Update: Sen. Nathan Wesenberg deleted his Facebook post after the Reformer published this story on Monday afternoon.
This story contains graphic language.
Education Minnesota, the state’s teachers union, on Monday sent a letter to Sen. Nathan Wesenberg, R-Little Falls, demanding that he take down a recent Facebook post about a teacher in his district who Wesenberg alleges wants to teach “boys how to give each other blow jobs.”
On Oct. 14, Wesenberg on his official Senate Facebook account posted a photo of Milaca science teacher John Shipman — a Wesenberg constituent — about an interaction he had with him last year. The Reformer at the time reported that Wesenberg threw Shipman and two other Milaca teachers out of his Senate office after he accused them of “teaching kids to be gay and to hate white people.”
The teachers in written accounts at the time said that they requested a meeting with the first-term senator to discuss inadequate special education funding, but when they mentioned they were from Education Minnesota, Wesenberg ranted about sex education and teachers indoctrinating their students.
Wesenberg in the past has called the COVID-19 vaccine “a death shot,” said on the Senate floor that he once called 911 to report drag shows, trolled a hair discrimination bill by unsuccessfully attempting to amend it to add beards to the list of protected hair (Wesenberg has a long beard that cascades from his face) and he ran for office as an Action 4 Liberty candidate.
The incident with the Milaca teachers resurfaced earlier this month when Wesenberg posted a photo of Shipman. Wesenberg said in the post he has “many books on my desk that are pornographic,” and he told the teachers that those books were available in Minnesota’s public schools.
“I said that there are books that teach ten year old boys how to give each other blow jobs and this shouldn’t be in schools,” Wesenberg wrote in his post. “Mr. Shipman went on to say if he (a public school teacher) doesn’t teach your boys how to give each other blow jobs, who will.
My answer NOBODY. NOBODY should be teaching kids in public schools, or anywhere, how to give each other blowjobs. I threw him and the other teachers out of my office.”
Attorney Debra Corhouse, on behalf of Education Minnesota, wrote that Wesenberg’s post, published alongside a photo of Shipman “is clearly libelous.”
“In your post, you knowingly and with malice published several untrue statements, specifically creating a new, abhorrent, and blatantly false allegation against Mr. Shipman,” Corhouse wrote. “We expect that this statement will be withdrawn immediately upon receipt of this demand letter.”
The post was up as of early Monday afternoon, but Wesenberg deleted his post after the Reformer published its story about the letter. Wesenberg and the Minnesota Senate Republican caucus declined the Reformer’s request for comment. Shipman declined to comment on the advice of his attorney.
A commenter to Wesenberg’s post defended Shipman and criticized Wesenberg for publicly blasting a private citizen.
Wesenberg responded to the commenter: “We shouldn’t be protecting pedophiles in our schools. You are gaslighting and trying to stand up for a predator. Teaching kids to give each other blowjobs is not sex education. Our schools are failing, our government is corrupt and and (sic) everyone knows it. We need to protect our children.”
By accusing Shipman of being a “predator” and implying he is a pedophile, Wesenberg has exposed himself to potential libel litigation.
Education Minnesota President Denise Specht in a statement to the Reformer said that the intimidation of teachers needs to stop.
“Sadly, these despicable comments are not an isolated incident from Sen. Wesenberg. Treating any constituent this way is beneath the dignity of the office he holds, but it is particularly galling that the senator would go out of his way to defame and dox a respected educator he is supposed to represent,” Specht said. “This embarrassing episode is an opportunity for all Minnesotans to demand better from elected officials and others spreading dangerous disinformation about educators and public schools.”
The state teachers union is demanding that Wesenberg remove his Facebook post, or publish a new retraction post that includes Wesenberg saying Shipman never said anything about teaching boys how to give other boys blow jobs and that it was Wesenberg himself who made up the accusation without evidence.
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