Virginia
Loudoun schools superintendent fired, indicted over sexual assault case
Controversy continues over false reports that student charged was gender fluid
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.”
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.
Virginia
Va. county board of supervisors votes to defund library
Samuels Public Library faced calls to remove LGBTQ-themed books
The Warren County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday voted 4-1 in favor of defunding the Samuels Public Library in Front Royal after some residents complained about certain books in the library.
“The library is a nonprofit overseen by a board of trustees, but it counts on the county for about 70 percent of its operating budget.” NBC Washington reported. “The board has been trying to gain more control over the library after some residents complained about certain books in the collection.”
The Winchester Star in 2023 reported a wide-array of books with queer themes have been targeted by those who wish to remove stories about LGBTQ families and people. They have sought to ban children who frequent the library, which is more than 200 years old, from reading them.
Some of the books targeted were “Over the Shop” by JonArno Lawson, “Pride Colors” by Robin Stevenson, “Mama and Mommy and Me in the Middle” by Nina LaCour, “Plenty of Hugs” by Fran Manushkin, “I Love You Because I Love You,” by Muon Thi Van, and “Bathe the Cat” by Alice B. McGinty.
“Samuels Public Library serves more than 41,000 people in the County of Warren.” according to the library’s website. “In the last fiscal year, the Library had more than 127,000 visitors, over 400,000 checkouts, and hosted 542 programs that saw 19,194 attendees.”
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