Utah governor Spencer Cox and lieutenant governor Deidre Henderson this week denounced comments made in a social media post by Utah State Board of Education Natalie Cline about a high school student-athlete.
"We were stunned to learn of the unconscionable behavior of board member Cline and others toward a high school student today. The last thing our children need is an elected official harassing them on social media," a joint statement from Cox and Henderson said.
"Sadly, this is not the first time that board member Cline has embarrassed the state of Utah and State Board of Education. We urge the State Board of Education to hold her accountable and we commend Granite School District for taking swift action to protect this student's safety and well-being," the statement said, according to KSL.com.
Cline's now-deleted post was a screenshot of an Instagram post from a girls basketball team in Granite School District promoting an upcoming game. Cline had captioned the post "Girls basketball..."
"Cline's post inferred that the teenager might be transgender. The student, in fact, is not," leaders of LGBTQ advocacy group Equality Utah said in a statement.
The comments portion of Cline's post quickly filled with transphobic harassment and bullying directed at the students.
"Natalie Cline has a history of posting inflammatory opinions; however, this is a new level of depravity and bullying," Equality Utah leaders said. "Cline's post perpetuates a modern-day witch hunt, where hysterical adults police the bodies of children to determine if they are masculine or feminine enough."
In a Facebook post, Cline responded to the governor's comments.
"I previously shared a public advertisement for a school basketball game that was sent to me by multiple concerned parents, and it created a firestorm around one of the players pictured. Personal information as well as derogatory comments about the player were made by several commenters. To protect the player, I have removed the post. My deepest apologies for the negative attention my post drew to innocent students and their families."
Cline further defended herself in an updated comment, saying she never made claims about the student-athlete's gender, noting that several people have reached out to her and "vouched" for the student.
"We live in strange times when it is normal to pause and wonder if people are what they say they are because of the push to normalize transgenderism in our society. But that is definitely not the case with this student, and I apologize again that the conversation around the post turned personal, that was never the intention, and again, I removed the post as soon as I realized what had transpired," Cline said.
In the new post, Cline also said that a father approached her about being "trespassed" by a school for questioning the gender of a player on the opposing team at his daughter's game. She said the father was simply protecting his daughter and "acting in good faith" but was treated like a "criminal."
"This is not acceptable, either. The ground is shifting with so many exceptions being made to the rules that it's hard to know what the rules are any more, which leads to misunderstanding and confusion on all sides of what used to be a black and white issue," Cline said. "We are all trying to preserve women's sports and their privacy spaces."
Ben Horsley, spokesman for Granite School District, told KSL.com on Wednesday that the district is aware of Cline's post.
"We have significant concerns with the apparent intent of board member Cline's post and are working to ensure the safety and well-being of this student. We are also taking additional precautions for the safety and security of the school as the comments on the post indicated the potential for significant disruption to the educational and extracurricular activities associated with this campus," says a statement from the district.
