The reality: a teacher / football coach working hard to prevent homophobic bullying and providing a safe environment for all his students.
Recruited Young Boys?
Not only is the notion of "gay recruitment" a well-known homophobic dog whistle, but the claim that Walz specifically recruited "young boys" is misleadingly narrow. The club did not aim to recruit male students exclusively, but students of any gender and sexual orientation. Further, he did not conceive of the GSA or seek out its leadership. He was asked by the principal of the school to supervise it. He described both aspects of the GSA's formation in an ad that ran during his 2018 campaign for governor of Minnesota:
I had students come to me who were concerned that there was an uptick in some bullying towards our gay and lesbian students, and this is in the mid-'90s. They asked if I would be interested in helping start a Gay-Straight Alliance group. My answer was absolutely.
I recognized my responsibility, in that you have an older, white, straight married male football coach who's deeply concerned that these students are treated fairly and that there's no bullying.
And the idea that my [football] players would be interested in coming to that [group] and learn and to speak, to create a culture in a school that was welcoming, open, and understanding was something Gwen [Walz, also a teacher at Mankato West] and I always strove for.
"It really needed to be the football coach, who was the soldier and was straight and was married," Walz told the Minneapolis Star Tribune in 2018. "In other words," the Tribune wrote in a profile of the then-gubernatorial candidate, "he would be a symbol that disparate worlds could coexist peacefully."
"It was important to have a person who was so well-liked on campus, a football coach who had served in the military," Reitan told the Times. "Having Tim Walz as the adviser of the gay-straight alliance made me feel safe coming to school." Another student from Walz's time with the GSA recalled to the Times the attitude Tim and Gwen Walz took:
"The Walzes were both like, 'There will be nothing but respect,' and it was just like laying down the law," said Nicole Griensewic, 41, a former classmate of Reitan's. "It was really bold."
In response to critics, Berry posted on X: "In a world where the truth is suppressed, the truth will look like hyperbole." A crucial corollary to this point could be this: In a world without context, anything can look nefarious.