A member of Utah’s state education board is under investigation after she wrote several social media posts accusing schools of “grooming” and “brainwashing” children with gender ideology.
The board is investigating outspoken conservative member Natalie Cline over her recent social media posts and a possible violation of board bylaws due to a presentation she gave at a library, KSL reported.
“The Utah State Board of Education (USBE) firmly believes that children must be protected from inappropriate sexual material in the school setting,” the board said in a statement
“USBE leadership strongly disapproves of recent social media statements by one board member that schools are ‘complicit in the grooming of children for sex trafficking’ and ‘brainwashing them into queer, gender bending ideologies,’” the board said.
The board was quoting a Facebook post from Cline that included a promotional poster for the movie “Sound of Freedom,” which is about a former government agent’s fight to save children from sex trafficking.
Cline wrote in her July 4 post, “Schools are not only complicit in the grooming of children for sex trafficking, but they are aiding and abetting this evil practice by giving kids easy access to explicit, unnatural, and twisted sexual content and brainwashing them into queer, gender bending ideologies.”
All of Cline’s posts include the phrase, “Not official USBE Board position,” which she was reportedly told by the board to add.
The state education board called Cline’s comment “inflammatory.”
“Such an allegation against schools generally is inflammatory, divisive and unfair to Utah’s teachers, who put Utah’s students first every day and interfere with efforts to provide thoughtful solutions to difficult issues. We also condemn any harassment or discrimination against teachers or students on the basis of sexual orientation as provided by Utah law,” the board said in its statement.
Cline has been a board member since 2020. Since then, she has made a string of comments that have riled her critics.
She also gave a presentation at a local library last month in which she criticized schools for weaponizing Title IX to push an LGBT agenda. During that presentation, she allegedly made a comment about the seemingly ambiguous gender identity of the education board’s family services staffer, questioning how the person could effectively advocate for families.
Cline has also said Black Lives Matter is “indoctrination” and said LGBT students are “gender-confused,” sparking a petition to kick her off the state education board.
In 2021, the state education board voted to reprimand Cline for criticizing an LGBT welcome sign at a Utah public high school’s seminary building, which is connected with the Church of Latter-day Saints.
“Time to make some phone calls. The world is too much with us,” Cline wrote.
In its letter of reprimand, the board told Cline she has “repeatedly marginalized” LGBT people.
“Your social media posts convey an attitude of prejudice, exclusion, and scorn for a population of students that suffers disproportionally with incidents of bullying, depression, and suicide,” the board wrote.