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Fairfax school board approves family planning benefits for LGBTQ employees, staff

Superintendent has six months to implement plan

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Karl Frisch (Photo courtesy of Karl Frisch)

The Fairfax County School Board on Tuesday voted in favor of a new proposal that would start the process of achieving family planning benefit parity for LGBTQ employees and staff.

The decision, which board members unanimously approved, mandates Supt. Michelle Reid to develop a legal plan as to how the school system can achieve parity in the realm of family planning benefits for qualified LGBTQ employees.

Family planning coverage — which includes health screenings, infertility and preconception services and methods to both prevent pregnancy and help achieve it — is designed to offset the financial costs for those who are seeking to form their own families.

Co-sponsoring the proposal with fellow board member Megan McLaughlin, Karl Frisch released a statement following the decision. The policy, Frisch said, would help to maintain and grow their workforce and lead the school system toward a more equitable environment for employees.

“To attract and retain a premier workforce, especially in this extremely competitive hiring environment, qualified FCPS employees must have equitable access to the school division’s robust family planning medical benefits,” Frisch said. “Our LGBTQIA+ employees and their families deserve the same respect and support as anyone else. Fairness is fundamental.”

Frisch in his statement also makes note of the broader disparities in family planning benefits when detailing the rationale behind the board’s decision.

“Almost universally, medical insurance providers define family planning benefits that assist with conception in heterosexual terms, leaving qualified LGBTQIA+ employees with limited access to the same benefits enjoyed by their non-LGBTQIA+ colleagues and forcing them to pay for needed treatments out of pocket,” Frisch wrote.

Given the additional services typically required for LGBTQ individuals and couples to become parents, the disproportionate costs are often exacerbated when medical insurance declines to cover such costs because of their sexual orientation or gender identity.

Data collected by Family Equality, a nonprofit organization that seeks to promote equality for LGBTQ families and those attempting to start them, suggests that in vitro fertilization (IVF) treatment alone —which same-sex couples wishing to have biological connection to their children widely use — can cost anywhere from $13,500 to more than $21,000.

This is on top of data that, as Family Equality notes, suggests LGBTQ households in America make less on average that non-LGBTQ households.

Although Frisch acknowledged that parity is being achieved to a greater extent on local levels and in the private sector, he said the statewide landscape made the school board’s decision necessary.

“Some local governments and corporations have established grant programs to bridge this gap and provide family planning benefit parity for qualified LGBTQIA+ employees,” Frisch wrote. “In addition, a few states now require insurances companies to provide family planning benefit parity for LGBTQIA+ people — Virginia does not.”

Following the approval of the proposal, the board has given Reid six months to create the plan that will “analyze current [Fairfax County Public Schools] family planning benefits” in order to identify appropriate benefits and achieve such parity within the district.

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Virginia

Winsome Earle-Sears ‘Life and Marriage Tour’ to include Northern Va. stops

Voters to consider marriage equality, reproductive rights referenda in November

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Former Virginia Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key

Former Virginia Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears has announced her campaign against efforts to enshrine marriage equality and reproductive rights in the state constitution will make several stops in Northern Virginia.

Her “Life and Marriage Tour” will include stops in Manassas, Winchester, and Harrisonburg. Earle-Sears said the “Life and Marriage Tour” will also travel to Virginia Beach, Lynchburg, Roanoke, Charlottesville, and other cities across Virginia “throughout September and October.”

The announcement did not include specific dates.

“Virginia, you’ve been asking where the Life and Marriage Tour is headed — here’s a look at our current tour locations,” she said on X on Tuesday. “We’ll be traveling across the commonwealth throughout September and October, and we’re still building the journey.”

Current Gov. Abigail Spanberger, a Democrat, last November defeated Earle-Sears, a Republican, in the race to succeed Republican Glenn Youngkin.

Voters in 2006 approved the Marshall-Newman Amendment, which defined marriage in Virginia as between a man and a woman.

Same-sex couples have been able to legally marry in Virginia since 2014. Youngkin a decade later signed a bill that codified marriage equality in state law.

Two successive legislatures must approve a proposed constitutional amendment before it can go to the ballot.

Spanberger signed bills that finalized the marriage equality and reproductive rights referenda’s language.

The referenda will take place on Nov. 3.

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Doug Ollivant to face Eugene Vindman in Va. 7th Congressional District

Republican defeated challengers in Tuesday’s primary

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<strong.Doug Ollivant (Screen capture via @DougForVirginia/YouTube)

Republican Doug Ollivant will face off against incumbent U.S. Rep. Eugene Vindman (D-Va.) in Virginia’s 7th Congressional District.

Ollivant defeated his Republican opponents in Tuesday’s primary. Vindman ran unopposed.

Vindman in 2024 ran to succeed then-Congresswoman Abigail Spanberger in the U.S. House of Representatives after she ran for governor. Spanberger succeeded Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin in 2025.

U.S. Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) on Tuesday easily won his primary. All other Democratic incumbent members of Congress from Northern Virginia also won their respective primaries.

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Winsome Earle-Sears launches campaign against Va. marriage equality amendment

Former LG lost to Abigail Spanberger in 2025 gubernatorial race

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Former Virginia Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)

Less than a year after losing Virginia’s gubernatorial race, former Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears is campaigning across the state against constitutional amendments that would protect marriage equality and reproductive freedom.

She is launching a statewide “Life and Marriage Tour” ahead of November’s election.

Although same-sex couples can legally marry under the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2015 Obergefell v. Hodges decision, Virginia’s constitution still contains language that defines marriage as between one man and one woman. Supporters say removing the language would protect marriage equality should federal precedent change.

The original ban was written into the state constitution in 2006. 

It has been hinted at in the past by Supreme Court Judge Clarence Thomas that he would consider revisiting Obergefell v. Hodges regarding contraception and marriage rights for same-sex couples. He stated this in his concurring opinion regarding the Dobbs v. Jackson ruling, which allows for state-level abortion bans.

Equality Virginia Executive Director Narissa Rahaman said removing the ban would bring the state’s constitution in line with existing law.

“20 years after banning marriage equality, it’s time for our commonwealth to fully complete our evolution — and finish the job on protecting marriage equality for all,” Rahaman said.

In an email to supporters, Earle-Sears said these amendments “raise serious concerns” and could alter principles about which Virginians care.

“That is why our efforts are focused not only on informing voters, but also encouraging them to carefully consider these proposals and vote NO on both amendments,” Earle-Sears said.

Virginia voters will consider three constitutional amendments this November.

Earle-Sears is campaigning for voters to reject two of them: the Virginia Remove Constitutional Same-Sex Marriage Ban Amendment and the Right to Reproductive Freedom Amendment.

A “Yes” vote on the Same-Sex Marriage Ban Amendment would include removing a provision that states marriage is between one man and one woman and prohibitng the state from denying a marriage license to two adults based on their sex, gender, or race, according to the Virginia Department of Elections.

In 2025, during debates against now Gov. Abigail Spanberger, Earle-Sears argued it is not discrimination to think that gay people should not be allowed to marry. She claims it conflicts with her faith.

According to ABC 8, in 2024 she wrote that she had a “moral opposition” to marriage equality, after former Gov. Glenn Youngkin, a Republican, signed a marriage equality bill that barred denying marriage licenses based on sex, gender, or race.

According to the Virginia Department of Elections, a “Yes” vote on the Reproductive Freedom amendment supports adding a section to the state constitution that would give Virginians the right to make and carry out decisions regarding reproductive healthcare, except in specific exemptions.

The Virginia Department of Elections wrote that if accepted, the amendment would allow the state government to pass laws to regulate abortion care in the third trimester of pregnancy, but require abortion care when it is medically needed to protect the life and health of the pregnant person or because the fetus is not viable.

During the 2025 election cycle, Earle-Sears was clear on her anti-abortion stance.

According to the Virginia Independent, she utilized campaign funds to donate to the Family Foundation of Virginia. The group is a faith-based, anti-abortion, and anti-in vitro fertilization non-profit.

The “Life and Marriage Tour” will include traveling throughout Virginia to speak with citizens, churches, community organizations, and local leaders. The exact locations have yet to be announced.

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