AG Pam Bondi Represented Mom in Case Against School District That Tried to Secretly Transition Daughter

One of Pam Bondi’s clients says the newly-confirmed U.S. attorney general took her case suing the school district that tried to secretly transition her daughter when no one else would consider it.

In 2021, Erin Lee’s 12-year-old daughter was invited by her art teacher to come to art club after school in the Poudre School District in Fort Collins, Colorado. Little did Lee know, it was a Gay Straight Awareness club where a guest speaker told her daughter if she’s “not 100% comfortable in her female body, she’s transgender.”

The 12-year-old girl, who was new to the middle school, then adopted a transgender identity and was affirmed by the art club. The guest speaker, Kimberly Chambers, director of SPLASH Youth, an LGBT group open to kids as young as 5 years old, told students parents aren’t safe and encouraged them to lie to their parents to attend the club. Chambers did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Lee said she called 40 lawyers to take her case, and they all declined because the art club didn’t use a formal gender transition plan, until she found Bondi at America First Policy Institute.

“It just wasn’t a clear-cut case,” Lee told The Daily Signal, “and she didn’t hesitate to say yes.”

Bondi served as the chair of the Center for Litigation and co-chair of the Center for Law and Justice at America First Policy Institute. Before that, she served as Florida’s 37th attorney general and on President Donald Trump’s Opioid and Drug Abuse Commission during his first term.

The Senate voted 54-46 to confirm Bondi as attorney general Tuesday night.

Bondi assembled a “brilliant” legal team of seven lawyers from America First Policy Institute, Lee said, which shows she knows how to build a competent team at the Department of Justice.

“Most of them strong believers, who genuinely care about our family,” Lee said of the legal team. “It’s not what we expected. It’s my first time ever being embroiled in a lawsuit, and I expected them to be cold and hard to reach, and they just are a team of really good people who take our questions and check in on us and have been a pleasure to work with.”

Lee said Bondi is “the real deal.”

“She’s warm and kind and genuinely cares about her clients,” the Colorado mom and parental rights activist said, “but she’s also tenacious and fierce.”

Lee’s case was first filed in May of 2023, the day before her statute of limitations lapsed, around two years after Lee’s daughter first attended the art club. The Lee family and another family similarly harmed by the secret gender and sexuality club are the plaintiffs.

The case was dismissed in December 2023, and the plaintiffs amended and refiled. The case was dismissed again, so Bondi and her team appealed to the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals and were granted oral argument. The hearing was on Jan. 21, the day after the inauguration of Trump, so Bondi sent her senior litigator to do the argument.

Poudre School District told The Daily Signal it does not comment on pending litigation.

Lee said her case is well-positioned no matter what happens next.

“We expect that they might still throw out on the technicality, because no lower level judge wants to make this decision, but we’re in a position where we win the appeal, we’ll go back to trial court,” she said. “We lose the appeal, then we will have a very clear and concise case for the Supreme Court.”

Lee has confidence that as U.S. attorney general, Bondi will fight for parental rights, which have been violated under the Biden-Harris administration. The Biden FBI labeled concerned parents at school board meetings “domestic extremists.”

“She has said that she’s standing for all parents’ rights to be involved and know what’s happening and to make decisions in the best interest of their own children,” Lee said, “so she’s definitely alluded to the fact that she understands the ramifications of this case are much larger than our family. In taking this case, she was intending to stand up for all parental rights.”

It’s a relief for Lee to no longer fear the federal government targeting parents like her who stand up for their kids against radical gender ideology, she told The Daily Signal.

“I know that Pam will you know put all Americans rights first. She’s going to be objective and impartial, but she certainly recognizes that parents have a fundamental right to speak up for their kids, and she will not weaponize the DOJ against us. It’s a relief to not have that looming over me anymore.”

“I’m a huge fan of Pam,” Lee continued. “I think she’s the best possible person for the job, and she’ll be really objective and fair and good for all Americans, not just those she agrees with.”

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