Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Aaron Lee, who was just a mom minding her own beeswax, like,
not trying to cause a problem, just you know, going
about life, and things started to She started to find
out things about stuff that was being kept from parents
by the school district and sort of the infiltration of
(00:21):
gender ideology to our kids, and it made Aaronly a
warrior for kids. And Aaron joins me now to talk
about you know, Aaron, I feel like saying, what are
you doing now?
Speaker 2 (00:32):
Erin?
Speaker 1 (00:32):
Because there's always something new, isn't there?
Speaker 3 (00:37):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (00:37):
Thanks for having me many I'm down a rabbit hole
that has no end with what's going on in the
public school district.
Speaker 3 (00:44):
I mean, for me, it started with a personal story.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
I was minding my own business like most parents, and
they came from my little girl, my twelve year old
daughter in a secret gender and sex club that they
told her was an art club where they brought in
outside predators from our community who still harass my daughter
today three years later, and taught her things like if
you're not comfortable in your body, that means you're trands
and if you don't know who you're sexually attracted to,
(01:08):
that means you're queer.
Speaker 3 (01:10):
They taught her about Pollyamory how.
Speaker 2 (01:12):
To access puberty blockers, and reiterated over and over that
parents aren't safe and we're one of the lucky families
that found out this was happening and was able to
help our daughter through the confusion, although it took about
a year to heal her from what they had done
to her. But that woke me up and as I
started to pay attention. Like I said, it's a rabbit
(01:33):
hole that has no end. I mean, there are very
bad things happening in our public schools. And so now
I'm founding the alarm and fighting back with law fair
and you know, by exposing other family stories who've been
through what we have, because it's a very pervasive issue.
Speaker 1 (01:48):
It's it's shocking to me when I hear stories like
the one of your daughter. I am still shocked because
I know so many public school teachers, and I know
that for the ones that I know and the ones
that I've interacted with throughout my daughter's career, these are
people who went into teaching because they love kids, they
liked being if, they like helping children and things of
(02:11):
that nature. And to see the speed with which some
of those people with a helping heart have just turned
to inserting themselves in between students and parents. Is alarming
to me, and I'm not sure how you put that
genie back in the bottle.
Speaker 2 (02:30):
A lesser known fact about me, my undergrad is elementary education,
and I spent two years as a teacher. And when
this incident happened with my daughter, I should also mention
I was a liberal voter. I was a moderate, but
I voted for Polus, I voted for Biden. And then
this thing happened, and it became personal, and I started
to really dig into this ideology, and I firmly believe
(02:50):
that we've pandered to human kindness.
Speaker 3 (02:52):
That yes, most teachers are good people, but just as
I was taught.
Speaker 2 (02:56):
At university, that this is the right kind thing to do,
that if a child tells you their identity, you embrace it.
Speaker 3 (03:03):
If they ask you to keep it a secret, you
keep secrets. This is what our.
Speaker 2 (03:06):
Teachers are being taught when they're going to school to
become teachers.
Speaker 3 (03:10):
And most of them are not bad people.
Speaker 2 (03:12):
They're good people stuck in a very very broken system
from the top down.
Speaker 1 (03:16):
So does that have to I'm glad you brought up
the colleges, the education colleges, they tend to be the
most liberal slash progressive. In any university setting. You're going
to have a disproportionate number of women, and you will
have a very politically active sort of person that is
now going through the schools of education. Is that where
(03:37):
we need to start? And how do you even address that?
Speaker 2 (03:41):
Well, you know, as I dug in, we didn't get
here overnight. Our education system has been infiltrated for decades,
and yeah, we need to look at the university system.
I'm a huge advocate for not putting your kids in
traditional government schools. I mean, clearly my rights were violated,
my child was harmed, and then I was vilified for
speaking up about it. And like I said, as I
(04:03):
dug in, I realized it's a very broken system.
Speaker 3 (04:05):
I mean, I tell parents, start with the fact that sixty.
Speaker 2 (04:08):
Percent of Colorado kids cannot read or do math YEP
at grade level. And we wonder why because we're focusing
on mental health and social emotional learning and comprehensive sex
ed and all these other areas that aren't helping them
be successful academically. So that should have been my first
red flag as a parent. That most kids are not
even meeting grade level.
Speaker 3 (04:28):
For basic studies. It's an issue.
Speaker 1 (04:32):
I might have a fifteen year old daughter and she's
in a public high school and she loves it and
she's doing really well there, but all of her friends
sit around, they sit around, when they talk, they sit
around and diagnose everybody else's mental disorders, Like we have
focused on mental health, where they think any bump in
the road is a diagnosis. You know what I'm saying, Like,
(04:55):
Oh you're sad, that's a diagnosis. Oh you're angry, that's
a diagnosis. Oh that person is a jerk. There's a diagnosis.
And I'm thinking, what if we've done to these kids
erin We weren't thinking about that stuff when we were kids,
and now it's all these kids are talking about. It's crazy, and.
Speaker 2 (05:11):
It's not just at the individual school level. So last
year I fought against a bill ten oh three that
is now law that mandates mental health screenings for all.
Speaker 3 (05:20):
Six through twelfth graders. The results go to the school,
not the parents, and.
Speaker 2 (05:25):
If a child is deemed high risk, they get sent
to the state's mental health counseling program. I matter where
all of the counselors are LGBTQ affirming and sex work
positive as I found out when I took the assessment
myself and was deemed high risk, which tells me everyone's
deemed high risk.
Speaker 3 (05:41):
So were these directives.
Speaker 2 (05:42):
Are being pushed down from the state level that's now
mandatory in all schools. And I don't know if you've
looked at the first grade curriculum that's now part of
the new social studies stances, but we're teaching first.
Speaker 3 (05:52):
Graders about Harvey Milk and sex work.
Speaker 1 (05:55):
Now, well, what's interesting and when the sex work thing
is the one that got me in the first grade standards, right,
Because anybody that's ever had a first grader in their
life knows that when you say something like and they
know that trans Because the portion of the first grade
social studies curriculum that we're talking about says that the
(06:16):
two men who were they were just drag queens. They
were not transpeople. They were just drag queens. They also
ran a boy's sex ring out of their apartment because
they would find these confused gay kids on the street
and then they would exploit them. And in this first
grade social studies unit, it says that they would take
(06:39):
these boys in because trans kids often turned to sex work. Now,
if you've ever had a six year old, you know
what's going to happen. Next, question number one, what's a
trans kid? Question number two? What sex work? How do
you explain that to a six year old in an
age appropriate manner?
Speaker 3 (06:54):
How do you do that? My daughter in first grade
wanted to be a unicorn.
Speaker 2 (07:00):
Kids clearly at that age are not capable of comprehending
these concepts. And I'm a firm believer it's not really
the public school's business to be teaching any child about
sex work at any age, but it's certainly not appropriate
for six and seven year olds. And you know, parents
like me showed up at the State Board of Ed
and we tried to push these standards up to fourth grade,
where it seems more appropriate, But the State Board of
(07:22):
Ed voted to start them in first grade, which is
six and seven years old. And this is in his
history in Civics class. Now, for example, there's a lesson
about Jared Polis being the first.
Speaker 3 (07:32):
Openly gay governor.
Speaker 2 (07:33):
Why wouldn't we talk about Jared Polis's accomplishments and it's
okay to talk about its accomplishments, but it's not appropriate
to talk about his.
Speaker 3 (07:40):
Sexual orientation with six year olds.
Speaker 2 (07:42):
Their brains are just not fully developed in a way
that can comprehend these subjects the way they're being presented
now as a state mandate, It's not optional.
Speaker 3 (07:50):
Yeah, either.
Speaker 1 (07:52):
Aaron Lee is going to be part of the incredible
speakers lineup at the Stop the War on Children rally
put together by Gays Against and so many other organizations
are now doing these all over the country, and the
speakers include Aaron. She's going to speak, Janette Cooper is
going to share her thoughts on gender affirming care in
(08:13):
the industry behind it. Jennifer Say, who was also on
this show, is going to be speaking there, along with
many many other including Lady Maga, who we interviewed last week,
and he is dynamite. He is just so, so so good.
It's all happening at ten am. What do you guys
hope you're participating? Aaron, what is your hope for this rally?
Speaker 2 (08:34):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (08:34):
My hope is that it continues to bring people together.
Speaker 2 (08:37):
I so appreciate you platforming Gays against Groomers. They are
such an amazing organization who has demonstrated real DEI right,
where it doesn't matter what side of the political spectrum,
or your sexual orientation or your religion, we all agree
that a men aren't women, and that parents shouldn't be
lied to and children shouldn't be mutilated in the name
(08:57):
of gender ideology.
Speaker 3 (08:58):
These are not radical concepts.
Speaker 2 (09:01):
And what's so great about GAG and about my organization
Protect Kids Colorado that I co founded, is that we
want to bring people together from all different areas and
backgrounds on these very common sense issues. So my hope
is that people from all sides of the spectrum will
come out to this event and see that you know,
we're all very different, but we are unified on these issues.
Speaker 1 (09:24):
Aaron Lee, I appreciate your time today. I appreciate you
just continuing to relentlessly do what you do because I
do think that more parents are starting to be aware
and are awake, but they still need a little more
courage in some respects. So your organization, this rally Gaze
against Groomers, I hope, continues to give people the courage
(09:46):
to stand up and say these things are not real,
and we cannot allow men in girls' bathrooms and boys
in girls sports and all of the craziness that is
supposed to be normalized in our society now, and I
just don't get it.
Speaker 3 (09:59):
Aaron.
Speaker 1 (09:59):
I appreciate your time today.
Speaker 3 (10:00):
Thanks Mandy. All Right, that is Aaron Lee
Aaron Lee, who was just a mom minding her own beeswax, like,
not trying to cause a problem, just you know, going
about life, and things started to She started to find
out things about stuff that was being kept from parents
by the school district and sort of the infiltration of
(00:21):
gender ideology to our kids, and it made Aaronly a
warrior for kids. And Aaron joins me now to talk
about you know, Aaron, I feel like saying, what are
you doing now?
Speaker 2 (00:32):
Erin?
Speaker 1 (00:32):
Because there's always something new, isn't there?
Speaker 3 (00:37):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (00:37):
Thanks for having me many I'm down a rabbit hole
that has no end with what's going on in the
public school district.
Speaker 3 (00:44):
I mean, for me, it started with a personal story.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
I was minding my own business like most parents, and
they came from my little girl, my twelve year old
daughter in a secret gender and sex club that they
told her was an art club where they brought in
outside predators from our community who still harass my daughter
today three years later, and taught her things like if
you're not comfortable in your body, that means you're trands
and if you don't know who you're sexually attracted to,
(01:08):
that means you're queer.
Speaker 3 (01:10):
They taught her about Pollyamory how.
Speaker 2 (01:12):
To access puberty blockers, and reiterated over and over that
parents aren't safe and we're one of the lucky families
that found out this was happening and was able to
help our daughter through the confusion, although it took about
a year to heal her from what they had done
to her. But that woke me up and as I
started to pay attention. Like I said, it's a rabbit
(01:33):
hole that has no end. I mean, there are very
bad things happening in our public schools. And so now
I'm founding the alarm and fighting back with law fair
and you know, by exposing other family stories who've been
through what we have, because it's a very pervasive issue.
Speaker 1 (01:48):
It's it's shocking to me when I hear stories like
the one of your daughter. I am still shocked because
I know so many public school teachers, and I know
that for the ones that I know and the ones
that I've interacted with throughout my daughter's career, these are
people who went into teaching because they love kids, they
liked being if, they like helping children and things of
(02:11):
that nature. And to see the speed with which some
of those people with a helping heart have just turned
to inserting themselves in between students and parents. Is alarming
to me, and I'm not sure how you put that
genie back in the bottle.
Speaker 2 (02:30):
A lesser known fact about me, my undergrad is elementary education,
and I spent two years as a teacher. And when
this incident happened with my daughter, I should also mention
I was a liberal voter. I was a moderate, but
I voted for Polus, I voted for Biden. And then
this thing happened, and it became personal, and I started
to really dig into this ideology, and I firmly believe
(02:50):
that we've pandered to human kindness.
Speaker 3 (02:52):
That yes, most teachers are good people, but just as
I was taught.
Speaker 2 (02:56):
At university, that this is the right kind thing to do,
that if a child tells you their identity, you embrace it.
Speaker 3 (03:03):
If they ask you to keep it a secret, you
keep secrets. This is what our.
Speaker 2 (03:06):
Teachers are being taught when they're going to school to
become teachers.
Speaker 3 (03:10):
And most of them are not bad people.
Speaker 2 (03:12):
They're good people stuck in a very very broken system
from the top down.
Speaker 1 (03:16):
So does that have to I'm glad you brought up
the colleges, the education colleges, they tend to be the
most liberal slash progressive. In any university setting. You're going
to have a disproportionate number of women, and you will
have a very politically active sort of person that is
now going through the schools of education. Is that where
(03:37):
we need to start? And how do you even address that?
Speaker 2 (03:41):
Well, you know, as I dug in, we didn't get
here overnight. Our education system has been infiltrated for decades,
and yeah, we need to look at the university system.
I'm a huge advocate for not putting your kids in
traditional government schools. I mean, clearly my rights were violated,
my child was harmed, and then I was vilified for
speaking up about it. And like I said, as I
(04:03):
dug in, I realized it's a very broken system.
Speaker 3 (04:05):
I mean, I tell parents, start with the fact that sixty.
Speaker 2 (04:08):
Percent of Colorado kids cannot read or do math YEP
at grade level. And we wonder why because we're focusing
on mental health and social emotional learning and comprehensive sex
ed and all these other areas that aren't helping them
be successful academically. So that should have been my first
red flag as a parent. That most kids are not
even meeting grade level.
Speaker 3 (04:28):
For basic studies. It's an issue.
Speaker 1 (04:32):
I might have a fifteen year old daughter and she's
in a public high school and she loves it and
she's doing really well there, but all of her friends
sit around, they sit around, when they talk, they sit
around and diagnose everybody else's mental disorders, Like we have
focused on mental health, where they think any bump in
the road is a diagnosis. You know what I'm saying, Like,
(04:55):
Oh you're sad, that's a diagnosis. Oh you're angry, that's
a diagnosis. Oh that person is a jerk. There's a diagnosis.
And I'm thinking, what if we've done to these kids
erin We weren't thinking about that stuff when we were kids,
and now it's all these kids are talking about. It's crazy, and.
Speaker 2 (05:11):
It's not just at the individual school level. So last
year I fought against a bill ten oh three that
is now law that mandates mental health screenings for all.
Speaker 3 (05:20):
Six through twelfth graders. The results go to the school,
not the parents, and.
Speaker 2 (05:25):
If a child is deemed high risk, they get sent
to the state's mental health counseling program. I matter where
all of the counselors are LGBTQ affirming and sex work
positive as I found out when I took the assessment
myself and was deemed high risk, which tells me everyone's
deemed high risk.
Speaker 3 (05:41):
So were these directives.
Speaker 2 (05:42):
Are being pushed down from the state level that's now
mandatory in all schools. And I don't know if you've
looked at the first grade curriculum that's now part of
the new social studies stances, but we're teaching first.
Speaker 3 (05:52):
Graders about Harvey Milk and sex work.
Speaker 1 (05:55):
Now, well, what's interesting and when the sex work thing
is the one that got me in the first grade standards, right,
Because anybody that's ever had a first grader in their
life knows that when you say something like and they
know that trans Because the portion of the first grade
social studies curriculum that we're talking about says that the
(06:16):
two men who were they were just drag queens. They
were not transpeople. They were just drag queens. They also
ran a boy's sex ring out of their apartment because
they would find these confused gay kids on the street
and then they would exploit them. And in this first
grade social studies unit, it says that they would take
(06:39):
these boys in because trans kids often turned to sex work. Now,
if you've ever had a six year old, you know
what's going to happen. Next, question number one, what's a
trans kid? Question number two? What sex work? How do
you explain that to a six year old in an
age appropriate manner?
Speaker 3 (06:54):
How do you do that? My daughter in first grade
wanted to be a unicorn.
Speaker 2 (07:00):
Kids clearly at that age are not capable of comprehending
these concepts. And I'm a firm believer it's not really
the public school's business to be teaching any child about
sex work at any age, but it's certainly not appropriate
for six and seven year olds. And you know, parents
like me showed up at the State Board of Ed
and we tried to push these standards up to fourth grade,
where it seems more appropriate, But the State Board of
(07:22):
Ed voted to start them in first grade, which is
six and seven years old. And this is in his
history in Civics class. Now, for example, there's a lesson
about Jared Polis being the first.
Speaker 3 (07:32):
Openly gay governor.
Speaker 2 (07:33):
Why wouldn't we talk about Jared Polis's accomplishments and it's
okay to talk about its accomplishments, but it's not appropriate
to talk about his.
Speaker 3 (07:40):
Sexual orientation with six year olds.
Speaker 2 (07:42):
Their brains are just not fully developed in a way
that can comprehend these subjects the way they're being presented
now as a state mandate, It's not optional.
Speaker 3 (07:50):
Yeah, either.
Speaker 1 (07:52):
Aaron Lee is going to be part of the incredible
speakers lineup at the Stop the War on Children rally
put together by Gays Against and so many other organizations
are now doing these all over the country, and the
speakers include Aaron. She's going to speak, Janette Cooper is
going to share her thoughts on gender affirming care in
(08:13):
the industry behind it. Jennifer Say, who was also on
this show, is going to be speaking there, along with
many many other including Lady Maga, who we interviewed last week,
and he is dynamite. He is just so, so so good.
It's all happening at ten am. What do you guys
hope you're participating? Aaron, what is your hope for this rally?
Speaker 2 (08:34):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (08:34):
My hope is that it continues to bring people together.
Speaker 2 (08:37):
I so appreciate you platforming Gays against Groomers. They are
such an amazing organization who has demonstrated real DEI right,
where it doesn't matter what side of the political spectrum,
or your sexual orientation or your religion, we all agree
that a men aren't women, and that parents shouldn't be
lied to and children shouldn't be mutilated in the name
(08:57):
of gender ideology.
Speaker 3 (08:58):
These are not radical concepts.
Speaker 2 (09:01):
And what's so great about GAG and about my organization
Protect Kids Colorado that I co founded, is that we
want to bring people together from all different areas and
backgrounds on these very common sense issues. So my hope
is that people from all sides of the spectrum will
come out to this event and see that you know,
we're all very different, but we are unified on these issues.
Speaker 1 (09:24):
Aaron Lee, I appreciate your time today. I appreciate you
just continuing to relentlessly do what you do because I
do think that more parents are starting to be aware
and are awake, but they still need a little more
courage in some respects. So your organization, this rally Gaze
against Groomers, I hope, continues to give people the courage
(09:46):
to stand up and say these things are not real,
and we cannot allow men in girls' bathrooms and boys
in girls sports and all of the craziness that is
supposed to be normalized in our society now, and I
just don't get it.
Speaker 3 (09:59):
Aaron.
Speaker 1 (09:59):
I appreciate your time today.
Speaker 3 (10:00):
Thanks Mandy. All Right, that is Aaron Lee
The Mandy Connell Podcast News
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