A Northern California elected official is under scrutiny over comments she made at an after-school meeting of a conservative students club, where she attributed her daughter's sexual orientation to childhood trauma and repeated talking points criticized workplace diversity and the legacy of civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.

The comments by Lincoln City Council member Holly Andreatta at Twelve Bridges High School also have drawn attention to the emergence of Turning Point USA groups at high schools nationwide. The conservative nonprofit estimates there are now at least 1,200 chapters of its high school program, Club America. Elected officials in Florida, Oklahoma, Tennessee and Texas recently announced partnerships with the group to expand that reach to more schools in those states.

"Schools have always been — but especially now — are definitely a political battleground for the Republican Party, for conservative politics," said Hava Gordon, a sociology professor at the University of Denver who studies youth activism.

The controversy over the Club America chapter at Twelve Bridges has roiled the community of Lincoln, a foothill city about 25 miles northeast of Sacramento. Dozens of students and parents spoke at a recent school board meeting, with some alleging the club created an unwelcoming environment by promoting hate speech and others defending its right to exist, according to the Sacramento Bee, which first reported on the dispute. A group of students say they've collected 300 signatures on a petition calling for the club to be disbanded, the paper reported.

The Western Placer Unified School District said it legally is required to respect students' rights to form and participate in student-led clubs regardless of their viewpoint. "Protecting student free expression and protecting student well-being are shared responsibilities," the district said in a statement. "The District remains committed to fulfilling both, even when the issues involved are complex or uncomfortable."

Andreatta, who is running for Placer County supervisor, declined to speak in an interview but said in a three-page statement that she was invited to appear at the inaugural meeting of the Club America chapter on Dec. 11. As a former public-school educator — she taught eighth-grade U.S. history at a Roseville middle school for 14 years, according to her campaign website — she welcomed the opportunity, she said.

Student leaders described the group as "a Christian political club intended to provide a space where students could respectfully discuss and debate ideas and explore the freedoms and values of America," Andreatta said. The packed room included some students who attended specifically to protest, she said, adding that they were largely respectful.

The topic of Andreatta's talk was the relationship between Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk and Jesus, she said in a video of the lecture posted online. After opining on the legacy of the political activist, who was assassinated Sept. 10, Andreatta pointed to her daughter as an example of what she described as Kirk's message of loving people with whom he did not agree.

"My oldest daughter had a lot of trauma as a child," Andreatta said. "Something really terrible happened to her when she was very young that I would hope never would happen to any other child. And as a result of it, she's a lesbian. She's gay, and she's married to a woman. And sometimes that's a little bit of (an) internal struggle for me because I believe that marriage is between a man and a woman."

After the speech, Andreatta opened the meeting up to a question-and-answer session and engaged several students in debate.

To a student who asked her about the separation of church and state, she replied, "Separation of church and state is a myth. OK. It's not in the Constitution."

To a student who said Kirk had "said some very racially not OK" things about Black people in the workplace, Andreatta tried to explain Kirk's criticism of so-called "DEI policies."

"He wasn't saying that Black people can't be airline pilots," she said. "... But when you say you have to have 50% Black pilots and we need to get it done now, then what do you need to do to get that larger percentage? You have to lower the standards."

To a student who asked Andreatta what she and Kirk "think of Martin Luther King Jr.," Andreatta replied: "A lot of research has come out that Martin Luther King was a Marxist and that he was for socialism and a lot of the civil rights things that he advocated for were not really helpful."

In her statement, Andreatta said the video circulating online "was heavily edited and stripped of context, creating the false impression that I said things I did not say and grossly misrepresenting both my intent and my character." She said it was recorded and shared by a student who told classmates "he intended to use the video 'to take me down.'"

(Videos from different vantage points have surfaced, including some that appear to show the entire meeting.)

Regarding her comments about airline pilots and King, Andreatta said she was explaining arguments Kirk made, not relaying her personal views. On King in particular, she said, "Given the opportunity, I would have said clearly that I disagree and believe Dr. King's legacy stands on its own moral authority."

Andreatta also said she regretted speaking about her daughter. "In my effort to share a vulnerable example of love and acceptance, I shared too much, and that caused her pain," she said. "I have apologized to her privately, and I apologize to her publicly."

In the wake of the meeting, student leaders of the Club America chapter have been harassed and doxed, Andreatta said, while she herself received a direct message containing a death threat, which she reported to police.

The council members' colleagues distanced themselves from her remarks.

Lincoln Mayor Richard Pearl pointed out that Andreatta attended the meeting as a private individual, not a city representative. "She did a significant disservice to her community and to herself in her remarks to the Club America and I stand in opposition to those remarks," he said in a statement.

"I want to be clear: I do not agree with the opinions expressed by my fellow council member," Vice Mayor Whitney Eklund echoed.

The Placer County Democratic Party denounced Andreatta's comments, saying in a statement that they "were harmful to the students who listened to her and perpetuate harm to communities throughout Placer County."

The myth that trauma affects one's sexual orientation is stigmatizing; the concept of separation of church and state is not only real, but a foundational principle of the nation; and the lie that safety standards have been lowered to hire more people of color undercuts the hard work of millions, the statement said.

Ruth Cox, president of the Democratic Club of Lincoln, called on Andreatta to step down.

"These statements demonstrate a pattern of misinformation and prejudice that should disqualify anyone from holding public office," Cox wrote in a letter to Gold Country Media, a community newspaper publisher. "What we have witnessed is a Lincoln City Council member promoting white Christian nationalist propaganda to high school students."

In an interview, Cox said a parent filed a formal complaint against the school district, alleging it failed to protect children. "They have a First Amendment right to have that club," she said. "But they don't have a right to misuse that platform in a way that harms the student community."

Andreatta says she does not plan to resign from the city council or abandon her campaign for supervisor.

While youth activism is nothing new in high schools, Club America is unique from other movements, said Gordon, the sociology professor. She cited its well-built infrastructure that enables those who wish to start a chapter to order activism kits including organizing materials, and its well-delineated campaigns extolling the values of capitalism and condemning the perils of socialism.

Club America chapters have garnered an unusual amount of support from elected officials who likely see the students who participate as the future of the Republican base, she said. But the chapters also have drawn controversy, which "represents a larger pushback against Trumpism," she said.

In Scottsdale, Ariz., a petition calling on the school district to remove a Club America chapter from Saguaro High School received more than 2,100 signatures.

In New Lenox, Ill., district officials recently greenlit a chapter at Lincoln-Way West High School following a dispute in which some parents claimed staff slow-walked the process because of the club's political nature, according to a Patch report. A petition now seeks to remove that chapter, calling it "a breeding ground for opinions that promote racism, homophobia, and misogyny."

And in Winfield, Kan., a student-led effort to remove a chapter at Winfield High School prompted a letter from a public-interest law firm, warning the local school district that prohibiting a club based on its viewpoint would violate the 1st Amendment.

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