Carrie Prejean Boller, the pro-marriage Miss California 2009, challenged Encinitas Union School Board members, saying, ‘Why do you think it’s OK to indoctrinate and push your sick ideology on five-year-olds? That’s called grooming,’
ENCINITAS, California (LifeSiteNews) – Concerned parents descended on a California school board meeting Tuesday to protest the exposure of children as young as fifth grade to a book about LGBTQ “empower(ment),” with Miss California 2009 Carrie Prejean Boller among those speaking out.
My Shadow Is Pink, a 2021 picture book by Scott Stuart, “touches on the subjects of gender identity, self-acceptance, equality and diversity” through a little boy’s liking of “princesses, fairies,” and other subjects conflicting with gender norms, according to the official product description. The book “(e)mpowers LBGTQ children and the wider community with its strong and powerful message” while “(t)eaching children the concept of diversity, equality and inclusion” and “(h)ighlighting current themes of gender identity.”
“My shadow loves ponies and books and pink toys, princesses, fairies, and things not for boys,” says the protagonist, who is purportedly inspired by Stuart’s real-life son. “But there’s one thing it likes most I have found … It loves wearing dresses and dancing around!”
The child’s father initially meets his son’s “shadow” with a glare, insisting it will eventually “turn blue” (meaning more stereotypically masculine). But when the boy is overwhelmed by self-doubt after he wears a dress to his first day of school, his father comes around, cross-dressing himself in a show of support, realizing “it’s not just a shadow, it’s your inner-most you.”
The fictional Dad reveals that their family is full of people with “hidden” shadows, including a female relative who “likes girls.”
“Your shadow is you and pink it will be, so stand up with your shadow and yell. THIS IS ME!” Dad advises. The boy does so and goes back to school, much more enthusiastically. The story ends without revealing his reception from the class.
San Diego Fox affiliate KSWB reported that a controversy has arisen in Encinitas Union School District (EUSD), where parents of fifth-grade children exposed to the book took their objections to the school board, though no action has yet been taken as a result.
“Everyone can read a book and get different things out of it, but the idea we want to have as parents of our children is a choice of what the book is showing,”” area mother Christian Ryan said. “Does it line up with our values, our faith, the things we want for our children?”
Among those who spoke out was Carrie Prejean Boller, the 2009 winner of the Miss California pageant who made national news that year by answering that she believed marriage should be “between a man and a woman.” She received intense condemnation from Miss USA organizers and LGBT allies in the media, and her answer appeared to have kept her from advancing to the Miss USA crown. Since then, she has been vocal for conservative causes, including opposition to COVID-19 mandates.
On May 7, Boller began using her Instagram profile to raise awareness about EUSD using My Shadow Is Pink, including an exercise in which children as young as five were told to draw their “shadows” and color in their “true identity.”
Two days later, she shared an email La Costa Heights Elementary School principal Christie Kay sent to EUSD parents doubling down on the district’s stance. Kay declared that “LCH has a long-standing tradition of inclusion and a beautiful sense of community,” but “recent divisiveness in our school community regarding books and curriculum is disheartening. It is incumbent upon all of us to remind ourselves of the importance of making space for a variety of perspectives and viewpoints.”
Boller helped encourage area parents to attend Tuesday’s meeting, as well as publicized the opt-out form parents can use to protect their kids from certain content and surveys. She also posted multiple videos from the meeting, including the board blocking most parents from entering the meeting room by filling seats with teachers, and her own remarks.
“Do you know what Encinitas Union School District is known for across the world?” she asked the board members. “Grooming children! Can you believe that? That’s what you’re famous for. That’s what you’re known for. Are you proud of that?”
“How many of you by a raise of hands were OK with the book ‘My Shadow Is Pink’? Raise your hands, on record, that you’re okay with the book ‘My Shadow Is Pink,’” she went on. “None of you are OK with it! None of you are OK with it. Why do you think it’s okay to indoctrinate and push your sick ideology on five-year-olds? That’s called grooming.”
“What you are doing has no place in this city,” Boller declared. “There’s a lot of Christians here tonight? And guess what? We are making our voices loud and clear. Do you hear us? Keep your books, in fact, you know what, you can indoctrinate kids all day long. But see this flag? This (gesturing to the American flag on her shirt) stands for freedom. And we the people have the freedom to opt out. So, guess what, all you teachers. You can keep your grooming. We’re gonna opt out as Christians. And if you don’t accept our opt-out, we’ll see you in court.”
LifeSiteNews has reached out to Boller for additional comment, and will update this story upon reply.
This is not the first time Encinitas Union has been caught pushing adult LGBT themes on children. Two years ago, the district came under fire for sending out a Halloween party flyer featuring a “family friendly” drag show that was sponsored by a San Francisco “gender reassignment” clinic and a gay nightclub. The district eventually pulled the flyer, admitting it did “not mee(t) district approval criteria.”
Indoctrinating children with left-wing ideology on homosexuality, gender confusion, and sexual experimentation has long been a major concern in American public schools, from libraries to athletic and restroom policy to drag events to classroom materials to even socially “transitioning” troubled children without parental input. Many schools have also displayed hostility to the rights and employment of individual teachers who refuse to go along with such agendas, regardless of their treatment of or rapport with gender-confused students.
