With the threat by the Colorado GOP to sue a Durango school district over a resolution that would allow teachers to display a version of the LGBTQ+ pride and Black Lives Matter flag as protected government speech, they are continuing their campaign of using transgender identities as a political tactic.
In late December, leaders of Colorado’s Republican Party sent an email to its members lambasting Durango School District 9-R over the introduced resolutions. The message referred to queer students as mentally ill and that trans identities “fulfill adult sexual fetishes and push a political agenda.”
Additionally, the missive asserted, without evidence, that “statistics show that ‘trans’ kids are being radicalized and used to kill people” and that the Black Lives Matter movement is a “terrorist organization.”
The letter was signed by Darcy Schoening, the Colorado GOP’s Director of Special Initiatives and former chair of the El Paso County Moms for Liberty chapter, and Hope Scheppelman, the party’s vice chair who is on the La Plata County Republican Central Committee.
“Stop using kids who are struggling and need help, to satisfy your sexual fetishes,” the email states. “Stop promoting racism, to look equitable. 2021 is over, Kamala Harris lost, the trans lie lost, and no one buys this fake racism anymore. It is time to get serious about your jobs. We will sue the district, and each school board member personally, as well as any staff member, teacher, or superintendent who supports and uses this policy to hurt children.”
This saga kicked off last fall after the Durango school district instituted a ban on the Black Lives Matter flag and the Progress flag, a version of the LGBTQ+ pride flag that includes colors and symbols representing transgender and intersex people, and people of color, known as the Progress flag. According to the district, the initial ban came after a complaint from a parent was received.
The school board unanimously voted to undo the ban following protests led by students, parents, and faculty in the district.
The board has proposed two resolutions that would codify the right of teachers to display the Progress flag and Black Lives Matter flag in schools. GOP officials claim that the resolutions would violate the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment by “promoting an anti-religious fetish” that “goes against Christianity and many other religions.”
In an email to the Colorado Times Recorder, Schoening emphasized that opposition to trans people was a priority for the Republican Party, both in Colorado and Nationally.
“The trans agenda is a massive priority for the Colorado GOP and the RNC. As President Trump recently stated, there are only two genders,” Schoening said. “There is no more truth to a transgender person’s existence than there is to a unicorn’s existence. We must stop using mentally ill people to score political points. This agenda is hurting kids, making them insane, and making them violent, often school shooters.”
Schoening and Scheppelman made the claim that children who identify as transgender disproportionately carried out mass acts of violence. While this claim has picked up traction in right-wing circles, it is not backed up by evidence on school shootings. Further analysis by Reuters examining data from The Gun Violence Archive (GVA) found that within the last decade, transgender individuals only accounted for 0.11% of perpetrators of all mass shootings.
GVA found that transgender people made up an incredibly small minority both in overall mass shootings and school shootings specifically.
UCLA Law’s Williams Institute, an independent organization that researches sexual orientation and gender in public policy, found that 0.6% of Americans identify as transgender, with 1.4% of people ages 13 to 17. Conversely, according to GVA’s database of records, only one incident out of the 50 mass school shootings since 2012 was associated with a transgender suspect. The vast majority of mass shootings, 96% are perpetrated by cisgender men, with multiple suspects being misidentified as transgender, like in the GOP mailer.
Schoening told the Colorado Times Recorder that she viewed the Progress flag as a “sham” due to her stance on transgender people and that she believes the BLM movement is a violent terrorist organization.
In response to an email, Schoening repeatedly claimed, “There is no such thing as transgender.” Characterizing trans people as “mentally ill people with sexual issues who are being used by the left to silence conservative values and groom children into believing the government knows best.”
“Every single transgender person is suffering from drastic mental illness. Transgenderism is a fetish … in which men are sexually aroused by displaying their sexual proclivities in public,” Schoening added. “These very sick men would have been ostracized and jailed 20 years ago for flashing their genitals to children and demanding waiters call them ‘ma’am,’ but the DNC used them as props to usher in speech control, censorship, and much worse.”
However, the case in Durango does not involve children being flashed by trans students.
When asked if she thought this was an issue that Coloradans saw as a top priority for the GOP, Schoening said it was top of mind for voters.
“Most Republicans see this as a top issue, especially those with kids. People are tired of their kids going to school and being groomed by teachers and teacher unions, lured into art clubs where teachers discuss sex toys and genital mutilation, and taught that anyone with white skin is racist,” Schoening said. “It is not a priority for Democrats because they don’t care about families and aim to erode away our freedoms by using mentally ill people for sympathy. This agenda is crumbling, public schools are crumbling, and we must accelerate this.”
Schoening did not give an example of teachers discussing sex toys or genital mutilation.
In a statement to the Durango Herald, which initially reported the mailer, Schoening wrote: “I made firm promises to deliver justice – to professionally and personally bankrupt the district and any staff member for promoting more transgender and anti-white violence.”
Schoening further warned, “You have less than a month to continue your sordid pedophiliac deeds. We and the Trump administration will be dealing with you all, and your rainbow-haired kids who are being groomed whilst grooming others can find a new platform for their fetishes.”
Neither Schoening nor Scheppleman have children in the 9-R school district and may lack legal standing to go forward with a lawsuit.
Kristin Smith, the Durango 9-R School Board President, previously said that the board planned to meet Jan. 9 to discuss the threat of a lawsuit with legal counsel.
The school board has, so far, issued a brief response: “We appreciate your organization sharing your viewpoint as we work toward a solution that aligns with the Board’s commitments to our students, staff, families, and community.”
