Virginia Police Arrest Attendees Protesting New Transgender Policies at Chaotic School Board Meeting
Virginia’s Loudoun County school board shut down a public comment period, and called police to arrest attendees, after parents objected to new transgender policy proposals.
Parents attended the Tuesday meeting to weigh in on new policies that include allowing transgender students to choose which restrooms they use, in addition to requiring employees to use the students’ preferred names. The board is expected to vote on the proposals on August 10.
A total of 259 parents signed up to express their opinion on the policies at the meeting. But, as depicted in the videos below by Gabriella Borter of Reuters, the event quickly derailed when the mother of one transgender student told the board that “hate” was “dripping from the followers of Jesus in this room,” a shot at Christian parents who oppose the proposals.” The comments sparked a chorus of boos and prompted the board to call a five-minute recess.
When the group reconvened, board chair Brenda Sheridan said the nine-member board had voted to end the public comment period if there was another outburst from the audience. But when former state Sen. Dick Black (R) took the stand to speak against the proposal — and said left-wing residents had been compiling a list of conservative neighbors to publicly shame over the issue — the audience cheered, prompting the board to vote to end the meeting. Attendees heckled the board members and began singing the Star-Spangled Banner as they left the room.
The Loudoun County sheriff’s office declared the school board meeting an unlawful assembly. Everyone told to get out or will be trespassing. Two arrests made #CriticalRaceTheory pic.twitter.com/23Cojtczvy
— Gabriella Borter (@gabriellaborter) June 22, 2021
Two arrests made at the Loudoun County, Virginia school board meeting after it was declared an unlawful assembly and some parents here to protest against critical race theory and a transgender policy refused to leave right away #CriticalRaceTheory pic.twitter.com/dsZDrqJ0Gp
— Gabriella Borter (@gabriellaborter) June 22, 2021
The scene tonight at a raucous Loudoun County school board hearing where many came to voice opposition to critical race theory. The meeting was stopped when the crowd wouldn’t quiet down and two were arrested. pic.twitter.com/WkiZCGJ6Jm
— Evelyn Hockstein (@evelynpix) June 23, 2021
Police subsequently arrested an attendee who said he refused to leave until everyone had a chance to speak, and a second man who they said “displayed aggressive behavior” toward another attendee.
Loudoun County includes northern Virginia’s left-leaning suburbs outside of Washington, D.C., which are populated largely by employees of the federal government. Nonetheless, elections in the region have historically been competitive, leading to sharp political divisions.
In a statement after the meeting (via the Washington Post), Sheridan said she was “concerned about the rise in hateful messages and violent threats aimed at progressive members of the school board,” and added that “opponents of the school board” had “severely hurt our ability to do the jobs we were elected to do.”
