A Northern California elected official is under scrutiny over comments she made at an after-school meeting of a conservative students club, where she attributed her daughter\u2019s sexual orientation to childhood trauma and repeated talking points criticized workplace diversity and the legacy of civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.<\/p>\n
The comments by Lincoln City Councilmember Holly Andreatta at Twelve Bridges High School also have drawn attention to the emergence of Turning Point USA groups at high schools nationwide. The conservative nonprofit estimates there are now at least 1,200 chapters of its high school program, Club America. Elected officials in Florida<\/a>, Oklahoma<\/a>, Tennessee<\/a> and Texas<\/a> recently announced partnerships with the group to expand that reach to more schools in those states.<\/p>\n \u201cSchools have always been \u2014 but especially now \u2014 are definitely a political battleground for the Republican Party, for conservative politics,\u201d said Hava Gordon, a sociology professor at the University of Denver who studies youth activism.<\/p>\n The controversy over the Club America chapter at Twelve Bridges has roiled the community of Lincoln, a foothill city about 25 miles northeast of Sacramento. Dozens of students and parents spoke at a recent school board meeting, with some alleging the club created an unwelcoming environment by promoting hate speech and others defending its right to exist, according to the Sacramento Bee<\/a>, which first reported on the dispute. A group of students say they\u2019ve collected 300 signatures on a petition calling for the club to be disbanded, the paper reported.<\/p>\n The Western Placer Unified School District said it legally is required to respect students\u2019 rights to form and participate in student-led clubs regardless of their viewpoint. \u201cProtecting student free expression and protecting student well-being are shared responsibilities,\u201d the district said in a statement. \u201cThe District remains committed to fulfilling both, even when the issues involved are complex or uncomfortable.\u201d<\/p>\n Andreatta, who is running for Placer County supervisor, declined to speak in an interview but said in a three-page statement that she was invited to appear at the inaugural meeting of the Club America chapter on Dec. 11. As a former public-school educator \u2014 she taught eighth-grade U.S. history at a Roseville middle school for 14 years, according to her campaign website \u2014 she welcomed the opportunity, she said.<\/p>\n Student leaders described the group as \u201ca Christian political club intended to provide a space where students could respectfully discuss and debate ideas and explore the freedoms and values of America,\u201d Andreatta said. The packed room included some students who attended specifically to protest, she said, adding that they were largely respectful.<\/p>\n The topic of Andreatta\u2019s talk was the relationship between Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk and Jesus, she said in a video of the lecture posted online. After opining on the legacy of the political activist, who was assassinated Sept. 10<\/a>, Andreatta pointed to her daughter as an example of what she described as Kirk\u2019s message of loving people with whom he did not agree.<\/p>\n \u201cMy oldest daughter had a lot of trauma as a child,\u201d Andreatta said. \u201cSomething really terrible happened to her when she was very young that I would hope never would happen to any other child. And as a result of it, she\u2019s a lesbian. She\u2019s gay, and she\u2019s married to a woman. And sometimes that\u2019s a little bit of [an] internal struggle for me because I believe that marriage is between a man and a woman.\u201d<\/p>\n After the speech, Andreatta opened the meeting up to a question-and-answer session and engaged several students in debate.<\/p>\n To a student who asked her about the separation of church and state, she replied, \u201cSeparation of church and state is a myth. OK. It\u2019s not in the Constitution.\u201d<\/p>\n To a student who said Kirk had \u201csaid some very racially not OK\u201d things about Black people in the workplace, Andreatta tried to explain Kirk\u2019s criticism of so-called \u201cDEI policies.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHe wasn\u2019t saying that Black people can\u2019t be airline pilots,\u201d she said. \u201c…But when you say you have to have 50% Black pilots and we need to get it done now, then what do you need to do to get that larger percentage? You have to lower the standards.\u201d<\/p>\n To a student who asked Andreatta what she and Kirk \u201cthink of Martin Luther King Jr.,\u201d Andreatta replied: \u201cA lot of research has come out that Martin Luther King was a Marxist and that he was for socialism and a lot of the civil rights things that he advocated for were not really helpful.\u201d<\/p>\n In her statement, Andreatta said the video circulating online \u201cwas heavily edited and stripped of context, creating the false impression that I said things I did not say and grossly misrepresenting both my intent and my character.\u201d She said it was recorded and shared by a student who told classmates \u201che intended to use the video \u2018to take me down.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n (Videos from different vantage points have surfaced, including some that appear to show the entire meeting.)<\/p>\n Regarding her comments about airline pilots and King, Andreatta said she was explaining arguments Kirk made, not relaying her personal views. On King in particular, she said, \u201cGiven the opportunity, I would have said clearly that I disagree and believe Dr. King\u2019s legacy stands on its own moral authority.\u201d<\/p>\n Andreatta also said she regretted speaking about her daughter. \u201cIn my effort to share a vulnerable example of love and acceptance, I shared too much, and that caused her pain,\u201d she said. \u201cI have apologized to her privately, and I apologize to her publicly.\u201d<\/p>\n In the wake of the meeting, student leaders of the Club America chapter have been harassed and doxxed, Andreatta said, while she herself received a direct message containing a death threat, which she reported to police.<\/p>\n The council members\u2019 colleagues distanced themselves from her remarks.<\/p>\n Lincoln Mayor Richard Pearl pointed out that Andreatta attended the meeting as a private individual, not a city representative. \u201cShe did a significant disservice to her community and to herself in her remarks to the Club America and I stand in opposition to those remarks,\u201d he said in a statement.<\/p>\n \u201cI want to be clear: I do not agree with the opinions expressed by my fellow council member,\u201d Vice Mayor Whitney Eklund echoed.<\/p>\n The Placer County Democratic Party denounced Andreatta\u2019s comments, saying in a statement that they \u201cwere harmful to the students who listened to her and perpetuate harm to communities throughout Placer County.\u201d<\/p>\n The myth that trauma affects one\u2019s sexual orientation is stigmatizing; the concept of separation of church and state is not only real, but a foundational principle of the nation; and the lie that safety standards have been lowered to hire more people of color undercuts the hard work of millions, the statement said.<\/p>\n Ruth Cox, president of the Democratic Club of Lincoln, called on Andreatta to step down.<\/p>\n \u201cThese statements demonstrate a pattern of misinformation and prejudice that should disqualify anyone from holding public office,\u201d Cox wrote in a letter to Gold Country Media<\/a>, a community newspaper publisher. \u201cWhat we have witnessed is a Lincoln City Council member promoting white Christian nationalist propaganda to high school students.\u201d<\/p>\n In an interview, Cox said a parent filed a formal complaint against the school district, alleging it failed to protect children. \u201cThey have a First Amendment right to have that club,\u201d she said. \u201cBut they don\u2019t have a right to misuse that platform in a way that harms the student community.\u201d<\/p>\n Andreatta says she does not plan to resign from the city council or abandon her campaign for supervisor.<\/p>\n While youth activism is nothing new in high schools, Club America is unique from other movements, said Gordon, the sociology professor. She cited its well-built infrastructure that enables those who wish to start a chapter to order activism kits including organizing materials, and its well-delineated campaigns extolling the values of capitalism and condemning the perils of socialism.<\/p>\n Club America chapters have garnered an unusual amount of support from elected officials who likely see the students who participate as the future of the Republican base, she said. But the chapters also have drawn controversy, which \u201crepresents a larger pushback against Trumpism,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n In Scottsdale, Ariz., a petition<\/a> calling on the school district to remove a Club America chapter from Saguaro High School received more than 2,100 signatures.<\/p>\n In New Lenox, Ill., district officials recently greenlit a chapter at Lincoln-Way West High School following a dispute in which some parents claimed staff slow-walked the process because of the club\u2019s political nature, according to a Patch report<\/a>. A petition<\/a> now seeks to remove that chapter, calling it \u201ca breeding ground for opinions that promote racism, homophobia, and misogyny.\u201d<\/p>\n And in Winfield, Kan., a student-led effort to remove a chapter at Winfield High School<\/a> prompted a letter<\/a> from a public-interest law firm, warning the local school district that prohibiting a club based on its viewpoint would violate the 1st Amendment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A Northern California elected official is under scrutiny over comments she made at an after-school meeting of a…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":456697,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5123],"tags":[209085,209082,209084,1582,276,84998,209083,13140,718,3603,15916,2961,224,5337,1408,209086,290,11004,15689,989],"class_list":{"0":"post-456696","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles","8":"tag-after-school-meeting","9":"tag-andreatta","10":"tag-bridges-high-school","11":"tag-ca","12":"tag-california","13":"tag-chapter","14":"tag-club-america","15":"tag-comment","16":"tag-community","17":"tag-daughter","18":"tag-kirk","19":"tag-la","20":"tag-los-angeles","21":"tag-losangeles","22":"tag-official","23":"tag-ruth-cox","24":"tag-state","25":"tag-statement","26":"tag-student","27":"tag-video"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115743515273467256","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/456696","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=456696"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/456696\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/456697"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=456696"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=456696"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=456696"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}