Community Conversation — Keep Able Shepherd out of DCSD Schools
The following is part of DougCo Collective’s “Community Conversations” and was written by a Douglas County community member (parent, student, teacher/staff or community member). The intent of “Community Conversations” is to give members of the Douglas County community an opportunity to contribute to the larger DCSD conversation with their lived experiences and perspectives.
I’m a bleeding-heart lefty, living in a very red county. I understand why, when I talk to people who don’t live here, or who may not follow politics and school board issues as closely as I do, I might seem hyperbolic or overly dramatic.
The events at Douglas County PrideFest last month are a perfect example of why I feel so strongly about these things. I took my kid to this last year so she could see that there is a local, supportive community here, because sometimes it can feel like there’s not. I didn’t take her this year because I knew people would be there stirring up trouble, and I didn’t want her to be exposed to hate and ugliness. There’s enough of that waiting for her out in the world, and as her mom I’ll protect her from that as long as I possibly can.
This firestorm was ignited by a wardrobe malfunction at last year’s PrideFest. During the drag show, a performer’s costume slipped off their shoulder to briefly reveal – **GASP** – a silicone nipple. This set off all manner of “won’t someone please think of the children” type outrage that has persisted for the last 12 months. Douglas County Commissioner George Teal tried to get this year’s event banned. When that failed, a member of the Castle Rock town council tried to get the event banned, as the county fairgrounds, where the event was held, are inside the Castle Rock city limits. When that failed, further attempts were made to revoke the event’s liquor license in an effort to drive down attendance. The objections included that it was inappropriate for liquor to be served at an event where minors would be in attendance, although nobody has ever voiced any objections to alcohol at events like the Douglas County County Fair. The Douglas County Library has also been targeted with attempts to ban books with LBGTQIA+ themes and content. Over the last 12 months, these same people have hurled absolutely repugnant accusations at the LBGTQIA+ community, saying its members “sexualize children.” All because of a silicone nipple.
When all those efforts failed, local faith-based, evangelical organization (essentially a religious militia) Able Shepherd mobilized, and on August 26th, approximately 100 people purchased tickets to DougCo PrideFest’s drag show and entered the fairgrounds. Right before the drag show, they all stood up and removed their shirts to reveal white t-shirts underneath emblazoned with “Stand To Protect Children” on the front, and “Jesus Loves You (and so do I)” on the back. They blocked the stage for about 40 minutes in an attempt to stop the drag show, and their presence was quite threatening and intimidating. I was not there, but several people I know (including my state House representative) were, and they all said that the kids who were there were extremely frightened and many of them were in tears. Outside the fairgrounds, a group of men from a white supremacist organization, wearing masks (oh, the irony) to conceal their identities, held a banner saying “Strong Families Make Strong Nations.” And on the evening of August 25th, the fairgrounds were vandalized when an unidentified woman spray-painted the word “groomers” on the sidewalk, cars, and at least one of the fairground buildings. All because of a silicone nipple.
The head of Able Shepherd, Jimmy Graham, is a former Navy Seal. The organization provides tactical training and partners with the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office to train citizens in the use of firearms. It donated two AR-15’s to a fundraising auction for Ascent Classical Academy in Lone Tree. This school chose to leave DCSD when its administration decided to arm its teachers. In addition, this school teaches the Hillsdale College curriculum, and if you don’t know what that is, Google it.
Since pulling this stunt, Able Shepherd and Jimmy Graham have learned that actions have consequences. The Arapahoe County Sheriff's Office has severed ties with the organization, as has Arapahoe Community College. Even DCSD Sheriff Darren Weekly backed away from Graham, albeit in a more lackluster and tepid manner at first, he recently severed all ties between DCSO and Able Shepherd..
Graham was also interviewed by journalist Kyle Clark, and the mental gymnastics he performed trying to insist that the events at DougCo PrideFest were not an official Able Shepherd event – despite the call to action coming from an Able Shepherd email address, sent to members of Able Shepherd, and containing the Able Shepherd logo, among other things – were truly impressive. Graham also tried to pass himself off as some sort of backwoods hayseed who doesn’t understand all this new-fangled internet stuff when he said, “We’re a small company. I have one email address.” Nice try, Jimmy, but someone smart and savvy enough to be a Navy Seal is surely worldly enough to know that you can create an email address for yourself for free in about 90 seconds. It’s 2023, not 1996, when your dial-up internet access took an hour to load a GeoCities site.
DCSD Board of Education President Mike Peterson has raised the possibility of Able Shepherd training volunteers to provide armed security guards at Douglas County schools and has openly expressed his praise and admiration for this organization.
Guess who I think my kid would be safer with – someone who enjoys dressing up in outrageous, over-the-top costumes and performing for an audience? Or a person who infiltrates an event and disrupts it by harassing and intimidating its attendees, frightens children and reduces them to tears, attempts to curtail others’ rights to free speech, and tries to impose their religious beliefs on others, while hiding their hatefulness and bigotry behind the guise of “protecting children?”
Someone whose judgment is warped enough to not see anything wrong with that kind of behavior is neither someone I would trust with a firearm, nor to protect my child – or anyone else's.
Additional Resources:
For more information on the Hillsdale College Curriculum
For background on Mike Peterson’s relationship with Able Shepherd
