Rightwing mom violently grabs phone during heated debate about LGBTQ+ mural

A Cincinnati school board meeting briefly erupted in chaos earlier this week when one woman grabbed the phone of another as students spoke in defense of a pro-LGBTQ+ mural.

Local NPR station WVXU reports that dozens of parents and students attended Wednesday’s meeting of the Forest Hills School District board to speak out both for and against a mural depicting symbols of diversity and LGBTQ+ inclusion that was recently painted over.

Related: School board orders removal of student-painted mural containing LGBTQ+ imagery

A statement from the clinic lamented that the only way the school would renew their contract was if they removed the mural.

As one student who identified as LGBTQ+ spoke, a woman in the front row stood up and grabbed the phone of another woman who was recording the meeting. Video recorded by the second woman and posted to TikTok shows the first woman saying, “You take a picture of me, I’mma take your f**kin’ phone and give it to the cops.”

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The video goes blurry, but one woman can be heard calling for a police officer and accusing the woman who grabbed the phone of “heckling these children” as other attendees gasp. When the video restabilizes, the first woman can be seen being escorted out by a police officer, threatening to kick the second woman’s butt as she leaves.

@schoolboardbirddog

Shout out to the students who bravely told their stories all while being harrassed and heckled by school board member Katie Stewart’s mom. We have an election this fall and our community must send a strong message that we will not tolerate hate. @npr @NowThis Politics @Yahoo News @nbcnews @CNN @Trevor Noah @MSNBC #schoolboardmeetings #stopextremism #meetings #schoolboardelectionsmatter #cincinnati #transkidsmatter #foresthillsschooldistrict #karens #karensgoingwild

♬ original sound – School Board Bird Dog

An attendee was just escorted out during public comment — while a student was speaking about being bullied — for getting up into another attendee’s face and grabbing her cell phone while she was recording. @Enquirer pic.twitter.com/qSH8ZE9TFf

— mad mitch (@maddiemitch_) September 20, 2023

After videos of the incident were posted to social media, several users on X (the platform formerly known as Twitter) identified the woman who was escorted out of the meeting as the mother of Forest Hills School District board member Katie Stewart. One user accused the woman who was ejected from the meeting of laughing at a parent who spoke about her child’s suicide attempt and mocking other speakers.

Apple. Meet tree. This is school board member Katie Stewart’s mom. moms for liberty is truly a domestic terror group. https://t.co/l6K9xxYByL

— MierdasTouch (@CincyBeachBum) September 21, 2023

This is the mother of Katie Stewart, @FHSchools Board Member. She also laughed when a parent discussed her child’s suicide attempt and mocked students and other speakers. #classy #niceexample https://t.co/HIaJa5xG1J

— ℂℂ