Virginia
TikTok video of Va. father at school board meeting goes viral
Cody Conner’s child is transgender

Cody Conner, a father of three kids, gave a passionate speech supporting LGBTQ kids during the Virginia Beach City Public Schools’ board meeting last month that was uploaded as a TikTok video that has since gone viral.
Conner excoriated the board for considering implementation of Republican Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s anti-transgender school policies.
“You are never going to find a right way to do the wrong thing and Gov. Youngkin’s policies are wrong,” Conner told the board.
“Never in history have the good guys been the segregationist group pushing to legislate identity,” he said. “Never in history have the good guys been closely connected with and supported by hate groups like the Proud Boys. And the good guys don’t put Hitler quotes for inspiration on the front of their newsletters. News flash: They’re the bad guys. They’re the bad guys supporting bad policy. And if you support the same bad policy, guess what? You’re one of the bad guys too.”
“When you look around and see only the wrong people supporting what you’re doing, you’re doing the wrong thing. Now you’ve heard some speakers come up here and say how they love these kids but won’t accept them. I’m here to tell you that if your love makes somebody not want to be alive, it’s not love. That’s not love.
Some of you are going to get up here and say ‘it’s the law.’ Well, I remind you that slavery and segregation used to be the law here in Virginia.
I just knew I couldn’t standby and do nothing, just let it happen and hope everything worked out ok and I also wanted to make sure my kid knew that I would stand up for them,” Conner explains as he begins to tear up. “My big job as a parent is not to tell my children who they are, it’s not to make the decisions for them, it’s not to live their life or decide what their life is going to be, but to show them the best way I know how to walk through this world.”
According to PRIDE journalist Ariel Messman-Rucker, Conner moved his family to Virginia Beach right before Youngkin’s policies passed and he worries about the future of his 13-year-old transgender daughter who is now in the 8th grade. The family moved from rural Virginia to Virginia Beach so that their kid, who came out as trans a year ago, would be in a school system that would be supportive, but that all changed because of Youngkin.
The 42-year-old father told PRIDE he’s a quiet person and might not have made the choice to speak up if not for his kids.
Virginia’s Department of Education at the direction of the governor has set out “model policies” for public schools that require students to use the bathroom and sports team that matches their sex at birth.
The policies require written instruction from parents for a student to use names or gender pronouns that differ from the official record, meaning that teacher can deadname students — refer to them by their prior name — if paperwork isn’t filled out by the parents and it requires the school to inform parents if a student is questioning their identity, according to WVEC.
LGBTQ rights activists, including Equality Virginia, have stated these policies will be especially detrimental to LGBTQ students who come from conservative non-affirming homes.
The Virginia Beach School Board in a 9-1 vote approved an updated policy for trans and nonbinary students.
The new policy will require teachers to use pronouns and names that are on official record with exceptions for nicknames commonly associated with the student’s legal name. If a student requests anything else, teachers will be required to report it to the parents. Students must also use bathrooms and participate in sports teams that correspond to their assigned sex.
@beezay22 #CapCut #virginia #virginiabeach #schoolboard #schoolboardmeetings #lgbtqiaplus #transrightsarehumanrights #protecttranskids #stoptransgenocide #fyp ♬ original sound – BeezayDad
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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