Utah School District Pushes Pride Agenda To Young Kids

What happens when teachers push PRIDE ideology on our children? Catch my interview with Utah mother, April Despain, now out on YouTube and your favorite podcast streaming service.

 Raw Transcript

o this is a story of courage. April Despain, a mother in Salt Lake County,
Utah, fighting against a school district that is trying to teach her kids things
that she does not want them to be taught. And they're doing it without her permission. This is something you ought
to pay attention to because this could be your school district. You think everything's hunky dory with your school
for your kids or your grandkids. You might want to think again. You need to be aware of what is often times
happening with these school districts, the people that take over these positions that are on the board and that
are pushing certain curriculum and policies in these districts.
You you've got to pay attention because there are people that are actually wanting to change the way your child is
taught and they know they know that they're not going to get the permission
from their parents to teach these things. And so they do it without it. And and it happens more often than you
think. This is a story of courage. And I hope you watch it all the way through because uh April has g and her husband
have gone through an awful lot in in this scenario here over the last several years. But they stood up for what they
believed in. Not only are they fighting the school district, but their neighbors, they went out and during the
Pride movement, during Pride Month, they went out and bought a large banner of
the family proclamation and posted it in their yard. Maybe you saw this on social media. It had an immense amount of
views, went viral, as they say. But as she went through this process, she got more and more courageous with the
decisions that she was making and the things she was going to stand for. I'm very happy she came on the show. This
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All right, welcome to Quick Show. My name is Greg Matson and I am your host. In this episode, we bring on April
Despain from Utah. April, welcome to the show. Hi.
You've got a very interesting story, something that uh I've covered a lot on, and that is the infiltration of certain
well of identity politics into the K to2 space, even in the elementary school
space. and you were very involved with this starting with I believe a book that
your third grader had brought home or that you had seen and you decided okay
there needs to be a change here right so in well it started in 2020 this
you know the fall of 2020 with the new school year after George Floyd and COVID
and all that and the principles had sent out a message saying you know we're going to start this equity book bundles
program which I, you know, I kind of assumed, oh, it's probably in response to this George Floyd stuff. It might
lean a little bit left, but I actually thought, what was it called? Equity bundles.
Equity book bundles program. And I actually thought it was the equality book bundles. At that time, I wasn't
familiar with the term equity. And so I'm like, well, you know, it's I guess it's fine. I didn't really look,
of course, my kids are interrupting, but I didn't really look into it deeply. And then in January of 2021,
um my so it wasn't so my son, it was in my son's class, but it was actually a
friend texted me and she was she's a mother of another child in the classroom and she said, "Hey, did you hear about
this book that was read in the classroom today? My daughter came home. She told me all about it. She said they taught
how you can change your gender and how this boy thought she was a boy thought
he was a girl." if I'm No, no, no. It's a girl who thinks she's a boy, so call me Matt. Yes. And um I had heard nothing and I was
like, "What?" You know, I was totally shocked. And she was very upset obviously, too.
That's why she had reached out to me. And so I started reaching out to a bunch of different moms with kids in the classroom. And it was an issue for a lot
of us. And you know, several of us started emailing with the principles and with the teacher and saying, you know,
what's going on here? And basically their response was, "We don't need your permission. We can teach this stuff if
we want." And you know, and that was the point where I actually, one of the moms told me that
she had heard who she had more friends in the school system cuz her kids were older, so she knew more people. My third
grader was my oldest. Um, and she told me that she had heard from another teacher in the school that if enough
parents didn't push back, they were just going to shut parents down. They had this all ready to go. And that was the
point where I kind of went into like action mode because sorry real quick let me just inter
interject here. So there had been a group of faculty or and administration
perhaps in the elementary school. Is that right? Or is this districtwide? It was districtwide but the equity book
bundles program was just in my kids school at that point. It was like my school, my kid's school was like the
trial for it, but it the it turned out that there was an equity council
districtwide and they were basically running the school district now. So, yeah, that makes Yeah, that I've seen
that several times. So, there was So, there's no permission required by them
to be able to teach these things to your kid. There's no I mean, when you and I were growing up, I think I at least when I was growing up, I had, you know, I had
a permission slip that my mom would get. you know, it's like she gets the permission slip. We're going over this.
Do you consent to your son, you know, listening to this? If not, you need to hold him out or we'll have him go
somewhere else or something like that. And it seems like that's completely flipped at this point with so many of
these things that are taught in the schools, right? That was what they said. They said they didn't need our permission
and basically said, you know, take off, deal with it. and I that night. So that
was like so it happened on a Friday that I heard about it. Monday was when I got the email back saying like we don't need
your permission. And so that was when I started researching the laws and figuring out how do I push back and t I
think it was either Tuesday or Wednesday I sent back this email where I cited several different codes saying this is
why you need my permission and you better follow the law or I'm going to take this to a higher step. basically
I'm going to get a lawyer involved and they immediately were calling and like
oh let's work this out let's work this out and um I got a lawyer on the phone with them and my my husband and that was
when I finally cuz I was follow I was looking at these laws that talk about like sexuality and that kind of stuff
where they need permission and the Darren Dean he was the HR director he
said well this is gender it's not sexuality And that was the point where I'm like,
"Oh, okay. You you guys are trying to differentiate here when clearly gender
is tied to sexuality. You can't untether those things." Sure.
In my mind, but that was how they wanted to take it. And so, yeah, that's that was their excuse. That's why they didn't
need permission. They're like, "Well, we don't we don't get permission to talk about, you know, straight people or cisgender or whatever." So, that was how
they justified it. How did it move on from there? What happened then after after you you
realized okay they're trying to put essentially a uh um you know to pry in a sense
permission out of this so that I am further away from my own child giving
permission to the not giving permission to the school to do this. Where did you go with this from from that point?
Uh we shut down the book bundles program. my my lawyer. It was actually I
don't know if he wants me saying this, but it was my brother who happens to be a lawyer and he was helping me out. Um
he just said, you know, we need to shut down this program until you're in line with all the codes. And the HR director agreed with it
and it was shut down that day, which was Wednesday, January 13th, if I remember correctly of 2021. And um then like
within the next day or the next week, they took it to the Salt Lake Tribune. And so it became like a public issue and
parents were totally vilified. It didn't tell the they didn't tell the whole story. Like Doug Perry, who's the
communications director in Murray School District, he gave half-truths. He didn't tell what really happened. He said, "Oh,
this book was never part of the equity book bundles program. A student brought it in." And that was not what I was
told. I was told this book, this um this book and this topic is part of the
equity book bundles program. it is developmentally appropriate for your children. We are going to teach it and
we don't need your permission. And there was another book they had read called Julian is a mermaid. And that book
talked about a little boy who saw some mermaids get on the train which they represented drag queens.
And um he basically wanted to be a mermaid and it showed how he transformed into a mermaid. And then at the end of
the book, they go to this colorful, bright, rainbowy parade where there's a whole bunch of other creatures dressed
as, you know, mermaids and fish and whatever, which clearly, you know, what it's really representing.
Sure. And so they they changed their story. They said that a student brought in Call Me Max, but they were never able to
explain where Julian is a mermaid came from. And so as time went on, I I
submitted like thousands of dollars worth of grammar requests and I received
all these emails that we searched through. where I was working with a few other parents and we found a a Google
drive that was being shared among the teachers and that was the list that had all these other books that were being
used in the classroom with um Julian as a mermaid and there were just all these gender identity and sexuality books that
were being brought into the classrooms without parents knowledge. These were being taught to the students and none of these were were were
there was no request for permission from the parents for any of these books. Nope. Nope. Yeah, they were being taught
and there was no permission from parents. And there was actually a book called It
Feels Good to Be Yourself, which was so much worse than Call Me Max. It talked about all the different kinds of gender,
like somebody who's has no gender, somebody who's transgender, somebody who
has multiple genders at once. It's like all these false ideas being taught as
truth to children without parental knowledge or consent. So for me I
because like I said they they tried to take it I I was trying to go the route of like
what can I do politically? What can I do legally? What laws can I look at to shut
this down? And like I said, they had shut down the sexuality aspect. Like this is not
sexuality, this is gender. And so my next route basically was like, okay, if
we're going to focus on identity and gender, then I need to be able to talk
about my identity or my child's identity and his gender, which is defined in the
family proclamation. That's what we believe because all of these beliefs about, you
know, transgender and queer and all that, this is a belief system. It's not fact. It's not based on like scientific
evidence that you can verify or measure. It's a belief system. And so now we're
basically getting into like religious identity type of stuff. And that's that's the route that I took it down
after that. Okay. So going again going back to was there any your your was there any
repercussions for your child or anything in the school after this? Um
or or at you for me apart from it sounds like maybe there was was there anything in that Salt Lake
Tribune article that was false about you or anything about that or they just trying to defend themselves?
Yeah, there were a lot of falsehoods. They said not necessarily, it just made parents out to be like the villains. And
they said, "Oh, we've had this book list on the website the whole school year," which that wasn't true. There were just
so many lies that they put in in the Tribune. And you know, once people read
what they get from the the newspaper, they're like, "Oh, well, that's the story." Um and there was so this equity
council the Murray Murray school district equity council they did get shut down but like the teacher who was
basically running it her name is Carara Sice and she also worked for FAM which is called it's f it stands for FAM it
stands for friends allies and mentors and it's this group that specifically
targets education like K through2 education and making sure that they get this sexuality and gender identity and
the anti-racist stuff all into the schools. Um, and she like held a rally
in May of that year, so just a few months later. And and she had the author of Call Me Max come and give a speech.
And in her speech, Cara Sice called parents homophobic, transphobic, racist
bigots. And you know, the whole audience cheered. This was up at the state capital. And yeah, it was just it was a
crazy experience. But yeah, we were definitely targeted. And back then now I'm not like I really I've gotten over
that whole being afraid and I don't want to be called a racist. I
don't want to be called a bigot. Like now I'm just like well that's what they call me so be it. But it really hurt at
that time and I was really scared and then I ran for and that's why people don't do it right. That's why people don't don't stand up
and do what you've done here because they're so afraid of the stones being cast and
Right. And that was what I found was most people didn't want to get involved, especially on a public level because
like behind the scenes, especially at the start, a lot of parents were like, "Yeah, let's speak up. Let's speak up.
Let's do this. Let's do that." And they would be behind me in the shadows. But as the minute it goes public, they're
like, "I don't want to be I don't want to be part of this. I can't like." And so that's definitely people are afraid.
And some people worry about losing their jobs and or their husbands losing their jobs or it's a hard situation.
Sure. Now, you said that this this equity council was disbanded. How how did that come about?
Well, um because it seems like not only did you get the books removed, but but now this
this council that was basically the tail wagging the dog Oh, yeah. was also dispanded.
Oh, because so we submitted a ton of grammar requests and some of the grammar requests we got were the meeting minutes
from this equity council and no one knew it existed except for the equity council
and the people the basically the white progressives in the school district running it. No parents knew about it
except for one that I know of who was in it. And as soon as I found out, I'm like, "Okay, put me on the put me on the
council. I want to go to the meetings. I want to know what's happening." And and this Cara Sice lady, she's like, "I'll
let you know." And I was like, "No, you won't let me know. I will be on it. You're not going to tell me that I can't
be on a district that or on a a council that's for my kids. I will be on this council." But they did not want parents
like me who was pushing back. They didn't want me on there. And um so we
got the meeting minutes and we Not very equitable. Oh, yeah. But we got the meeting minutes
and basically just found all this they they talked about this little equity book pund b b b b b b b b b b b b b b b b b b b b b b b b b b b b b b b b b b b b b b b bundles program that they were
setting up and had lists of what they were sharing. They talked about the um
when the school board gave them a little bit of push back, they were like, "Oh, the school board's all white and all
these white cis hetero people." They were totally like making all these racist statements about the school
board, which was hilarious because the equity council also was all white. But um anyway, we just exposed all of this
to the public. Oh, that's right. My husband's here to remind me of stuff. So, there was also
in January 2021, um I saw in the news an an article about this Pride Not
Prejudice conference that was going to be held for all Utah educators. And I saw that Murray School District Equity
Council was going to present in it. And so my friend was a teacher and she signed up to attend it which at that
time everything was online. So I sat with her. I watched the whole um presentation. I watched Marie School
District present. And in that they talked about a lot of things which I was able to then go to the HR director and
say, "Okay, I want this. I want that. I want this email. I want this memo. I want that memo." And I found that um at
the beginning of the school year, the superintendent had sent out a memo saying
we teachers are not permitted to talk about political issues in the classroom. So when it comes to like Black Lives
Matter or gender identity or all those kind of things, you do not have free
speech to speak out in the classroom on those topics. And so the equity council
then went and cor corrected those memos and they put out a new me two new memos
saying like we are an equitable school district. We will focus on equity. We
will take an intersectional approach to all of these issues and basically they
just reversed everything the superintendent had put out and the school board allowed this to happen. And
so those are all the things that I kind of gathered through my grammar requests and I exposed it to the school district
and parents wrote in like I think we got like 80 letters to a schoolboard meeting
and um they agreed to shut down the equity council at that time through the
school district. But ultimately um the equity council just reorganized as a private group. So now they're called the
Murray Equity Alliance and they still have teachers and parents in it who who
have progressive ideas and because they made themselves a private council now
parents can't request to be in the meetings and we can't get grammar requests, we can't get meeting minutes
and so that's how they tried to just get around it basically. Okay. So you're kind of known figure in
the district by now. Oh yeah. I'm guessing. Okay. So, how take me from here to
the flags being placed on your lawn a couple years later. What what what is transpiring over these
couple of years? Yeah. January 2021 and then and I don't know what month it was, but in in 2023 is when you have the PTA
president having individuals post flags on your property.
So, like I said, in in 2021, I was really nervous and scared. I would speak
up, but I didn't want to put my face and name in the limelight. I kind of like
did emails and whatever. Um, by 2022, I my the seat in my area was up for
election for school board and I actually was like nine months pregnant at this
point with my last child. I have six kids right now. So, I had a five I this
is crazy. I had five little kids. I was homeschooling at this point. It was just so much going on for me. But I would ask
people who knew the issues if they would run for school board and nobody would do it. So I'm like, fine, I'll do it. And
um in January of 2022, I it might have been February. Um but I submitted the
papers that I would run for school board. And so at that point, I could no longer remain anonymous in any form. And
I ran for school board that school year. And I was very public. I was very clear on where I stood on the issues and um
it got me a lot of hate, a lot of negative feedback, a lot of like oh you
just so many just so many people were very angry about where I stood. Can I can I ask you something here?
Because you're you're you're talking about Salt Lake County here, right? You know, generally people would
think of this as maybe this is a conservative area. It's not as conservative as people think it is. Uh but you are these just a few loud voices
or is this a gen more of a a large minority or even majority that of people
that are trying to push back on you saying either they really want you to stop or they just others that might join
them that say they don't want the discomfort of this, they don't want the conflict.
I think the the loud meanest voices are the minority, but the majority
is aligned with the equity stuff because I lost my election, you know.
So clearly I the majority or at least the majority who votes did not agree
with me. Um, and you know, the crazy thing for me was my seat for the
schoolboard election was basically my stake. So, it's kind of very similar boundaries. And I had people in my
stake, you know, out campaigning really hard against me. And um, my opponent,
she's basically lived across the street from me. She's in the next ward over. You know, I had talked to her and she's
like, "Oh, I totally agree. all this stuff is so bad and we don't want to teach that to our kids. And then she
goes on and accepts the endorsement of the Murray Equity Alliance who promotes
all of that stuff that she just told me that she thought was wrong. And and all of a sudden her story's
changed and she's like, "Well, we just need to be inclusive of everyone. We need to be kind to everyone." And I'm like, "I've explained to you that's not
what this is really about. This is about like sexuality in books and this is
about pushing ideologies on our children that are not healthy for them and that are not true. And you know, it was a lot
harder to be the one who held my ground on what I knew was right. It's a lot
easier to be the one who says I just want to be kind to everyone. And most
people in my stake I think went along with that narrative like oh
she's we might call niceness culture which is something very common honestly in Utah
the neness culture and they think this is my opinion but a lot
of these progressives they think they're a little bit wiser than everybody else
and like I had whiter wiser wiser wiser
they know better. Um, you know, cuz I would have like these moms saying, "Well, that critical race theory is not
being taught." And I'm like, "It's not. How's it not?" Well, that's what I read. I did some research on the internet. And
I'm like, "Okay, well, here's um Kimberly Krenshaw, who coined the term critical race theory. Let me show you
this book that's in your fourth grader's classroom that's quoting Kimberly Krenshaw." And here's a little picture
of her. And all of a sudden, this this woman's shutting up from then on cuz she's like, "Oh, I don't know what I'm
talking about." Or at least that's what I think. But, uh, she's basically these people who have done no research sitting
there telling you they know better. And I found that was kind of like how it was in my stake with a lot of people.
Yeah, that is a very common thing, too. I think people are misinformed. uh they might do a little bit of
research but what they're picking up is people that are the wrong voices as are googling something right
uh or now Chad chip teing it um so I would get that all the time in fact I
had a right around that same time when I was really starting to focus on all these things I had a discussion online
with a a BYU professor in the comment section of one of my videos on critical race theory
and and he kept telling me no critical race theory is only a legal theory
it is not found anywhere else. It's only in the legal field. You won't see it anywhere else. And then I proceeded to
go over everything and everywhere that you find it and people that profess it and push it and by name,
including in education, including at BYU, at his BYU.
And uh he stopped. He would not respond to me anymore. Right. That's such a common thing, you
know, is people say, "Well, I it's odd to me that they don't get
enough voices and information about the pernitiousness of these things." I know. How pernicious the ideology is and what
it does to people. I know. We met with the school board at one point and I asked the schoolboard
president, "Do you know what it means to be anti-racist?" And he's like, "Well,
yeah, it just means don't be racist." And I'm like, "No." and you've clearly
done no research on this issue and you're allowing this stuff to come into
my kids' classrooms, you know, and that's basically what you're dealing with most of the time. And they act,
it's gaslighting. They act like you're crazy because you've done the research and you do know what it's about and
they're like, "No, that's not what it's about." And I just know because that's what someone told me. You know, one of the big things here, one of the differences is obviously that
you did become educated on it. So, so they can't just say that because otherwise you would just maybe go along
with it. Well, yeah, I guess that's what anti-racism is, right? But you had already done the research on it. You saw what it was,
what it represented and and and how these things are maybe infiltrated into these institutions,
right? I did that and I I felt like especially like the schoolboard
president, he thinks he's in a position of authority and it's more like it becomes a matter of how dare you
question my manhood by telling me you're right and I'm wrong
let me find out the truth and let's correct this. That's kind of how it felt. But anyway, basically I ran for
school board that school year. I took a lot of hate and this is one of the big issues. I was very very polite. I was
very respectful. I I focused on the facts. Um and even with that, most
people would in my community were like, I don't want to touch this. I don't want to get behind her on this because even
with me being totally polite, it's so heated. people are still coming
at you with endless insults and endless like we were getting death threats and it's just people don't want to touch
that. And so then when I lost my election, that's the point where I kind of I did a
shift. I I wouldn't say I kind of I definitely did a shift and I was like, I'm done being polite. I don't care
anymore what anyone thinks of me. I'm not going to try to get my community to get behind me because if they couldn't get behind me in my election when I was
perfectly polite and respectful, they're never going to get behind me on these issues. They're too cowardly. That was
my attitude. And so from then on, I became very, very outspoken. I was very hard-nosed. I exposed anything anyone
gave me for Murray School District. And I wasn't polite about it. And if this those women who would come after me,
these it's these progressive white women who just won't leave you alone. if they'd come after me, I'd go after them
right back. And you know, in our church culture, that's very not not liked. And
I kind of rebelled against the church culture in that way. I was like, I'm done with this culture because what
matters to me is truth. What matters to me is that my children are raised in truth and that they are brought to
Christ and that is through truth only through like
their identity is in God. it's not in this gender crap. It's not in this anti-racist crap. And I'm going to fight
for that. I'm going to fight for that truth because I know that's the only thing that will save my children. And so that was the attitude I went forward
with. And I So I offended a lot of people throughout that time. And it was at this time that the um PTA president
took notice of me apparently. I didn't know who she was. I didn't know her name. I didn't know she existed. But at
this time she started watching my posts and um on May
16th 2023 she ordered pride flags, seven pride flags to be staked into my
property. She ordered them and at that time then so I had exposed a teacher who had a bunch of pride pride flags in her
classroom. And so she saw that I had exposed this teacher. She ordered the pride flags for my home and then that
same day that she ordered them, she emailed the teacher and said, "Hey, I saw that April Despain was talking about
you and I've ordered these pride flags for her home and haha, this is so funny." And I She owned it.
Oh, yeah. So, she sent this email saying I've done this and then which I didn't at this time I hadn't even interacted
with her. I didn't even know she existed. And then on it was like a a full week later that she came onto my
Facebook and started interacting with me. And that was when I like, "Oh, who's this person?" And I kind of I didn't get
to know her. I never met her, but I figured out who she was. And we kind of had some back and forth. And then on May
28th was when the pride flags were delivered, which we got it all on video
and shared it. And immediately it went viral, went all over the news. It went national. And at this point, the PTA
president started getting a lot of negative feedback because she staked seven pride flags into my front yard
knowing that I was politically and and religiously opposed to the pride flags.
And so, yeah, that's how that happened. I don't know if you want me to move forward from that point.
So, so, so after this, I mean, okay, so she has the gall to put this on, you
know, basically what I mean, what is that? That's not anything short of just saying I'm going to send her a message
and let her know that regardless of what she thinks, I am going to force this through. I mean, you know what I mean? It's like,
okay, I don't respect her opinion. She's wrong. She's demonic because of this what or whatever it might be. And
and I am going to force the issue by putting it in her face and putting these pride flags in her own yard.
That's just that's just crazy, right? and she and her attitude was, you
know, you lost your schoolboard election. Murray school district wants this stuff. You need to shut up and take
it. And forcing the pride flags in my yard was her way of saying you're taking
it. And you know that it was trespassing. It's vandalism. It's
against the law. But Murray police wouldn't protect us, you know, and we
just basically felt so violated, you know, and
what can you do? That's what people do to you when you stand up for what you believe in nowadays. Fortunately, you did get it on video and
thankfully that helps. Right. Right. Um, so then, so then how did this turned? It seems to me like the PTA
president then turned the tables on this and said that she was being harassed and they sent us a cease and desist letter
to you. Right. Well, so it's kind of funny because even before the pride flags were delivered, she had started
doing this thing where she's like, "Don't don't tag me anymore. Don't talk to me anymore." Or whatever. Like, I'm
getting my lawyers involved. And I'm like, "Okay, well, you're on my Facebook page, so go away." You know, but I did
stop tagging her. And um and then the pride flags were delivered like the next day. And so it's
like she was playing this game where she's like, "You're harassing me even though she's on my Facebook page harassing me and my family." And then
she sends the pride flags to our home. And then when I expose it,
she turned around and said that I was stalking her by sharing what she did to
me. And so she sent a cease and desist letter saying, "Stop sharing what I did to you. You know, you're hateful. You're
you're vindictive. you're a bad person. It was the most It was the stupidest letter I've ever read. And you know,
I've been raised My dad's a lawyer. My dad was a lawyer. My brother's a lawyer. I've been around lawyers my whole life.
I I can read for myself. I knew that letter was a joke. You know, so I
It basically said, "Delete everything. Apologize. Otherwise, we're going to sue you." And I was like, "I know you can't
sue me for this. I know everything I've shared with is within free speech. I've never threatened you." and I'm not going
to delete anything and I'm not going to apologize. So, no, I just took a letter of the I took a picture of the cease and
desist letter, posted it, and said, "Here's her continued harassment after she sent these pride flags to my home.
Now, she's sending a cease and desist letter trying to silence me from telling people what she did." And um from then,
at that time, it wasn't stalking. It wasn't a stalking injunction, but she upped it like a month later and and
filed a stalking injunction against me, claiming that I was stalking her by sharing what she did to me. Even though
at this point I had her blocked on social media, I never I never ever like
went to her home. I've never met her, you know. I never did anything to
contact her. All I ever did was share what she had done to me and my family.
And yeah, so I got What? Uh
did this did didn't this go to a hearing? It did. Yeah. So I I um I can't remember
what's the word, but I submitted something saying, you know, I disagree with this injunction. And so yeah, I went to a hearing. We And it actually
ended up being two hearings, three really, cuz we then we had the argument at the end. So it was like this long
drawn out thing. ended up taking two years and ultimately I did prevail and I
so I the judge ruled in my favor that I did not stalk I was never stalking her
and it was a really great ruling in that the judge said over and over how un she said the petitioner who's the PTA
president was not credible over and over and over she said she's not credible she's not credible she's not credible
which the hearing when the petitioner the PTA president testified it was like a clown show. It was hilarious. Like I
was I was Is there video of this? Yeah. Yeah, we there. So, we have the
recording, but we've made videos of it. She just lies over and over and they're blatant lies. Um, and I don't know like
how entitled you have to be to think you can go and sit in a courtroom and lie to a judge and you're going to get away
with it, but that obviously the judge saw through it. And then um so that was January of 2025 and then my hearing was
in March of 2025 where I testified and that and also in the judge's ruling she
said over and over that I was very credible. And so that was nice to hear. But the whole the real problem here is
that it cost like $120,000 to defend myself in court from this injunction.
And I won I won my case. I'm not a stalker, but I have to pay $120,000. You know, we
saw attorneys fees, but the judge didn't grant them. So, that basically the the process is the punishment. And I have
been punished because why? Just because I I stood up for what I believe in. I
believe that gender is eternal, that we are male or female, we are created by God, we're children of God, doesn't
change. Those are my beliefs. I stood up for them and I was targeted and now I'm paying for it. So that's kind of where
we're at now, which again is another, you know, wall against people wanting to
stand up and do anything. Right. Exactly. You don't know even even illegally what are you looking at? And sometimes I face that when I'm talking about some of
these subjects. I'm like, where is this going to go? And uh and I've had
similar threats that have come from that. But so so this is just recently,
if that was two years, this is something that's very recently been done. Is that correct? just finalized now.
Yeah. Uh we got the the the judge's decision on August 12th, 2025, so just a
few months ago. And then we had like a month where we could have appealed, which I was kind of waiting that out and
neither of us appealed it. Um so yeah, that's kind of where we're at.
That's where you're at now. Okay. So through this experience, let me ask you this. I mean, you you've you've
sacrificed a number of things. you were afraid at the very beginning to even speak up about it. Um why do you think
that changed number one and and where do you stand today based on everything that
you've gone through for the last what four or five years? Why did my fear change? You mean?
Yeah. Why did your fear change? Well, I I think running for school
board, I didn't have a choice anymore. You know, I if it were up to me, I
didn't want to run for school board. And when I did submit my papers to run, I was like, I don't even want to win or I
want whatever God wants. If I if he wants me to win, whatever. But like, I didn't even know what I wanted. I just
knew that somebody needed to take a stand for for what I knew was true. You know, I
knew someone needed to do it. And so, I I did it. And throughout that process, I lost the ability to have anonymity.
And I had to put my name, I had to put my face, I had to put my reputation and
my money and everything on the line, my family on the line for what I believed in.
And I think I don't know like it forces you
to stop being afraid because you have to do it. But also, I think the fact that
most people wouldn't really get behind me publicly, it gave me such a feeling of disgust.
And this is this is honest. It's honest, but it and it's judgmental, but it's honest. I was very disgusted with my own
community. I still struggle with having a lot of disgust. And um it brought me
to a point where I I really just don't care what they think of me or what
anyone thinks of me because if I care what people think of me, I can't do anything. I can't stand for anything.
That's why they don't stand for anything because they're so worried. And well, this is my opinion of why they don't. They're so worried about what, you know,
like you got a former state president and he's like, I got to keep my my squeaky clean image. I can't be associated with somebody who's speaking
out on and not being quote unquote nice. And so I think that's really where the shift came for me was like I don't care
what anyone thinks anymore. I've seen how these people they get up on Sunday, they bear their testimony, they say they
believe in these things, but when it comes time to stand for what they believe in, they won't do it because the
fear of man is more powerful than the fear of God. Apparently, that's my
opinion on it. Fear of shame. I think I think that's the biggest issue is the fear of shame.
Yeah. And I think that's kind of where my shift came in. I no longer and I and
it's something I need to work on too because it can go too far the other way where you're just
Yeah. You know, you just I don't want to be disgusted with my my community. I want
to see the good in them. And but I really do think that's where my shift came in. I I just I lost a lot of
friends along the way. I figured out who my real friends were and I know that I
know that God stands with truth and I don't stand for truth perfectly but as
long as I'm trying to stand for truth I believe that God has my back and that's ultimately what matters. So that's kind
of where I've had my shift. How surprised were you that you did not have
the voices supporting you, that you had a majority, it sounds like, that were actually against you in your own
community? Um, I was surprised. I was like, I knew
you expecting that at all? Was it even in your mind that this type of thing, this kind of push back on you would
would would happen? I knew I would have push back from, you know, like the equity people. I knew I
would have that. I knew it would be hard. I'd experienced what little through the Salt Lake Tribune article and from the Equity Council. I knew that
those people would always be coming after me. But I think what shocked me more than anything was that the people
in my church community who professed to believe what I believe about the Family Proclamation, about identity and gender
and sexuality, were not supportive. And some of them were actively working against me. like
the the school seminary teacher, I saw him out there campaigning against me and
he and his wife have posted, you know, they think they went to a gay marriage and she's like, "I felt the love just
like I felt it in the temple." I mean, and that's the seminary teacher at my kids high school if they had gone to
that high school. Um, I was shocked, but I'm not anymore. I'm not anymore. But at
that time, I was. I thought that people who went to church actually believed what they say they believe and I've come
to realize that actually the church is really divided on this and a lot of people don't believe it and it's more
controversial to talk about the family proclamation in that ward where we lived at that time.
Talking about the family proclamation was very controversial. People didn't want to talk about it, you know, and
now I'm not as shocked but at that time I was. I was a little naive. So yeah, and I think it's going to become
more and more of a lightning rod, unfortunately. Um, but what so what do you what have you
learned from all of this? What what what does this teach you? You've gone through this five year, four or five year
journey on on all of this. What What do you think the lessons are that you've learned for for actually
standing up for this? I mean, I'm guessing you're still glad you did based on, you know, even though you've
gone through all these problems and and this hate, so to speak, but what what have you learned from it?
Um, can I interrupt and tell a story because I'm feeling like I was going to share this and I just Yeah, let's do it. Absolutely.
So, one thing I want to share and it slipped when we were talking about it when you said, "Was I surprised about my
my community?" I want to share this story that shock that actually shocked me and I loved my stake president at the
time. So I want to make that clear. But when we first started speaking out, me and Laurel Fetzer, who's another mom
that lived in my district, um her husband was the bishop of her ward and
we were having these parent meetings where we would talk about the issues in the public schools. And the state president got an anonymous letter from
someone saying, you know, why is the church hosting meetings that are anti-LGBTQ and racist and all this
stuff? And the state president reached out to me and he said, "No, actually, no." He reached out to my friend's
husband who was a bishop at the time and he said, "I'm I'm you don't you can do
what you choose, but I'm asking that you not host these meetings in your home anymore." And I reached out to the state
president at that in his home. In his home. Yeah. In his home. His home.
And my friend and I were both really mad about this. I reached out to the state
president and I told him, you know, if my husband were a bishop, would you ask me to not speak out on these issues? Are
you going to ask us to not have meetings about the family proclamation at church because it might offend someone as
anti-LGBTQ? And he was like, you know, I just I just
want to like not give them ammo to come after us. That's all I'm saying. You can. And I'm like, okay, I understand,
but like where do we draw the line? You know, we're so quick to heir on the side
of like let's not offend. Let's not offend. Why don't we air on the side of
this is truth regardless of who it offends. Truth is what brings us to God. You know, because they were not
anti-LGBTQ meetings. They were not racist meetings. They were simply discussing the issues in the school and
getting parents informed so that they could stand up for their children. And that was something that really shocked
me in my community with and I loved my stake president. I still love uh he's not the stake president anymore,
but I respect him. But you know, and his counselor in the state presidency there
would wear a pride flag on his pocket every single week to church. And he flew pride flags in his yard because he has
two children who are LGBTQ. And you know, I loved that guy, too. I grew up with him. I grew up with his kids. But
I'm like, okay, so you're allowing your counselor in your state presidency to wear a pride flag to church every week.
And then you're counseling me not to speak out. Such a good point.
And yeah, so you're airing on the side of let's not offend
falsehoods and let's set aside truth, right? And I think, you know, he's a good guy,
but I I feel that that's wrong. And that's why our communities are partly
why our communities are falling. It's so discouraging, April. This is so discouraging to hear these things, but I
hear them all the time. and and it's it's it's tough. It's a we live in a very tough
culture right now where it's uh a lot of people don't understand what's happening and the
primary top value especially in the church seems to be politeness and
niceness. You know, it's like that at above all costs, we must be polite and nice,
right? And that's that's wrong. It is wrong. It's just
plain. It is wrong. And the stake president, the I can't
remember if he's first or second counselor, but the one who wore the pride flag on his pocket every week, he would take it off on the weeks that
journal authorities would visit. And so it shows he knows that it's wrong. He
knows that it's not aligned with truth. And that I mean, I can't speak for him, but that's my opinion. Why would you
take it off? if you know that it's right, you wear it no matter who's there. Yeah. But yeah, so I mean
I that's kind of where I just lost my my politeness filter, right? Because you
know, we heir so much on the side of politeness where we're pushing truth out and that's not okay for me with my
children like no truth is a much higher value. It just truth is a much higher value. All right,
let me go back to my question then again. What have you learned through this whole process? Again, I think you you're glad you did it. I think I mean,
maybe you're not, but I think you're you're you still would have stuck with what you did despite the literal cost
and and the shaming and the hating and everything else. Uh if that's true, uh if you'd confirm
that, that'd be great. And then and then what what have you learned out of all this?
So, yeah, I wouldn't change anything that I've done first of all. And that's
a hard question to say. And what have I learned? I cuz just lately I've kind of
been in a you know since getting the decision from the judge I've kind of been in like a
a stuper like what what is all of this like I lost I lost
my election which it's great it's fine but you know when you lose you're like okay what's the point
and then I win my case but I lose $120,000 you know and so today I was reading in
ether I think it was six um where it talks about like them going to the
promised land and how they're in those those little containers and they're
going under the water and out of the water and just a furious wind pushing them. And I guess that's the only thing
I can take out of it is that like this is my journey. This is something that
God wanted me to go through and the hard things that I'm going through
are pushing me to where God hopefully wants me to be. And I think something that I have learned is rather than
focusing on whether or not I'm going to win this political battle, it's an opportunity for me to show my faith in
Jesus Christ. And like I have I've tried to I definitely haven't done it perfectly. I wouldn't say that I'm like
the greatest example to look at or anything, but I've tried to stand up for what I believe in. I've tried to show
God that I believe the things that we've learned. And my children, I've tried to teach them. You know, ultimately, I
guess that's what I can say. When I die, I've lived a life of integrity. I've
stood for what I know is true, and I I fought for it, and I gave up for it. I sacrificed for it. And I guess if that's
all I get from it, then that's all I get. And maybe that's better than anything. I don't know.
Okay, let me take us one step further for the last question here. What what
would you advise someone to do if they're in their same situation, same
idea. This happened to us, by the way, also in my family, but a book is going to be presented uh taught in elementary
school to young kids. Um, what what do you recommend someone do? What does a
parent do? Speak up. You have to speak up. You have to be
you have to be okay with being hated. And it's not fun. It's actually really depressing. Like, and now I kind of feel
like I have PTSD from it. So, but my kids are in a different school district at this point. And I and still every
time I see something, I have to speak up. And I've gotten negative feedback when I do it. And I'll go into that like
feeling of depression like, "Oh my gosh, I don't want to go through this again. This is really hard." Uh, and it's it
will like take over me for a couple days and then I get up and I just got to keep going. And that's if if everybody would
speak up, it wouldn't be so hard. Yes. But if you're the only one who will
speak up still, you have to do it. And you know, I I love the quote from Jordan Peterson. I can't like word for word but
he said something like speak truth and whatever happens as a result is the best
thing that can happen. So even if you lose everything for it that's the best
thing that can happen because truth is ultimately the only thing that matters in the end you know.
Yeah. Speak up. Always speak up. Stand up for what you believe in. Well, April, appreciate your courage and
I'm sorry you've gone through all of these things, but I hope it can at a minimum, even though you didn't get the support you were looking for,
you know, people see this type of a story or another story or another story, maybe more and more people can stand up
here and and do something about it. I think that that example does matter and I think it does make changes and I think
there are ripple effects to this and maybe this program will change some people's minds. So, I I really appreciate your your courage and telling
your story to us here uh on the show. Yeah. Thanks for having me and thanks for all you do also to speak up for
truth. And I'm sure you probably spoke up when you had that book in your kids classroom or whatever happened with your
family. Yes, we did. Thanks so much. Appreciate it. Okay. Thanks.