Gay Equity Team chides Anoka-Hennepin over website

An activist group is accusing the Anoka-Hennepin school district of misleading the public with a new website it created that focuses on lesbian, gay, bi-sexual and transgender students.

The Gay Equity Team, a frequent critic of the district's LGBT policies, says the new website distorts what's really happening in the district.

On Thursday the group issued 10 pages of mistakes it says it found on the site. The group's Robin Mavis says the most egregious error is a transcript of a voice message to all staff from last fall that doesn't match the recorded audio.

"When they consistently are sending the message to the media and the public that they are the victims, that they're not doing anything wrong, and then turn around and put up misinformation and misleading information, we just kind of have had enough," Mavis said.

But district spokesman Brett Johnson says the site is not misleading the public.

"We deal with the truth and the facts, and if something is inaccurate and it's brought to our attention, we'll correct it," Johnson said. "But in no way does anything we're trying to do stray from known facts."

The website was created in the days following a federal lawsuit that was filed against the district, alleging leaders failed to properly prevent students from being harassed because they're gay or perceived to be gay.

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