Virginia
LGBTQ students join protests over new Fairfax County school superintendent
Critics say incoming official lacks experience leading large, diverse district
The Fairfax County, Va., School Board voted 9 to 3 on April 14 to approve the appointment of a new school superintendent for the county school system after more than 200 students, including members of an LGBTQ student group, held demonstrations against the appointment at several high schools earlier in the day.
After a months-long search process, the School Board selected Michelle Reid, the current superintendent of the Northshore School District in Bothell, Wash., a small city located within the Seattle metropolitan area, to replace current Fairfax School Superintendent Scott Brabrand, who is stepping down effective June 30.
The student protesters have joined other community and advocacy groups, including the Fairfax chapter of the NAACP, in expressing concern that Reid’s experience in leading a relatively small school district with about 22,000 students is insufficient to head the Fairfax school system, which enrolls about 180,000 students who come from more diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds.
School officials and members of the School Board who voted for Reid’s appointment said they were impressed with the knowledge, understanding, and staunch support Reid expressed for policies embracing and supporting a racially diverse school system such as Fairfax County Public Schools.
Reid, a former school principal who holds a doctorate degree in educational leadership, expressed strong support for the needs of LGBTQ and other minority students during her interview process, according to gay Fairfax School Board member Karl Frisch, who voted in favor of Reid’s appointment.
“Throughout all of our interviews with her, Dr. Reid routinely spoke – unprompted – of the ways she addressed the equity needs of her study body – LGBTQIA students, Muslim students, students of color, English language learners, students with special needs, and more,” Frisch said during the April 14 School Board meeting.
“Her commitment to equity and inclusion was a thread woven through her answers, her accomplishments as a superintendent, and her commitments to this Board,” Frisch said.
Information on the Northshore School District website shows that the district adopted a strongly worded nondiscrimination policy protecting transgender and gender nonconforming students in 2017 during Reid’s tenure as superintendent. Fairfax County Public Schools adopted a similar policy on gender identity nondiscrimination in 2021.
The school system in previous years adopted polices banning discrimination against students, teachers, and other employees based on sexual orientation, which Reid strongly upheld, according to her supporters.
Although the Northshore School District adopted a strongly worded policy banning bullying and harassment of all students, including LGBTQ students, in 2011, new guidelines for updating and enforcing the anti-bullying policies were updated in 2020 under Reid, who began her tenure as Northshore superintendent in 2016.
Aaryan Rawal, a spokesperson for Pride Liberation Project, the LGBTQ student group that helped organize the student protests over the Reid appointment, told the Washington Blade one day before the protests that the Pride group was not aware of any actions taken by Reid against the LGBTQ students, but the group was unaware at that time of any actions she may have taken in support of LGBTQ equality.
Rawal pointed to a letter signed by 375 students sent last week to School Board members and a consulting firm that Fairfax school officials retained to organize a search for the new superintendent explaining the students’ objections to the approval of Reid as superintendent.
“Unfortunately, the voices of the student body were not heard during this search process,” the letter says. It says that while school officials held a 15-day community outreach period that included an 11-member student “stakeholder group,” the group was not representative of the full student body.
In a separate statement, the NAACP said it favored the hiring of another finalist candidate for the Fairfax school superintendent’s job, a Black woman educator and Omaha, Neb., Public Schools Superintendent Cheryl Logan, who withdrew from contention for the job on April 9 without giving a reason, according to reports by the Washington Post.
“The issue we all agree on is that Fairfax County Public Schools needs a superintendent who has commensurate experience in leading organizations of this size, diversity, complexity, and that the Superintendent of Northshore School District isn’t the right fit,” a joint statement released by the NAACP and other groups opposing Reid’s appointment, including Pride Liberation Project, says.
School Board members who supported Reid said she stood out from the pool of 72 applicants, among other things, because of her approach to equity and inclusion, according to FFX Now, the online Fairfax local news site. “Among this large, strong group, Dr. Reid was consistently at the top,” FFX Now quoted School Board Vice Chair Rachna Sizemore-Heizer as saying.
“We asked all of our applicants about how they would heal a divided community,” Frisch told fellow board members. “It says a lot about her character that she told us she would listen and that she would not presume to speak for others whose lived experience is different from her own,” Frisch said.
Virginia
Fairfax County School Board issues Trans Day of Visibility proclamation
Activists hold rally supporting measure
A group of more than 100 supporters gathered outside of Luther Jackson Middle School in Falls Church, Va., on Thursday, March 27 to show appreciation for the passage of a Transgender Day of Visibility proclamation by the Fairfax County School Board. The board unanimously passed the proclamation in its general meeting held in the auditorium of the middle school that evening.
Karl Frisch, Fairfax County School Board chair, introduced the proclamation recognizing March 31 as Transgender Day of Visibility in Fairfax County Public Schools.
The Fairfax County School Board passed the proclamation, which “encourages all to promote a caring culture of equity, inclusivity and respect for transgender people, not only on this special day but throughout the entire year as well.”
Vanessa Hall, co-chair of FCPS Pride, was among the speakers and organizers of the Transgender Day of Visibility rally preceding the school board meeting.
“In this world right now, this world which feels so chaotic and threatening — which really seems to be overly focused on trans children, removing their rights — we need to take this opportunity to gather our community, to celebrate joy, to see each other and to gather our strength for the next attack, frankly,” Hall told the Blade.
Rev. Emma Chattin of the Metropolitan Community Church of Northern Virginia was among the speakers at the rally.
“We have to be visible — all of us — friends, family, allies, speak up!” Chattin called out to the crowd. “To do otherwise does a disservice to the strong souls that came before us. For the struggles that they faced are now ours. The spirits of Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera look to us now. Because liberation is a long, long struggle. We are not helpless and we cannot be hopeless. Our time is now. We are a powerful people. We leave a mark and we will not be erased.”
Virginia
Virginia governor vetoes bill barring discrimination against PrEP users
Youngkin’s move disproportionately impacts LGBTQ community
Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin this week vetoed a bill that would have made it illegal for health and life insurance companies to discriminate against individuals who have taken pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) for HIV prevention.
House Bill 2769, titled Life or Health Insurances; Unfair Discrimination, Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis for Prevention of HIV, was passed by both chambers of the Virginia General Assembly. The bill cleared the Virginia House of Delegates with 53 yeas and 44 nays and the Senate of Virginia with 24 yeas and 15 nays.
Under the Affordable Care Act, PrEP is covered by most insurance companies, meaning the medication should be available through employer-sponsored private health insurance plans, individual healthcare plans purchased via HealthCare.gov or state-based marketplaces, as well as Medicaid expansion coverage.
If the Virginia General Assembly fails to override Youngkin’s veto, insurance companies operating in Virginia will be allowed to continue discriminating against PrEP users by charging them higher premiums or even denying them coverage altogether.
According to recent data from UNAIDS, gay men and other men who have sex with men are 7.7 times more likely to contract HIV. Since the first cases of HIV were reported, 78 million people have been infected with the virus, and 35 million have died from AIDS-related illnesses.
Currently, there are three FDA-approved forms of PrEP: Truvada (emtricitabine/tenofovir disoproxil fumarate), available for individuals of all genders; Descovy (emtricitabine/tenofovir alafenamide), approved for use by individuals assigned male at birth; and Apretude (cabotegravir), an injectable PrEP administered every other month by a healthcare professional.
According to the FDA, PrEP reduces the risk of acquiring HIV from sex by about 99% when taken as prescribed and lowers the risk by at least 74% among people who inject drugs. Since its approval, the World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that 3.5 million people received PrEP at least once in 2023.
Despite the bill’s passage in the Democratic-controlled General Assembly, Youngkin vetoed the legislation, a move that disproportionately impacts the LGBTQ community and others at higher risk of HIV.
The Washington Blade reached out to Youngkin’s office for comment but has not received a response.
Virginia
Pride Liberation Project announces additional Va. school board protests
Student-led group challenging Trump-Vance administration’s anti-LGBTQ policies
Following their recent protests at school board meetings in Virginia to challenge the Trump-Vance administration’s anti-LGBTQ policies, a student-led rights group on Wednesday outlined plans to continue their actions.
The Pride Liberation Project released a statement in early March announcing their “March Month of Action” after their first round of protests. The Pride Liberation Project on Wednesday issued another press release that provided additional details.
“Queer students will rally at local school board meetings across Virginia, as they call for education leaders to reject the Trump-Musk’s administration escalating attacks against queer people.” said Conifer Selintung on behalf of the Pride Liberation Project. “Since taking office, the Trump-Musk administration has ignored the real issues facing our schools — like declining reading scores and the mental health crisis — and tried to bully queer students into the closet. Alongside other hateful attacks, they’ve attacked nondiscrimination protections, banned gender-affirming care, and whitewashed history.”
The Pride Liberation Project press release also included a statement from Moth, an LGBTQ student at McLean High School.
“I want to be able to go to school as myself, just like any other student,” said Moth. “To do that, I need my school board to stand up to bullies.”
The Pride Liberation Project has also released a schedule of rallies it plans to hold this month.
The first rally took place at the Prince William County School Board meeting in Manassas on Wednesday. A second event took place at the Roanoke County School Board meeting on Thursday.
Additional rallies are scheduled to take place in Rockingham and York Counties on March 24, Loudoun County on March 25, and Fairfax County on March 27.
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