Should Anti-LGBTQ Hate Groups Get Their Turn? A School Board That Thinks So

Before the start of the current academic year, Minnesota statewide LGBTQ+ rights organization Out Front Minnesota presented to the  Becker School District Board, addressing concerns that LGBTQ+ students had raised regarding equity, equality and inclusion within the district’s schools. Some anti-LGBTQ community members demanded "equal time" and the Board invited the Minnesota Child Protection League (MCPL) , which is listed by the Southern Poverty Law Center as an anti-LGBTQ+ hate group, to present the “other side”.

The presentation by the MCPL was filled with disproven propaganda, offensive, and not relevant to the school environment. The room was filled with pro-LGBTQ students and adults and drew constant protests as the audience was increasingly offended. 

Now the MCPLeague is creating a witch hunt going after teachers who did not discourage students from attending and protesting at the meeting. Staff in all the district’s public schools will be required to turn over a trove of documents related to that event, The Los Angeles Blade has reported . The mandatory request was filed by Chris Klippen, a local attorney who addressed the School Board on March 14 ahead of the representative from MNCPL, echoing many of the group’s lies about LGBTQ+ people and objections to measures designed to protect the community’s youth..

Today we talk to Erin Dearing, a junior at Becker High School and an active Gay Straight Student Alliance participant there, and to Chris Kane of the Los Angeles Blade who is covering the story.

With co-host Brody Levesque