EDUCATION + SCHOOLS
State school board reviewing conservative member’s pride-flag post
Aug 26, 2021, 5:48 PM
Natalie J Cline, State School Board Representative District 11.
SALT LAKE CITY — A controversial state school board member attracted criticism once again, this time over a social media post involving a pride flag.
Natalie Cline, a conservative member of the Utah State Board of Education, shared a now deleted image of a welcome sign at the Layton High School Latter-day Saints seminary building with a LGBTQ+ pride flag on it.
The post included the comment: “Time to make some phone calls, the world is too much with us.”
School board member’s pride-flag post draws criticism
The Utah Democratic Party is calling for Cline’s resignation. They add that her comments about the seminary’s pride flag welcoming LGBTQ students are a “fresh round of déjà vu” of hateful rhetoric. Democrats say Cline, who represents District 11, including Bluffdale, Herriman, South Jordan, and other areas southwest of Salt Lake City, has an “extremist” agenda. They accused her of creating an unsafe environment for students.
Cline’s post was shared by Greg Smith, a former North Ogden City Council candidate. His caption read, “Time to get out our muskets,” in reference to a speech from Elder Jeffrey R. Holland of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
The Board of Education said members are free to speak their minds; however, they need to indicate on their posts that it’s not an official board position, which the board said Cline’s post didn’t do. Other posts on her page include wording indicating that what follows does not represent the board’s position. The board said it’s reviewing the post from Cline, adding that it doesn’t condone rhetoric that inspires hate speech.
