Students plan protest after Lincoln mayor’s comments at Turning Point USA club
Students and community members in Lincoln are planning to protest a local high school’s club associated with slain conservative activist Charlie Kirk after a video recording of an elected official speaking about Martin Luther King Jr., diversity quotas and the LGBTQ community at the club’s inaugural meeting went viral over the weekend.
Club America is the high school program associated with Turning Point USA, a nonprofit that advocates for conservative politics . A new chapter at Twelve Bridges High School in Western Placer Unified School District held its first meeting Thursday. Lincoln Mayor Holly Andreatta was invited to be a guest speaker.
Fans of Kirk say that his organization is one that champions free speech and fosters healthy political dialogue on school campuses in a similar way its slain founder did.
STORY UPDATE: Lincoln students, community debate existence of conservative high school club
“We’re really trying to promote Christian values, pro-American values, and it’s a lot. It’s really scary just seeing what’s happening in our country,” chapter founder and sophomore Garrett Culp told Gold Country Media . “I feel like right now, there’s a lot of teachers, and just like the way the education system works, there’s some deep-seated hatred towards America, and I really don’t like it, because America is the best country on Earth.”
But for some students, a club that promotes Kirk’s beliefs surrounding women, people of color and those who identify as LGBTQ emboldens hate toward those groups on campus, and shouldn’t be allowed to continue.
“If we let this club exist then the only thing we do is embolden hate,” Twelve Bridges High senior O’mariyon Carr said.
In a statement Friday, Western Placer Unified officials said that allowing the club to operate did not mean the school endorsed its viewpoints and that the district was acting lawfully.
The topic is not on Tuesday’s board agenda, but both supporters and protesters of the club plan to address the board via public comment.
Lincoln mayor responds
Andreatta has taken to social media to claim that her words in the video were taken out of context, saying that her comments related to Black pilots and King were reflective of Kirk’s views and not her own.
In a Friday interview with The Sacramento Bee, Andreatta relayed that she made it clear that she was answering based on Kirk’s beliefs about King, not her own. When asked about her own views on King’s career as a civil rights activist, she said that she didn’t know enough about him and then declined to comment further on the matter.
In her written statement Sunday, Andreatta addressed her comments on King.
“A student asked what Charlie Kirk believed about Dr. King. I paused and clearly stated that I was not giving my own opinion but relaying what I understood Mr. Kirk and a researcher he had interviewed to believe,” she wrote. “The bell rang immediately afterward, ending the conversation without any opportunity for clarification. Given the opportunity, I would have said clearly that I disagree and believe Dr. King’s legacy stands on its own moral authority.”
At the club meeting last week, Andreatta spoke about her relationship with her daughter who is a lesbian, saying that her daughter suffered a traumatic incident and “as a result, is a lesbian.” In her written statement, the mayor wrote that she personally apologized to her adult daughter for sharing details about her persona life.
“She is an accomplished woman with a beautiful family who happens to be gay. In my effort to share a vulnerable example of love and acceptance, I shared too much, and that caused her pain. I have apologized to her privately, and I apologize to her publicly. I am deeply proud of her, and we love each other very much.”
At the meeting Andreatta also claimed that her daughter “loved Charlie Kirk.” She recanted this statement in a video posted to Facebook Monday.
“That was a mischaracterization. The violence of his death was jarring, and it made an impact, just like it did on millions of people around the world,” she said. “But it was wrong for me to say that she loved him or that she was a true fan, because that’s not the case.”
This story was originally published December 16, 2025 at 1:48 PM.
