Colorado Rep. Lauren Boebert said in a tweet Tuesday that the left is “grooming” children in response to a North Carolina teacher resigning after using LGBTQ-inclusive flash cards. Boebert’s comments came the day before Pride Month began and weeks before a Colorado committee presents revisions to social studies education in the state that revokes mentions of LGBTQ people.
Grooming is a tool used by sexual predators to gain access to potential victims and coerce them into abuse, according to the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network.
At Ballentine Elementary School in North Carolina, a preschool teacher was using LGBTQ-inclusive flashcards to teach colors to students. In a statement from North Carolina state House Speaker Tim Moore, a Republican, the flashcards were not a part of the school’s curriculum and the principal was contacted immediately by Republican state Rep. Erin Paré. Paré said in the statement that the cards were not “age-appropriate.”
Coloradans raised concerns of “grooming” and submitted homophobic and transphobic feedback to LGBTQ-inclusive language in the state’s social studies curriculum. In the coming weeks, the Social Studies Standards Review Committee will present recommended revisions of the state’s curriculum to the Colorado State Board of Education.
The November draft of revisions included mentions of LGBTQ topics and people as well as references to African Americans, Latinos, Indigenous peoples and Asian Americans. Many of the mentions were removed from the latest draft and would not be included in kindergarten through fourth-grade teachings.
On Twitter, Boebert drew attention to the North Carolina incident. She claimed the teacher was using flashcards with a “pregnant man” to teach kids colors.
“We went from Reading Rainbow to Randy Rainbow in a few decades, but don’t dare say the Left is grooming our kids,” Boebert said on Twitter.
Some Twitter users, responding to Boebert, brought up the 2004 arrest of her now-husband, Jayson Boebert, for lewd exposure at a Garfield County bowling alley. Others said the flashcards were accurate depictions of LGBTQ families.
Boebert did not respond to Newsline’s requests for comment.
Colorado Newsline is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Colorado Newsline maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Quentin Young for questions: info@coloradonewsline.com. Follow Colorado Newsline on Facebook and Twitter.