Las Cruces Centennial High School was awarded a grant to 'build a gender-inclusive closet' in 2022
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Rachael Hein made the bold move to relocate her family from New Mexico to Missouri after learning about a local high school’s gender-inclusive "closet" and other controversial ideas.
Speaking to Fox News Digital, Hein explained how she discovered what she called "the transgender closet" at Las Cruces Centennial High School where her daughter attended.
"There's the transgender closet, which really was the last straw. I think we saw that pop up on Facebook, and I looked into it because I'm not one that's like ‘oh, it's on Facebook. It's truth.’ I went on Google and I see this. Yeah. Las Cruces, New Mexico, Centennial High School transgender closet. They were approved for this grant," Hein said.
She added, "And I thought, no, enough is enough. We're not going to subject our daughter to that. I don't want my kids who knows what hearing different messages pushed by counselors or teachers within a setting that I don't have ears in. I do know some teachers, but it doesn't mean that my kids will always have a trusted teacher that's unbiased or not pushing that agenda."
Rachael Hein called the addition of "gender-inclusive closets" a breaking point. (iStock)
The It Gets Better organization previously gave the high school a grant in 2022 to "[b]uild a gender-inclusive closet providing affirming supplies and clothes for trans and gender non-conforming students."
Hein explained that the gender-inclusive closets came after years of frustration with the public education system. Beginning with the pandemic, she became more involved with her four children’s education, alternating between homeschooling and online learning. Once her kids returned to school, she began paying greater attention to their education.
One initiative she took issue with included the school district’s addition of 10 extra school days to the 2022-2023 calendar to make up for the pandemic shutdowns. Hein and other parents were frustrated with the decision, referring to them as "party days" where there was no real schoolwork.
When defending the extra days during a town hall meeting, New Mexico Public Education Department's Deputy Secretary for Teaching, Learning & Assessment, Gwen Warniment, also said that kids needed to spend "more time with the adults who matter" and that "the adults who matter are the teachers in their classrooms."
Hein called her move to Missouri a "positive change" for her kids. (Photo by: Joe Sohm/Visions of America/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
Hein added that the school boards did not respond to their complaints and were not helpful after voting in favor of the extra days.
"It felt like [school boards] heard you, but they really weren't listening. They would say the platitude of 'I hear your concerns and I might be concerned about that too.' But really, they were just on their own path, their own trajectory, and didn't really matter. What community members said didn't really matter what students or teachers even wanted," Hein said.
By contrast, Hein complimented Missouri for the schools and community being more open to parents and her younger children.
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"It's been completely different for us here. I'm not saying that it's not going to be coming this way, or there aren't certain districts that are moving in that same direction. But I think there's a lot more willingness to listen to parents and teachers and students in this area than there were in New Mexico," she said.
Hein added, "It's been a positive change, for sure. Very different here in the sense that the neighborhood we're in. My kiddos can just go out and play with neighbors and it's safe. It's just very much more of a togetherness."
She noted that she still knows some parents and teachers who have remained at the Las Cruces schools.
The It Gets Better nonprofit organization gave Las Cruces Centennial High School a grant to build a gender-inclusive closet. (Screenshot/Photo by Robert Alexander/Archive Photos/Getty Images)
"I would really encourage them to be involved. Volunteer, go to school board meetings. I knew teachers, people who love their kids in Las Cruces, but they wouldn't set a foot within the school board meetings. And it's sad because that's the only way you're going to see change is if you are a voice instead of just someone sitting disgruntled in the background," Hein said.
"It's going to impact the future generation, and there's going to be so much confusion if we're not willing to stand and say, no, enough is enough. This is not what we want within our schools. And it's not about hate. It's not about wanting to keep others out. It's about using school for the purpose that it's intended," she concluded.
Fox News Digital reached out to Las Cruces Centennial High School for a comment but has yet to receive a response.
Lindsay Kornick is an associate editor for Fox News Digital. Story tips can be sent to
