SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – A 16-year-old woman from Salt Lake County found herself under intense cyberbullying attacks after a member of the Utah State Board of Education questioned her physical identity on a social media post that went viral.
Natalie Cline, an elected Republican part of the Utah State Board of Education, is facing calls for her departure from the state committee after posting pictures of a high school basketball person, questioning her sex and prompting threats against the woman. Cline’s Facebook page is filled with anti-LGBTQ+ posts and rhetoric, including transphobic imagery.
According to a statement by Equality Utah on Wednesday:
“Natalie Cline posted a mocking statement on Facebook targeting a female high school student. Cline’s post inferred that the teenager might be transgender. The student, in fact, is not. Cline’s post generated a stream of cruel and vicious comments from adults targeted toward this teenager.
Natalie Cline has a history of posting inflammatory opinions; however, this is a new level of depravity and bullying. 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.
Two weeks ago, the Salt Lake Tribune reported a similar incident, where a parent stopped a high school girls basketball game and demanded to know if a particular player was transgender. She was not. These actions are callous and cruel. No child, be they straight, gay, or transgender, should be mocked and humiliated by elected officials. When will this end?
Now that new bathroom legislation has passed the Utah Legislature and been signed by Governor Cox, we are deeply concerned these gender witch-hunts will escalate and harm not only transgender Utahns but any Utahn who does not conform to Natalie Cline’s narrow view of gender. We are bracing to confront a wave of vigilantism in Utah bathrooms and locker rooms and even more scrutiny of teenage athletes’ physical appearances in high schools.
America has a tragic history of moral panics leading to the humiliation and expulsion of minorities from public life. Hysteria often leads to violence. Witch hunts led to the death of innocent women in Salem, accusations of Communism destroyed lives during the McCarthy Era, and the infamous “Extermination Order” of Latter-day Saints drove many of our Utah ancestors from their homes and livelihoods.
Moral panics only end when decent Americans stand up and say, “Enough!” Cline only apologized and deleted the post after facing public outrage. Utahns must demand greater accountability of her.
This is a pattern of irresponsible behavior from Cline, whose sanctimonious rhetoric conceals her true character — she is a mean, schoolyard bully. Cline is now harming the very children she has been elected to protect. If she does not show the decency to resign, we call on Utah voters to protect Utah’s children and deny her a second term this November”.
Utah Republican Governor Spencer Cox and the state’s Lt. Gov. Deidre Henderson denounced Cline’s behavior on X (formerly Twitter):
Gov. Spencer Cox, Lt. Gov. Deidre Henderson denounce behavior of Utah School Board Member Natalie Cline. Read the full statement here ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/XLZbfT4450
— Utah Gov. Spencer J. Cox (@GovCox) February 8, 2024
Fox News 13 Salt Lake reported late Thursday that the Utah State Legislature is exploring whether to impeach Natalie Cline from the state Board of Education, with House and Senate leaders saying they are appalled by her social media posts that have been called “bullying” for allegedly questioning the gender of a high school student-athlete.
Axios’ Salt Lake City Bureau is reporting the girl is now under police protection, the Salt Lake Tribune reports, as Granite School District ramps up security at her school.
Although Cline removed the post Wednesday after she learned the girl was not transgender she posted a statement on her Facebook page arguing “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”.
KSL NBC 5 News Salt Lake reported that Al and Rachel van der Beek, the parents of a 16-year-old student-athlete are demanding that Cline resigns. The Utah State Board of Education in a statement Thursday morning said that the Board promised “prompt action”.
“Board Leadership is very concerned about this post and the harm it has caused to students and families in Utah,” the statement read, adding: “If the full Board determines discipline is warranted, Board Bylaws provide guidelines for additional action”.
Cline’s full statement from her Facebook page defending her actions:
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.
My original post (now deleted) never claimed the student was a boy. For those who are still claiming the student is a boy, please know that several people I know and trust have reached out to me who personally know this girl and have vouched that she is, in fact, a biological girl and always has been since birth. She does have a larger build, like her parents. 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.
Recently, a father approached me about being trespassed by a school because he raised concerns about the gender of a player on the opposing team at his daughter’s game. This father was acting in good faith to protect his daughter, but he was treated like a criminal for even raising the question. 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 anymore, which leads to misunderstanding and confusion on all sides of what used to be a black and white issue.
We are all trying to preserve women’s sports and their privacy spaces. In doing so, we most certainly recognize that there is great variety within females when it comes to physical characteristics, and of course, we are accepting of these differences and want all girls to feel welcome in school sports. Sadly, our good faith efforts to be accepting of differences have, at times, been taken advantage of causing a loss of trust, which leads to suspicion about girls who are more buff than most. This is a sad consequence of the trans movement being foisted upon us, which puts us all in a difficult spot. Nobody wants to question if a kid is the gender they say they are. We want to protect children, not hurt them. We want to trust while also protecting the truth.
In a world that sometimes uses children as human shields to push radical agendas, it has become increasingly difficult to trust and to know how to protect children without hurting children when children are the targets and victims in so much of the chaos and confusion swirling around us.
Again, my deepest apologies to the family and this young lady.
