Erin Lee’s story should ENRAGE you. Her daughter, who she describes as a ‘shy, vulnerable, barely 12-year-old’ kid, was invited by her teacher at a new school to attend art club. But instead, her daughter found herself attending a SECRET meeting about sexuality, during which students were asked to share personal information and encouraged to keep secrets from parents. Lee tells Glenn what happened next when she approached the school officials responsible: NOTHING. Even worse? FOIA’d email reveal officials debated sending CPS to Lee’s home for a ‘wellness check.’ Listen to her interview for all the details, including why Lee believes her town’s school district specifically was targeted with this kind of material for kids…
TranscriptBelow is a rush transcript that may contain errors
GLENN: Okay. Let's meet this poor mom. Erin Lee, full-time working mother of three. Hi, Erin. How are you?
ERIN: Hi, Glenn. I'm well. Thanks for having me.
GLENN: You bet. You bet. I read your story, and I just -- honestly, I'm glad that this is not happening to my children. Because I don't think I have the restraint to be a decent human being, if this were happening to my children.
Can you tell us, exactly what happened?
ERIN: Yeah. So last year, my shy, vulnerable, barely 12-year-old daughter, who had just moved to a new school, at the height of covid protocol, was recruited by her art teacher and her home room teacher, to attend art club after school. So she texted us. We gave her permission for art club.
When she got there, it was actually GSA. Or gender and sexuality awareness or alliance club. And the teacher had invited in a completely unqualified outside presenter who did unthinkable things with the children. And I'll give you the CliffNotes version. She told them, what you hear, in here, keep in here. She used flags to use defining words. Telling them, if they're not fully comfortable in their bodies, that means they're transgender. Then she would hand out the nags and stickers, and bracelets. And other flags. She told them, that queer is a label for when they're still figuring out their sexuality. She did the gender bread person, which explicitly asked kids who they're sexually attracted to. So 11, 12, 13-year-olds with peers and adults in the room, talking about their sexuality.
She handed out her personal contact information. And invited them to connect on teen chat platforms, like WhatsApp and Discord, where she knows that parents are not monitoring the conversation. And she told them, that families may not be safe, and it's okay to lie about where they are.
And, in fact, the art teacher as my daughter was leaving the room that day, pulled her aside and said, remember, you don't have to tell your mom.
GLENN: Okay. So, so what happened? You bring this up. I've seen the emails.
What has happened?
ERIN: So they got -- my daughter the bottom in the car. And I could say see on her face, that something was wrong. So we probed. And we were really fortunate that she told us what happened. We've seen all kinds of horror stories about teachers and presenters like this, leading kids down this transgender path.
You know, leading them into medical transitions. So we're lucky we caught it. Right when it happened.
GLENN: Good heavens. Somehow remained calm enough to follow the appropriate channels. We were livid. We were confused. We didn't even believe this was real at first. So our first step was to contact the woman who gave her personal information to my child. And her response was delusional. It doubled down on everything that she did. And so we demanded a sitdown with the principal. And he confirmed that this in fact happened in secret. That they always hold this meeting in secret. Because as a public school, they have to offer children a safe space. So essentially a safe space from their families. We took it to the school board. They ignored my pleas for months. When I finally got a sitdown with the board member. It turns out, she's best friends with the woman who came into the classroom. She volunteers with her organization. This woman has an organization called Skittles for kids five to 11, to talk about their sexuality and gender identity.
And our school board member volunteered with Skittles. So we realized -- and again, these FOIA emails showed that they immediately colluded when I objected to what happened. They immediately colluded to the school board to keep me quiet. They referenced parents who find out that the school board has removed. They talked about sending social services into my home, because I didn't like what they did with my child.
GLENN: And this is really -- this one is so far -- I mean, all of it is over the line. But when they actually suggest, that maybe we need to do a well check on this child. Basically internally, saying, is there something that the school district can do, to put this parent in their place. Maybe they're being abused. This child is being abused. Or maybe because they are transgender, the parent doesn't want to admit it. So we're going to send a well check team. That is a direct threat to you.
MARLO: Absolutely. And my daughter never expressed that she had any trouble at home. They never spoke to me.
I never spoke to any of the people that did these things, before they decided to talk about calling CPS. I think they knew, we were at our most vulnerable moment as a family, that they caused. And in the state of Colorado, if my child had said to PPS, that I wasn't affirming her transgender identity. I firmly believe they would have removed her from the home --
GLENN: Oh, yeah, they would have.
ERIN: And the people knew this. Right? When they suggested that CPS come to our home to remove our child. And if our child is not under our care, then they have full control of her brain and her heart.
GLENN: My gosh, Erin, can you believe you live in the United States of America?
ERIN: You know, Colorado is off the rails, in particular, but this is happening everywhere. I mean, this isn't just unique to California and Colorado. This is happening in conservative states, and in conservative communities. This kind of secretive sexuality programming. And vilifying parents. You know, assuming parents are evil, until proven innocent. It's happening everywhere.
GLENN: So where does it stand now?
ERIN: Still has not been addressed. Nothing has --
GLENN: Nothing has happened. Force nothing has happened.
ERIN: Nothing has happened. We got a lot of false promises from school administration. You know, they showed empathy. I realize now, it was just gas lighting. They realized the repercussions that could potentially happen. And it's happening for them now. And they tried really hard to keep me quiet by making false promises, but my FOIA request. And their actions show me that it was just gaslighting.
GLENN: So do you have any other parents that are standing with you?
ERIN: You know, it felt like sometimes I was alone on an island with this issue, and I wanted to believe it was an isolated incident. The more we looked into it, we realized just how deeply this agenda runs in our school district. And obviously, the school board is involved. The teacher's unions are involved, at the local level. At the state level.
GLENN: Oh, yeah.
ERIN: So we realize that this is an issue, that isn't going away.
GLENN: The -- the teacher's unions. Can you tell me about the involvement of the teacher's unions?
ERIN: Yeah. Well, they're just deeply involved with our school board. With our decisions.
The woman who was in the classroom. This outside presenter is an employee of the county health department. We have proof that she's had multiple meetings with the local school board president.
I'm sorry. School union president. So we -- we just have realized they're all deeply entrenched with each other.
GLENN: So what are you going to do now? I know your child is out in a Christian school, doing fine now. But what are you going to do?
ERIN: Yes. And I have a second grader who remained in the school district for the rest of the year, who will now be moving to a charter school, that was founded on the principles of parental rights. And it's a pretty conservative school. So we're lucky we removed our children.
But parents need to get louder. Community members. Grandparents. We have to speak up.
Especially at the school board level. And let them know, that what they're doing isn't okay.
Demand curriculum transparency. Other parents need to get their kids out of this district. It's not safe. So I continue to sound the alarm, because we've tried every other avenue. And it didn't work. I mean, we contacted the police after this happened. Had it been on the playground, that would have been my first call. The only reason why I remained calm is because it was with a trusted teacher in a closed setting. And I didn't fully understand everything that happened. But the police indicated that because there was no exposure of body parts or physical touch, that there are no legal repercussions. But our sheriff did tell me, I need to get loud. Because just because it isn't illegal, doesn't mean it's not wrong. And other parents deserve the opportunity to protect their children like I couldn't.
GLENN: I'll tell you, listening to your sheriff -- sheriff, that sounds like a good sheriff.
What town are you in? Or what district are you?
ERIN: So I'm in the Poudre School District, which is Fort Collins, Colorado. We live in a small suburb outside of Fort Collins. Only about 10,000 people.
GLENN: Isn't that generally --
ERIN: It's conservative.
GLENN: Yeah. It's conservative, right?
ERIN: It is. So they targets our area. Some of those FOIA emails revealed that they realized that this is a conservative community, so they're going to target it, and put as much programming as they can. And they did. The week after this happened, this same woman was in our Boys and Girls Club with elementary age students. Same thing. Don't tell your parents. And some parents found out and raised their concern. Now she's removed from Boys and Girls Club, but she's in our libraries. She's on our Health Department --
GLENN: So how can this be in a conservative community? Nobody is standing up with you?
ERIN: Well, now they are.
GLENN: Okay. Good.
ERIN: It's all been so secretive, and that's their intent. And, again, in those emails, you see, how we deal with those parents as a precedent moving forward. So they knew, they didn't want anyone to find out. And as soon as I found out, they knew there would be some serious repercussions, and they tried very hard to keep me quiet. But now that this has gaining so much attention. There's a lot of people in the community, who have spoken up. And a lot of parents when have had the same thing happen.
I've had multiple families reach out and say, the same thing happened with the same teacher in that the school. What do we do?
A lot of people just didn't know. They didn't know to connect the dots.
GLENN: That is unsafe -- that is an unsafe teacher.
ERIN: Who still teaches. And still is the GSA sponsor at that school.
GLENN: How -- I mean, because of the teachers unions, you'll never get rid of them. But I am a big supporter of the arts, huge supporter of the arts.
I'm an artist myself. And I -- my children's school really doesn't have the arts in their school. It's an academic school. They don't do the arts very well. And I have to tell you, it bothers me. But I would never put my kid in that art class.
I think that's an unsafe teacher. When I can't --
ERIN: Agreed.
GLENN: When I can't go and meet with a teacher. And know that I'm hearing the truth about what my child is doing, I got no time for you.
These people think, you know, like Joe Biden said, that these are their children, while they're there. No, they're not.
You work for me. I don't work for you.
ERIN: That's the assumption, that these children belong to them. And this happened, our school has hired three administrative staff, a chief academic equity diversity inclusion officer, making triple what a teacher makes. They hired a DEI coordinator, and they hired a LGBTQIA+ coordinator.
GLENN: In a town of 10,000.
ERIN: Well, for the school district. But her -- her job description literally says, coaching students. Advancing LGBTQIA programming. And increasing gender support plans. And I don't know if you know what those are.
GLENN: I'm not really sure. Can you give me an extra minute? Let me do a commercial, and come back?
All right. Back in just a second. If it's happening in Ft. Collins, it's happening everywhere. And what's really disturbing. She's saying, no. We were targeted because we are a conservative district.
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I -- I have to tell you, we're talking to Erin Lee, she's a full-time working mom of three. And now has another full-time job of just trying to figure out what's happening in her school and school district. I have to tell you, these teachers unions, if you are a teacher and you are still paying your dues. And I -- parents, start telling your teachers this. If you are still paying dues to a teachers union, you don't have to belong to, you're part of the problem. I don't care how great you are. How trusted you are. I cannot trust you, if you're still helping fund this kind of stuff!
Anyway, Erin. Welcome back.
ERIN: Yeah.
GLENN: So you were saying this new gender equity consultant at the school, is -- is doing something that I don't think I've heard of. What was it?
ERIN: Gender support plans. And they're -- they're secretive. So I'm not shocked that you haven't heard of them. But everyone needs to be aware. Because they do these everywhere. Not just here in Colorado. It's happening everywhere. These gender support plans are essentially transition plans for children.
So written plans to transition their gender. And usually these happen in secret. The genders support plans have verbiage for the educators to gauge parent's support. And it's a supportive low. They don't tell them. And it's happening to our elementary schools here. And this person was hired to increase gender support plans. So secretly transitioning kids in our public schools.
GLENN: This is evil. This is just straight-up evil. It is. I mean, I -- who do you think you are? And to keep it secret. To keep it secret. That's the problem. You want a transition plan. Great!
Present it at the school board hearing. Let the community see it. You know. And if you want to protect the kids, you know, their identity, while they're doing it. How can you do that? How can they transition, and keep it from the kids, at school?
They'll just keep it from the parents? My gosh, this is evil. Just evil.
ERIN: Right.
And not just that. Our this LGBTQ coordinator, and our director of services, and other school staff have directed all nurses in our district, to, first of all, the child comes to you, for anything ask for a pronoun. So if the kindergartener has it coming, the first question is, what's your pronoun. If I call home, what name do I call you?
But they've also been instructed to not tell parents if a child is suicidal, cutting, or attempting suicide. So now we're keening suicide attempts from parents as well.
GLENN: Oh, my gosh. Oh, my gosh. And what is the reason for that?
ERIN: Because parents aren't safe. Parents might not be safe. So if we tell parents that this child is suicidal, it will make it worse.
GLENN: Get your kids out of schools. Get them out of these schools.
Votes for people that will give school choice and the money will follow the children. This has got to stop. It's got to stop.
Erin, you contact me any time that you need some backup, reinforcements, you need people to know about something. You call me any time, all right?
ERIN: Thank you. I will.
GLENN: God bless you. Thank you so much. Erin Lee in Fort Collins, Colorado. Where are you, parents? Where are you, conservatives? Are you standing up?