Speakers defend Wake male teacher under fire for wearing a tutu during Spirit Week
Wake County school board members and people in the community rallied behind an embattled male middle school teacher who has come under attack for wearing a tutu to school last year during Spirit Week.
Adam Chu has become a target on social media since conservative groups such as Moms for Liberty posted a photo of the seventh-grade teacher at Martin Middle School in Raleigh wearing a tutu on campus.
But Chu’s defenders accounted for the majority of people who spoke on the issue at Tuesday’s school board meeting. Speakers said the photo was taken out of context, and some blasted the Moms for Liberty group for their actions.
“You crossed a line and I think it’s shameful,” said school board member Sam Hershey, who thanked those who came to the meeting to support Chu.
“My heart is full from the response from the community because I was in a bad place earlier today,” Hershey said. “I was really angry. I thank you all for turning up. It is a small group of hateful people and I appreciate y’all.”
But members of Moms for Liberty stood by their criticism.
“A male teacher working with minors in this age group should not be wearing a skirt,” said Jessica Lewis, vice chair of Moms for Liberty’s Wake County chapter and the parent of a Martin Middle student. “This is a distraction from the learning process.”
‘This is grooming’
During Spirit Week, students and teachers often wear different outfits based on the theme of the day.
Chu told The News & Observer he wore a tutu for last October’s “Barbenheimer Day.” Students and teachers were encouraged to wear pink or black or dress like they were from the 1940s. The theme was inspired by the movies “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer.”
A photo of Chu in the tutu was in last year’s school yearbook in the Spirit Week section. That photo has gone viral on social media, along with a letter Lewis posted of the school’s principal denying her request to have her daughter transferred to a different teacher’s class.
“You say that the skirt is for Spirit Week, but I’ve never came across a Spirit Day that a male wears a skirt,” Lewis said at the board meeting. “This is grooming.”
‘Hurtful and fabricated lies’
But other speakers said Chu should be praised for getting into the spirit of Spirit Week.
“School Spirit Days are meant to bring the school community together in a lighthearted and inclusive way,” said Bobbi Vinson, a Wake parent. “The teacher’s decision to wear a tutu was actually a playful way to connect with the students, to contribute to the spirit of the event.
“It was an innocent gesture fully in line with the purpose of the Day.”
Laura Haag spoke at the board meeting, herself wearing a “Barbenheimer”-themed outfit. Haag said Chu is the victim of “baseless claims” and “hurtful and fabricated lies.”
“A male-presenting human wearing a skirt does not make him something other that what he is,” Haag said. “In this case a teacher participating in fun community-building school activities.
“It doesn’t suddenly make him a predator. A ‘Grooming for Dummies’ doesn’t suddenly appear on his Audible library.”
Did teacher talk about personal life?
During public comment, Moms for Liberty members accused Chu of talking about his “gay personal life” to students.
“The problem is much less about the fact that a male teacher is wearing a skirt on Spirit Day and much more about the fact that the teacher is discussing his personal life and love interests to 11- to-13 year-old kids,” said Julie Page, former chair of the Wake County chapter of Moms for Liberty.
But Chu said his comments were taken out of context.
“I think I was just chatting in the hall with some coworkers a year or two ago about a barista I had a crush on and the students overheard it,” Chu said in an email Tuesday to the N&O. “They still ask me about it from time to time in class, but I just redirect them to our ELA (English language arts) work.
“It’s funny because I wasn’t even teaching these students at the time I mentioned my crush to my coworkers, but the mythology persists. I don’t identify as homosexual, so I think the whole tutu thing is informing that rumor.”
Based on the discomfort that Lewis’ daughter has, Moms for Liberty members said she shouldn’t have to stay in Chu’s class this year.
“Just because the principal says that the teacher is safe doesn’t mean the child feels that way herself,” Page said. “It’s utterly ridiculous to dismiss the student’s feelings. Students should come first always over a teacher or a principal’s feelings.”
Accused of being a ‘hate group’
Some speakers called Moms for Liberty an “extremist group.” Last year, the Southern Poverty Law Center labeled Moms for Liberty as an “anti-government extremist group.”
Moms for Liberty was accused of doxing Chu by posting the photo on X and tagging the well-known conservative group Libs of TikTok. Their post of the photo on X had drawn more than 10,000 likes by Tuesday night.
“I’m calling on each school board member to denounce Moms for Liberty of Wake when they posted and tagged Libs of TikTok with intentionally manipulated information painting a target on a specific teacher, administrator, school and even our school board,” said parent Margaret Bilodeau.
Hershey repeatedly called Moms for Liberty a “hate group” during his comments.
“What that teacher did didn’t affect how he was teaching,” Hershey said as he looked at Becky Lew-Hobbs, the chair of Moms for Liberty’s Wake chapter. “It didn’t affect that school at all.”
But Lew-Hobbs, a Wake parent, said they’re not a hate group.
“You called us a hate group,” Lew-Hobbs said to Hershey. “You called us extremists and many of the nut jobs over here probably agree with you.
“I am an extremist. I am extremely unhappy with how poorly the system has educated my children.”
This story was originally published October 15, 2024 at 10:06 PM.
