State school board member, former city council candidate face scrutiny for tweets

Controversial Utah State School Board member Natalie Cline and former North Ogden City Council candidate Gregory Smith were called out by Equality Utah Execu-tive Director Troy Williams for tweets that marginalized and threatened LGBTQ Layton High School seminary students.

Cline has since been reprimanded by the state school board, and Smith has deleted his social media presence.

This started when Cline shared a photo on her Face-book page of a monitor show-ing an LGBTQ flag and the words “If you are LGBTQIA+, welcome to seminary.”

A seminary building is an off-campus location where students who belong to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints can take religious classes during the school day. Most high schools in the state offer the faith-connected study program.

Cline commented, “Layton High Seminary. Time to make some phone calls. The world is too much with us.”

Smith then tweeted a screen capture of the post and quipped, “Time to get out our muskets,” a reference to a speech by Elder Jeffrey Holland of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of the LDS church that has been declared as hostile to LGBTQ people.

“Reckless rhetoric often precedes acts of violence,” Williams said in a statement. “Words matter. Especially when they come from leaders.”

Smith claimed he was not calling for violence against gay people, nor was he saying LGBTQ people should not be in the seminary building.

“Of course all gay people are welcome in seminary. I don’t have a problem with that,” he said. “I don’t care, but I don’t think the pride flag belongs in an LDS church building. That’s it.” Smith said he’s swearing off social media after the controversy. “I’m off Twitter. I’m an idiot,” he said.

In a first, the Utah State School Board leadership issued a letter of reprimand to Cline for her message, with the full board voting to affirm that action during its meeting. The violation was for “conduct which tends to injure the good name of the Board.”

“Your divisive rhetoric has repeatedly marginalized the LGBTQIA+ community,” the letter reads. “Instead of sending messages of dignity, respect, safety, hope, and inclusion regarding a marginalized community, your social media posts convey an attitude of prejudice, exclusion, and scorn for a population of students that suffers disproportionally with incidents of bullying, depression, and suicide.”

“Since being sworn in as a Board member approximately eight months ago, you have engendered controversy, frustration, and anger toward the Board, certain schools, certain educators, and certain student populations with statements you have posted on your social media regarding our LGBTQIA+ community,” the letter of reprimand read. “Your rhetoric incited hate speech, as evidenced by the response from Gregory Smith: ‘Time to get out our muskets.’ Superintendent Newey and his staff at Davis School District were so concerned at your post and those who commented on it that they hired additional security to patrol campus today to discourage potential violence. This happened because of your post.”

The Board has no authority to remove Cline from her four-year seat. She was elected last November, winning by a 38% margin.

Cline has not commented on the reprimand.