A trans-identified male substitute teacher was banned from King Middle School in Portland, Maine after he shared his highly sexualized TikTok account intentionally with students.
Lydia Lamere, also known as Chris Lamere, wrote his TikTok handle on the whiteboard at the front of the classroom and encouraged students to “check it out,” according to one student.
King Middle School students took to visiting Lamere’s social media at his invitation and began to circulate his suggestive, highly sexual videos in group chats.
One girl who attends King Middle School told her father, Mark Davey, that students were talking about and sharing Lamere’s videos in which he discussed sexual activity and could be seen nearly nude, as reported by The Maine Wire.
“My daughter showed me group text messages where all the students were talking about it,” said Davey.
The student’s father reached out to school principal Caitlin LeClair with several questions about the ordeal, but had not heard from her as of Tuesday. Davey said he would not have been surprised if Lamere was scrubbing his social media at the school’s guidance, perhaps to avoid further trouble for either party.
Davey referred to Lamere as a woman, though, and utilized feminine pronouns: “Her gender or sexuality has nothing to do with why I’m upset…The violation here is the sexualization of children.”
While much of Lamere’s TikTok content was deleted sometime last week after the widespread circulation, students had already downloaded several videos and continued to share them among one another.
In one video the students had been exposed to, Lamere is seen with only a towel on, posing provocatively and talking into a bathroom mirror.
In an email to parents of the school sent on Friday, January 20, principal Caitlin LeClair addressed the fiasco, stating she was made aware of the concerns the day before. “As [Thursday] unfolded, it became apparent that a lot of students were talking about the TikTok account,” LeClair wrote in her email. She made it clear that Lamere would not be returning to the middle school as a result of an “investigation.”
Tess Nacelewicz, communications coordinator for Portland Schools, confirmed details of the removal to Reduxx, noting that “the district has a strict policy on the use of social media by school employees that requires employees to preserve the integrity of the learning environment and maintain professional boundaries with students at all times.”
Nacelewicz stated that the process for vetting substitutes includes interviewing candidates and conducting background checks, but that law enforcement has not been contacted regarding Lemere’s conduct with students.
One account on TikTok appearing to belong to Lamere was being actively scrubbed and made private during the time Reduxx was surveying the content for this report.
As of late Wednesday night, Lemere’s TikTok account @lydia_moon_ had six videos up, five featuring Lamere in front of the camera and one of an animated video. Less than two hours later, Lamere began deleting the comments underneath the videos. Soon after, the account was no longer accessible.
In another video available through cache when Reduxx investigated, the instructor could be heard discussing “kink” and sexual positions, using terms commonly found in BDSM culture.
Lamere’s final video, posted on January 20, coincides with King Middle School Principal LeClair’s January 20 letter of confirmation that Lamere would not be returning to the school.
The former substitute teacher was evidently aware of the consequences that were presenting themselves following the promotion of a sexualized social media account to sixth graders. He fashioned the final post as something of a goodbye to his followers.
“Probably my last video on this account. Love y’all,” Lamere captioned the video, which featured an animation of the tale known as “The Ring of Gyges” from book two of Plato’s Republic. The story tells of a character named Gyges who finds a magic ring that gave him the power to disappear and reappear at the spin of the ring’s stone. Gyges uses the ring and its powers to murder a reigning monarch and take over the kingdom.
A partial transcript from the video reads: “… this story illustrate[s] how people can apparently benefit by acting unjustly. After all, wouldn’t any rational person act like Gyges if presented the opportunity to get what they desired without consequence? The only reason anyone conducts themselves virtuously is due to external influences … So it’s appearing – not actually being – virtuous that matters.”
A popular philosophy website explains that “One of the most famous discussions of justice occurs in Book II of Plato’s The Republic where [it is argued] that there is no intrinsic reason to be just.”
Prior to Lamere’s account being disabled, Reduxx obtained screenshots showcasing a sympathetic user’s comment on Lamere’s calculated, final post before he deleted comments and ultimately wiped the account, in which the user said, “I’m so sorry for what they did to you.”
Another comment read, “Will you be starting another [account]? I don’t comment often but I do enjoy seeing you on here,” to which Lamere answered “I don’t know.”
Lamere has also reportedly gone by the names Chris Lamere, Lydia Moon, Clodagh Moon, and Clodagh Lamere, and has apparently adopted multiple different sexualities and gender identities. Reduxx also found that Lamere once referred to himself as “Thorn.”
Reduxx found the Facebook account belonging to Lamere which has been active for over 10 years, with posts dating back to 2012.
According to the account, which uses the name “Lydia Moon,” the same name from his now-private TikTok, Lamere was raised in New Hampshire, graduated high school in 2007 and went on to anthropology at State University of New York at Plattsburgh which he graduated from in 2011.
Past work experience seems to include being an “environmental educator,” as well as working at a book shop and a pest control company.
Throughout 2016 and 2017, Lamere would post long, multiple-minute videos of himself reading various books out loud in front of the camera.
Lamere moved to Portland, Maine in July of 2020. Since then, Lamere had used his account to post almost exclusively about his identity as a “transgender woman” with several posts relating to his “transition,” including multiple requests for financial assistance.
After settling in Portland, Lamere penned a lengthy message claiming “fascists” were targeting him.
“hello! yes, i’m gay and trans, and mostly I don’t give a fuck about this website. i’m cautious about people who I friended on a whim 8 years ago turning out to be secret fash [fascists] and targeting me.” Lamere wrote, shirking grammar in the rambling text. “HOWEVER: this website has become complicit in far right terrorist activity. using this site has the potential to be extremely dangerous. I URGE you to move off this website as soon as humanly possible. Take a week long break, try not to post, more importantly, try to avoid advertisements. If you talk to your friends and all go over to twitter together, you can form a small community and start hyping each other up. I’m over on twitter at @thicketthorn. Remember that this website also owns the major photo site. I’d love to help you get started on twitter, give you a few pointers for using the site. If you are a friend or family member, make a twitter account as soon as possible.”
In October of 2020, Lamere shared a self-organized fundraising link to fund his laser hair removal and stated that his name was “Thorn.” The message on the fundraiser link, in which over $1000 was raised, says “Hello, I’m Thorn. I’m a few years into my transition, but I’ve found that beginning HRT has kicked these Needs into overdrive. Every day, I wake up and discover that there are more hairs on my cheeks and chin. I would feel so happy and euphoric if I woke up one day and that stopped. Anything helps, and I know that it’s a long process. You can share this gofundme in any platform.”
A few months later, Lamere told Facebook friends, “Just a casual reminder to all my friends and family that my parents kicked me out into a pandemic after I came out as trans. My dad’s kindly paying for the apartment while i’m unemployed after losing my job for asking my coworkers to wear masks …
I know I don’t post on here at all, but maybe I should. I have to change my facebook name for tinder purposes anyways. I’ll add some new pictures, but I’m super hesitant to post about transness over here on Facebook.”
Later that same day, Lamere posted a longer message, following up on the initial call for financial help, in which he shares that he had been on HRT (hormone replacement therapy) for eight months and “[has] been intensely pleased with it.”
He goes on to say that due to his hormone therapy, he is feeling “better physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually [and] sexually,” continuing by writing: “I’m not a predator, I’m just a woman who happens to be super tall and hot.”
He also shared that in response to asking for financial help due to unemployment, “I’ve already gotten more than enough donations from some very generous people, but i’ll drop my c*shapp ( $seajay ) down here again if you’re bored and want to give me money for some reason?”
Later in 2021, Lamere posted a screenshot of a message from Facebook which stated that Lamere could not change his Facebook name again as he had already done so in the past 60 days. He said in the caption “my names Lydia now…sorry im trans lol,” and one user commented “It really is unfortunate and messed up that they don’t allow name changes more often.”
He also posted photos of himself “before progesterone” and “4 months [on] progesterone,” with the comment “very problematic of me to base my assessment of my own femininity on my tits.”
Lamere is not the first trans-identified male teacher in the United States to become the subject of safeguarding concerns.
Last year, Reduxx reported that a trans-identified male high school teacher in Anne Arundel County, Maryland was placed on indefinite leave after troubling information surfaced regarding his conduct with students.
Willa Hoard, also known as “Billie” was a social studies teacher at Chesapeake High School and ran the school’s GSA (Gay-Straight Alliance) Organization.
Hoard’s classroom was labelled a “safe space” for “LGBTQ+ students” by the school at the direction of the GSA. So regardless of if a student was in class or not, if they reported to a teacher that they needed a “safe space,” they could go to Hoard’s classroom.
But on November 2, disturbing video footage began circulating on Twitter from inside Hoard’s classroom. The videos originated on Facebook, first posted by a concerned mother.
In one video, two students are seen laying on the ground together, with one grinding on or humping the other in the middle of a class lecture. Another clip shows one student sucking at the stomach of another student. Both clips took place while Hoard was present in the room, apparently unconcerned by the behavior.
But the sexual behavior Hoard allowed in his class was just one of many disturbing components of the story. Hoard had apparently been communicating with students through unmonitored channels, in flagrant violation of safeguarding ethics. In some screenshots, students are seen referring to Hoard as “mom” or “mother.”
Although Hoard is not allowed on school grounds, there has been speculation that students have maintained contact with him through private channels.
He remains active on TikTok and has apparently encouraged graduating students to message him directly on Instagram.
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Yuliah is a former researcher and journalist at Reduxx. She lives on the American east coast, and is an avid reader and book collector.
