'Art Club': Parents Share 'Horror Story' After School Staff Tries to Turn Daughter to Be Transgender
Since removing their daughter from a public school that was secretly steeped in transgender indoctrination, Jon and Erin Lee are exposing the godless, anti-family agenda that nearly destroyed them. Now they're fighting their battle in the courts.
The Lee family's nightmare began in May of 2021 when a teacher invited their sixth-grade daughter Chloe to a supposed art club meeting. It was really a clandestine gender and sexuality forum led by a lesbian woman from outside the school their daughter attended.
The woman, a licensed foster-care provider and public health employee in Colorado, exposed Chloe to radical ideas about gender, sexuality, polyamory, and even suicide without her parents' consent, according to Erin.
She and her husband Jon experienced anger, sadness, and fear within hours of hearing about their daughter's experience with a total stranger who told her lies.
A substitute teacher also told Chloe that discomfort in her 11-year-old female body was due to being transgender; she then handed Chloe a transgender flag to take home.
Chloe Lee's last day at the school was in May 2021.
Through film, advocacy, the justice system, and, hopefully, new laws protecting parents and children, the Lees expect their lawsuit against the school will eventually be heard by the Supreme Court.
The 10th Circuit Court of Appeals is currently reviewing the Lees' case against the Poudre Valley School District in Fort Collins.
Three years after Chloe was blindsided by the total stranger who attacked her femininity, God, and family, the Lees' journey from depression and conversations about suicide to a place of faith, hope, and love is inspiring others who hear their story.
With expert testimony from professionals in a variety of fields, a documentary the Lees produced is spreading to churches, voter forums, media, and online.
This July, Jon, Erin, and 14-year-old Chloe were baptized as the rest of the family – a son and daughter – witnessed an encouraging sign of spiritual life in their parents and older sister.
With God and church, a new school, counseling, guidance, and support, Chloe is full of life and emotional and mental clarity, ministering to girls who are going through experiences she remembers during that painfully dark period in her past.
In a movie produced by Erin Lee and filmed by a former Colorado state senator, the family shares personal details that contributed to Chloe's mistaken belief that she was transgendered.
"I grew up in a family where I didn't have religion. I didn't have faith in my life," Jon said, holding back tears.
Erin finished her husband's sentence. "We fell short in giving our kids a Christian foundation prior to this... I think if we'd had that foundation prior to this incident happening, we could have avoided it. We weren't giving Chloe the understanding that she's perfectly and wonderfully made by God," Erin said.
In hindsight, the Lees believe that what the devil intended for evil, God is turning for good.
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In the film, Chloe speaks confidently about her experience. "I'm no longer dealing with gender confusion, despite how difficult it was for me and my family," she says, expressing disbelief in her former school and the woman who told her she was transgendered.
"I'm lucky and grateful for my parents who helped me through it," she says.
Focusing on the Lees' personal story, the "Art Club" movie also highlights former lawmaker Kevin Lundberg's advocacy for parental rights, and draws testimony from experts in medicine, mental health, media, and ministry.
***Learn More About the Art Club Movie
"The reason we did the film is to show the happy ending for that horror story if you will," Lundberg said.
The documentary is also a tool that's being used to inform Colorado voters about two ballot measures – one requiring parental notification when a student expresses gender confusion; the other an initiative to prevent males from participating in competitive female sports.
They hope to collect 200,000 signatures by the end of July to qualify the two voter initiatives for spots on the November ballot.
Together, they founded Protect Kids Colorado after Gov. Jared Polis signed a bill into law that requires every public school – charter schools are specifically prohibited from an exemption to it – to use non-legal names for gender-confused students.
Lundberg, who is an outspoken Christian, believes that teaching transgender ideology is intended to eliminate a biblical view of family. Serving 16 years in the Colorado Legislature and 14 of them on a health committee, Lundberg had a front-row seat to sex-education curriculums that he says promote transgender indoctrination.
"The first institution God established was family. That's the structure of one man and woman raising their children. If you look at what the agenda is pushing, it's to eliminate that whole concept," Lundberg said.
It's a spiritual battle as much as political and cultural, he added. "In almost every political battle, there's division between Christians and those who don't accept God's Word," Lundberg said.
In January, Chloe accompanied her mother and a group of concerned protestors to a drag show featuring child performers, saying it was important to be there.
"As she saw these gender-confused little girls – ages 10, 12, 14, 15 walking into this drag show, most of them with their families – Chloe sought them out like a heat-seeking missile," Erin said.
Approaching them, Chloe initiated thoughtful conversations about being labeled transgendered, telling them she was confused until God saved her.
Erin said her daughter asked the girls how they learned about being transgender; most of the children said they always knew. "Chloe then asked, 'Where did you learn the word transgender? It was an adult, wasn't it?'"
In support of his wife who is fighting for children, Jon is intent on leading the family he loves – even if it means the shy, introverted engineer speaks boldly, sometimes tearfully, in the film.
"Art Club" Movie includes testimony from journalist, author and speaker Alex Newman; licensed counselor January Littlejohn; evangelical author and speaker David Barton, founder of WallBuilders; Quentin Van Meter, M.D., pediatric endocrinologist and former president of American College of Pediatricians; Jennifer Bauwens, Ph.D., clinical counselor at Center for Family Studies/Family Research Council; and Michael Ferris, J.D., immediate past president of Alliance Defending Freedom.
