Who is Heidi Beedle? Ex-teacher who created banned Colorado Springs Antifa Twitter account is a trans writer
COLORADO SPRINGS, COLORADO: Heidi Beedle, a former teacher and military veteran accused of "brainwashing" children, is the creator of the Antifa Twitter account that was banned for encouraging violence against far-right activists. Beedle, 38, previously acknowledged founding the Colorado Springs Anti-Fascists profile and blog, which reportedly "[instructed] comrades to assault people."
The account was blocked by Twitter last week as part of a campaign against accounts allegedly promoting violence. The group had promoted violence against alleged far-right activists by posting their names and addresses online. The account and blog were started several years ago by Beedle, a trans woman who is now a writer for the Colorado Times Recorder. She claimed to have cut links with the group "late 2018/early 2019" and that since that time, she hasn't had access to the accounts, as reported by DailyMail. Beedle has previously discussed how, while still a teacher, she came out as trans in 2014 and how the experience pushed her "more and more into anti-fascist activism."
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Beedle first confirmed establishing the Antifa accounts in Colorado Springs in tweets dated October 2019. The tweets were released in a post by conservative Post Millennial reporter Andy Ngo after the Twitter account was deleted.
Ngo also shared a collection of Beedle's 2016 blog entries in which she revealed that a parent had objected to her instructing students on "comparisons of Trump to Hitler." A student was given access to a book that Beedle claimed had "a kinky sex scene" and "a lot of drug stuff" in another post.
"[Beedle] was a teacher & wrote about how she politically brainwashed the students. She also wrote about giving a child a book that features kinky sex to celebrate trans month," Ngo stated in a Twitter thread. He continued by saying that the 15,000-follower Antifa account was "operated for years instructing comrades to assault people & directing members to get the home addresses, phone numbers of targets."
Beedle stated, "I don't know anything about who is currently operating the Antifa account or blog, which has migrated platforms since I left." She acknowledged creating the "original" account, but she noted, "The one that was suspended was I think the second or third iteration. It had been suspended and recreated at least once since I left, if I am remembering correctly."
Ngo's followers, and a bunch of conservatives, are freaking about the fact that I was "antifa" and are uncritically accepting Ngo's claims that I am behind twitter posts made by COS Antifa long after I ceased having anything to do with it. Those posts are bangers tho, for real. pic.twitter.com/MgcCIbgQ6N
— Heidi Beedle (@HeidiBeedle) December 20, 2022
Beedle stated, "Ngo's reporting is not going to have any impact on what antifascist activists are doing and will continue to do. I for one thank them for their service." In October 2021, she spoke about how she joined the anti-fascist movement in 'The Craig Silverman Show' podcast.
Beedle said that she spent eight years in the Army, where she attained the rank of sergeant before making the shift. She was named teacher of the year in Colorado's School District 49. Beedle revealed on the show that she came out as trans "about halfway through my education career," which "exposed me to a variety of different types of activist."
Beedle said, "While I was teaching I kind of got more and more into anti-fascist activism," adding that "you could call me Antifa. Really I just was kind of a nerd, I did a bunch of research, and contributed to a blog and, you know, exposed white supremacists, dudes from extremist groups like the Proud Boys."
Beedle stated, "I did that for a couple of years and then, you know, I just, between activism and teaching and life, I just kind of got burnt out on everything and kind of quit and walked away from that whole scene." She started working for the Colorado Springs Indy as a general assignment reporter covering "political extremism," which includes activities by White supremacists.
Currently, Beedle writes for the Colorado Times Recorder and her work has been praised as "invaluable" by Democrat Rep Steven Woodrow. Jason Salzman, a Colorado Times Recorder editor, stated, "Heidi has been very public about her move from activist to journalist ever since beginning her reporting career at the Colorado Springs independent."
Salzman added, "CTR was aware of this when we hired her. We are a progressive publication that does not endorse Antifa or any group, and other journalists on our staff have worked for left-leaning groups before becoming journalists. An editor oversees her work - just like all our reporters - for fairness and accuracy."
Elon Musk's promise to delete all accounts that advocate violence led to the suspension of the Colorado Antifa account.