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Chat logs from right-wing group pushing book bans in school leak

The group has specifically targeted LGBTQ books for removal in Colorado.

 

Mikael Thalen

Tech

Posted on Oct 17, 2023   Updated on Oct 18, 2023, 1:21 pm CDT

Chat logs from a right-wing activist group were published online this week, revealing the organization’s efforts to ban books in Colorado.

Obtained from the group’s Discord server, the chat logs were originally reported on by the Colorado Springs Indy earlier this month before becoming publicly available on Monday.

The group, known as Advocates for D20 Kids, has pushed for the removal of LGBTQ books from a school district in the northern part of Colorado Springs.

The website that published the chat logs—https://derrickwilburn.com—is named after the group’s co-founder and Academy District 20 school board candidate Derrick Wilburn. The chats go back a year, from October 2022 to October 9, 2023.

Wilburn is also the founder and executive director for the Rocky Mountain Black Conservatives and runs a podcast titled “Uncle Tom Talks.”

Willburn rose to fame in Colorado after giving a viral critique of critical race theory at a school board meeting in 2021. He would later speak at an election conspiracy theory event in 2022 hosted by MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell.

The chat logs show a deeper insight into Willburn’s anti-LGBTQ views. In one remark in August of last year, as reported by the Colorado Springs Indy, Wilburn asked his fellow group members to sign a petition calling for LGBTQ clubs to lose their “curricular” status.

“These flyers discussing gender and/or sexuality have no place in our schools and certainly should not be placed in hallways for all to see and read,” the petition shared by Wilburn said. “Many of our children have expressed strong feelings of unease over such materials being displayed, thus their sense of ‘belonging’ is being threatened.”

The Daily Dot reached out to Willburn for comment over email but did not receive a reply

In other remarks, Willburn referred to a political opponent as a Satanist and once said lesbians would be ready to attend a school board meeting “breathing fire,” which Wilburn clarified to mean “angry.”

Links to the website sharing the group’s chat logs have begun to spread on social media websites such as X.

Advocates for D20 Kids has not commented on the matter on its website or on its Facebook page.

This piece has been updated to more accurately reflect a text from Wilburn.

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*First Published: Oct 17, 2023, 10:15 am CDT