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Loudoun schools superintendent fired, indicted over sexual assault case

Controversy continues over false reports that student charged was gender fluid

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Loudoun County School Board building. (Washington Blade file photo by Michael Key)

A Virginia special grand jury indictment unsealed on Monday alleges that former Loudoun County public schools superintendent Scott Ziegler “unlawfully” made a false statement during a June 2021 school board meeting by saying he was unaware that a sexual assault had taken place in the girl’s bathroom at one of the county’s high schools.

The Washington Post reports that although the indictment does not say so directly, it appears to be referring to a case in which a 15-year-old boy was charged with sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl in the girl’s bathroom at Stone Bridge High School in Ashburn, Va., in May of 2021 while he was wearing a skirt.

School officials, including Ziegler, came under intense criticism after news surfaced that the same boy was charged with sexually assaulting another girl in a vacant classroom in October of 2021 at Broad Run High School, also in Ashburn, to which he was transferred after being charged with the earlier sexual assault.

The indictment was unsealed one week after the Loudoun County Board of Education fired Ziegler after the same grand jury issued an earlier 91-page report highly critical of the way Loudoun school officials handled the investigation into the two sexual assault cases.  

The grand jury report, according to the Post, labels Loudoun school officials as incompetent and calls Ziegler a liar in connection with their handling of the two sexual assault cases.

Ziegler has said that he misunderstood a question a school board member asked him, incorrectly thinking he was asked whether he was aware of specifically transgender or gender fluid students assaulting other students in school bathrooms. He responded with a “no” answer, which the grand jury indictment says was a lie.

But Ziegler has said it was only later that he realized that the school board member asked him if any type of sexual assault had occurred in a school bathroom. Like LGBTQ activists, Ziegler has said he did not consider the boy who committed the sexual assaults to be transgender.

When reports first surfaced in October 2021 that the boy allegedly committed one of the two assaults in the girl’s bathroom while wearing women’s clothes, the revelation triggered a furious backlash against a transgender supportive schools policy adopted by the Loudoun County school system.

The policy, which called for allowing transgender and gender fluid students to use the bathroom and other school facilities that match their gender identity, was based on a similar statewide policy put in place during the administration of former Democratic Gov. Ralph Northam.

The current Republican governor, Glenn Younkin, has attempted to reverse that policy and put in place a new, highly controversial transgender schools policy that, among other things, would require students to use the bathrooms in accordance with their gender assigned at birth.

The Youngkin policy also would require written parental consent for trans or gender fluid students to change their birth names and wear clothes in accordance with their gender identity.  

LGBTQ rights activists in Virginia have argued that the trans supportive policy adopted under the Northam administration was based on legislation passed by the Virginia General Assembly banning discrimination based on gender identity and that Youngkin has no legal authority to reverse that policy.

Activists have also said the furor over the transgender supportive school policies was fueled by what they said has been unsubstantiated claims that the 15-year-old boy was transgender or gender fluid. The boy’s mother told the DailyMail.com that her son occasionally wore a skirt, but he wore jeans and male clothes most of the time and identifies as heterosexual.

The mother also pointed to law enforcement records showing that her son and the first of the two girls he was charged with assaulting had consensual sex in the bathroom twice before the alleged assault.  

The Post reports that it was Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares (R) who convened the special grand jury to investigate the Loudoun school officials’ handling of the two sexual assault cases.

According to the Post, the indictment unsealed on Monday also charges another Loudoun schools official, Wayde Byard, with felony perjury. But the Post says the charge against Byard and other charges in the indictment against Ziegler appear to be unrelated to the two sexual assault cases.

Another misdemeanor charge against Ziegler accuses him of using his position to retaliate or threaten to retaliate against an employee and “falsely firing the same employee,” the Post report says.

In a statement released to the Post, Ziegler criticized the grand jury’s actions, saying it appeared politically based, and said he would fight the charges against him.

“I am disappointed that an Attorney General-controlled, secret and one-sided process – which never once sought my testimony – has made such false and irresponsible accusations,” the Post quotes Ziegler as saying. “I will vigorously defend myself. I look forward to a time when the truth becomes public.”

Ziegler added in his statement that neither of the two assaults committed by the 15-year-old student “had anything to do with schools providing basic accommodations for transgender students.”

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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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