Lee, an outside presenter was invited by the art teacher to speak to the children. “This woman did absolutely unthinkable things with the kids,” Lee said.
The speaker used flags to discuss a variety “umbrella terms” and various topics, including umbrella terms for gender and sexuality, polyamory, and suicide.
She told the students they could call themselves “queer” if they were uncertain of their sexuality. She also told the kids that, if they were not comfortable with their biological sex, they were “transgender.”
“She talked to them about polyamory. She told them that these new labels that they had just adopted made them more likely to commit suicide and talked to them extensively about suicide,” she continued.
The presenter also discussed puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones and cautioned the students that their parents might not be supportive or “safe” to discuss these matters with.
Lee revealed that the presenter runs an organization called “Skittles” aimed at children between the ages of five and eleven to discuss gender and sexuality.
The art teacher allegedly told her daughter, “you don’t have to tell your parents” about the club or its discussions.
Parents who later learned about the club and lodged complaints claimed their children had kept the club’s activities a secret, as instructed.
Former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi, who is representing the families in the lawsuit against Wellington Middle School and Poudre School District, stressed the importance of “accountability” and “transparency” in the case.
Bondi argued that taxpayer-funded teachers should not be making decisions about children’s upbringing, asserting that parents have the right to govern their children and protect them from indoctrination.
“These are taxpayer-funded teachers who are doing this,” she said. “And we want to send a nationwide message to these school systems, these parents and these school boards that parents govern their children, not these teachers, and we’re going to give them the tools that they need, our parents, to protect them against indoctrination and all of these crazy things that they’re doing.”
The school district, located about 70 miles north of Denver, has not yet commented on the lawsuit.
In a previous statement to Fox News Digital, the Poudre School District acknowledged the existence of the club and the possibility of confidential discussions within it.
The district cited its commitment to equitable, inclusive, and rigorous educational opportunities for all students, and the establishment of safe spaces for members of the LGBTQIA+ community and allies through Genders and Sexualities Alliances (GSAs).
The statement clarified that GSAs in the district could be either student-sponsored or school-sponsored, with the Wellington Middle School’s GSA being school-sponsored.
The district did not address the specific allegations made by Lee, citing the need to protect the privacy of the student and their family.