A far-right account on X known for drawing attention to LGBTQ-friendly entities, sometimes causing those organizations to receive threats, has set its sights on the Akron Public Schools board.
The X account Libs of TikTok, which has 3.2 million followers, posted a video Tuesday morning from the Akron school board's Aug. 26 meeting where members of the board talked about attended Akron's Pride parade and festival two days prior.
"Multiple board members of @akronschools gush over the district's participation in the LGBTQ pride event," the post read. "The district had a booth at the pride event and had teachers and students volunteering & marching. These are the people in charge of your kids' education."
The post had been viewed 320,000 times by 3 p.m. Dozens of replies called Akron school board members "pedophiles" and "groomers" and encouraged people to keep their kids out of public schools.
Akron Public Schools declined to comment.
Libs of TikTok is known for drawing attention to organizations that have pro-LGBTQ views or practices. Those organizations are often met with threats in the wake of those posts.
USA TODAY has confirmed dozens of bomb threats, death threats and other harassment after Libs of TikTok’s posts since February 2022, based on research from the progressive analysis group Media Matters for America .
APS is also not the first Akron organization to be targeted.
On Sept. 18, 2022, the account posted about gender-affirming care at Akron Children's Hospital. The online abuse got so bad, the hospital had to take down a section of its website.
In the summer and fall of 2023, at least two dozen public schools and libraries received bomb threats after being featured on the account. Students were evacuated from school buildings and classes were canceled in California, Colorado, Oklahoma and Wisconsin.
No threats had been reported yet in Akron on Tuesday, according to Director of Security Alan Jones, but he said he would make every school's resource officer aware. Akron police said they were not aware of any threats Tuesday in the hours following the post.
The video clip shared on the account shows two board members, Rene Molenaur and Job Esau Perry, speaking during community and school reflections, a time for board members to share information schools or events they visited since the previous board meeting or to give shout-outs to teachers and staff. Others during that meeting spoke about Pride, but the two-minute video shared on the X account focused on those two board members' comments.
Perry said in his comments that he attends Pride every year, noting "a lot of us are allies." He said the district had a booth, and gave a shout-out to the teacher working it.
"APS was certainly proud that day," he said.
Perry did not immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday afternoon.
Molenaur said in her comments during the meeting that the event was "just a beautiful demonstration of support."
"It’s really great to see the equity focus of our district really in action," she said.
Reached by phone Tuesday afternoon, Molenaur said the event was about "kindness and support."
"When I spoke about the event, I was proud, as an ally, as a parent, as a community member, of the beauty of our city," Molenaur said. "What I think I talked about — how many people came for a positive, loving event — it is heartbreaking that people would make that ugly, for any reason."
USA TODAY contributed to this account.
Contact education reporter Jennifer Pignolet at jpignolet@thebeaconjournal.com, at 330-996-3216 or on Twitter @JenPignolet.
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Far-right X account often associated with threats sets sights on Akron Public Schools board
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