After a lawsuit was filed challenging MCPS’s decision to mandate the teaching of LGBTQ curriculum and eliminating the ability for parents and children to opt out, a twitter account that would be easy to confuse for an official MCPS account decided to dox the parents and children.
The account, @lgbtq_mcps (LGBTQ at MCPS) posted an image of the page of the lawsuit which named the plaintiffs and enabled the identification of minors.
The posting had its intended effect, riling up people that picked up the mantle to further threaten not only the parents, but stir a potentially threatening environment for the students.
The hypocrisy aside, the religious discrimination aside, the threat to children and adults in the community aside, what is equally alarming is the silence of public officials at the school board and county level who actively follow the account.
First the school board members. The account directly references MCPS and while a disclaimer saying the account was not associated with MCPS was not present when the post was made, the discussion on twitter quickly got someone to call someone and a change was made.
But this isn’t really good enough. MCPS has threatened and required social media groups in the past that use ‘MCPS’ to change their name if they were not officially part of MCPS. Why has this account been allowed to exist without the same requirements? Furthermore, how does a publicly elected school board member, who has committed to protecting and nurturing the existence and safety of ALL students in the school system, not make a statement condemning this action? Why have they been unable to call something that is clearly wrong, wrong?
Second the County Council. Many of the county council follow this account. Most on the county council are even aligned with the defendant as opposed to the plaintiffs. That is an entirely different debate.
If they were to be intellectually honest about the case, admitting that the suit is about allowing a family the freedom to opt out of lessons that violate their personal beliefs, they would see the hypocrisy they carry. Somehow their minds have rationalized that stopping diversity of thought and the inclusion of differences further supports diversity and inclusion.
Strangely the office of the MoCo State Attorney also follows the account that doxed these families. I wonder if they would speak up if it was another group that had been doxed? Would they call it a hate crime. Instead, they stay silent.
So why? The easy answer is because they know the true nature of who they are dealing with. They watched as their competitors were attacked and leveled with unjustified smears, propelling them to easy election wins. They have watched as people once considered partners and advocates for the LGBTQ community got “out of line”. They know that one misstep, one action which might be constituted as not being completely devoted, and they will be torn apart. The methods that have propelled them to power or enabled them to retain power will suddenly be used on them. They sit there and think “We will not be Bud Light”.
Many today on Twitter have tried to justify the act of encouraging violence and discrimination against kids as ok because:
- The lawsuit is publicly available. This is utter horseshit. While it is available, it was not weaponized until it was posted by the account.
- That the lawsuit is irrelevant because it is just about library books. This is crazy talk. The advancement of LGTBQ curriculum has long exceeded the inclusion of characters in a book, or books in a library. In fact, last November an article was published revealing how teachers in Montgomery County are being directed to respond to students when they question the scientific validity around gender being a choice or voice their “complaints”– in short, shame the child.“Some think aloud moments,” for that book, according to MCPS, include, “noticing how happy Penelope is when his mom hears him and commits to sharing with their loved ones that he is a boy–say again that we know ourselves best” and “noticing that in Ghana they think about gender differently than we do in the US–wondering why is it such a big deal here?”The presentation provides several examples of potential complaints from students, parents and community members and how MCPS staff should respond.“That’s weird,” reads a sample comment from a student. “He can’t be a boy if he was born a girl. What body parts do they have?”
The answer suggested by MCPS states: “That comment is hurtful; we shouldn’t use negative words to talk about peoples’ identities. Sometimes when we learn information that is different from what we always thought, it can be confusing and hard to process. When we are born, people make a guess about our gender and label us ‘boy’ or ‘girl’ based on our body parts. Sometimes they’re right, and sometimes they’re wrong. Our body parts do not decide our gender. Our gender comes from inside – we might feel different than what people tell us we are. We know ourselves best.”
CleanSlateMoCo has written articles in the past that show that curriculums are being developed and utilized in the school system, complete with “learning” objectives.
