Virginia
Alexandria City High School teacher called ‘faggot,’ threatened by students: report
Letter to school board says school officials failed to adequately respond
An English teacher who identifies as gay reports being verbally and physically threatened at Alexandria City High School and says school officials have failed to adequately respond to the students’ behavior, which he says included hurling the name “faggot” at him.
The teacher, Matthew Henry, who holds a doctorate degree, sent a detailed two-and-a-half-page letter to the Alexandria School Board through its online public comment site describing how he believes he’s facing threats by students.
“In my 13 years at ACHS, a school I love, I have never previously been called faggot to my face,” Henry states in his letter. “I have never been made to feel less than by any student that I can recall due to my sexuality, even if their religion, culture, church, neighborhood, friends or family tells them otherwise,” he wrote.
“Twice now this year, students have used that word toward me simply because I have asked them to go to class,” his letter continues. “Twice within a month’s time: November 13th and December 13th. Twice now,” he states in his letter. “A third time I was physically threatened, though that word was not used.”
He states that on the day he wrote his letter to the school board a student “wondering the halls” asked him a question about a location within the school he was looking for. When Henry responded, another student replied, “We ain’t talkin to you, faggot,” Henry recalls in his letter.
The letter, a copy of which the Washington Blade received from an Alexandria Public Schools spokesperson, has no date on it. But the Alexandria Times, which was the first media outlet to report the story on Henry’s letter to the school board, reports that the letter was sent early “this year.”
Henry has not responded to a request from the Blade to be interviewed about his report of anti-gay threats from students. His letter also does not say how the students targeting him for harassment learned that he is gay or whether he self identifies as gay at his school.
In response to a request from the Blade, the Alexandria Public Schools sent the Blade a short statement from Julia Burgos, the school system’s Chief of School & Community Relations, which was released in response to media inquiries.
“Please know that safety is a top priority at Alexandria City Public Schools (ACPS),” the statement says. “We are dedicated to creating a safe and welcoming environment for all students, staff, visitors and members of our school community,” the statement continues.
“To that end, we place a strong emphasis on adherence to our Student Code of Conduct with our students,” it says. “When we are made aware of matters that do not align with our code of conduct, we address them and take appropriate action with those students as warranted,” the statement concludes.
The statement does not say whether school officials have taken action against any of the students who Henry says have threatened him or subjected him to anti-gay name calling.
“Here, we count on the administration and this district to defend us when needed through quick and efficient consequences,” Henry says in his letter. “And I feel like my school and district is letting me down,” he wrote.
“This is why I’m so shaken by this. I am not allowed to defend myself and my instinct is to defend, both myself and others, especially LGBTQ+ students, in all aspects of my life,” he states.
“The word ‘faggot’ immediately alerts me and other LGBTQ+ people that a situation is now dangerous,” Henry’s letter continues. “The response by campus leaders was very unsatisfactory,” he wrote.
“The hallways of this school are an absolute NIGHTMARE,” Henry concludes in his letter. “I love being an educator, I love this school, and teaching is something I think I’m really good at. Many in this building feel the same,” his letter states. “It saddens me that a small group of students in this school is taking that away from us and is forcing many of us to look for off-ramps.”
Virginia
Gay 1920s-era Hollywood star to be honored in Staunton, Va.
Billy Haines became acclaimed designer after anti-gay policies ended his acting career
A project is underway in Staunton, Va., to honor William ‘Billy’ Haines, who was born and raised in Staunton before becoming an out gay 1920s and early 1930s-era Hollywood movie star whose acting career ended around 1934 when he refused demands that he conceal his sexual orientation and end his relationship with his male partner.
Haines left the movie business around that time to start what became a highly successful interior design and furniture business in Los Angeles that he led until his death in 1972 at age 72, and which remains in business today, according to the Arcadia Project, a Staunton-based nonprofit initiative.
In a statement released last month, Arcadia Project announced it is working to revitalize a long-vacant movie theater in downtown Staunton that it plans to rename after Haines. It says a fundraising campaign is under way to support efforts to reopen the theater and the larger building in which it is housed as a “dynamic mixed-use cultural center.”
The statement notes that Haines left Staunton at age 14 and resided in Hopewell, Va., and Greenwich Village in New York City until 1922, when he was “discovered” by a talent scout and sent to Hollywood.
“Between 1922 and 1934, Haines appeared in 54 movies during his meteoric and highly successful career,” the Arcadia Project statement continues, noting he transitioned from silent movies to talkies and was fully open about being gay. “But when Hollywood’s moral crackdown of the 1930s demanded that he end his relationship with his longtime partner Jimmie Shields, Haines refused,” it says.
“For LGBTQ people – then and now – Haines’s choice resonates deeply. Rather than deny who he was, he reinvented himself as an interior designer to the stars,” according to the statement.
It says he helped invent the so-called Hollywood Regency style home and designed homes for Hollywood legends such as Joan Crawford, Gloria Swanson, Carole Lombard, George Cukor, and Jack Warner as well as for political figures like Ronald Reagan when he was governor of California.
“As there is no monument, marker or public recognition for Haines in his hometown of Staunton, Va., Arcadia Project, in collaboration with the LGBTQ+ community in Staunton seeks to commemorate him inside a new cultural center,” the statement says.
It quotes Arcadia Project Executive Director Pamela Mason Wagner as saying, “Naming the movie theater in Haines’ honor is more than an act of historical recognition – it is a powerful statement about visibility, belonging, and whose stories are valued in our community.”
The statement says project leaders hope to open the cultural center in early 2027, with a fundraising campaign seeking to raise $250,000 to renovate the theater.
“If the full goal is not reached, a smaller space within the building will be named for Haines, scaled to the amount of funds raised,” it says. “We truly hope friends and admirers of Billy Haines everywhere will want to participate.”
Donations for the project can be made through this site: www.thearcadiaproject.org
Virginians for Marriage Equality on Monday launched a campaign in support of repealing Virginia’s constitutional amendment that defines marriage as between a man and a woman.
Equality Virginia Executive Director Narissa Rahaman, former state Sen. Adam Ebbin, former state Del. Mark Sickles, and American Civil Liberties Union of Virginia Executive Director Mary Bauer are among those who spoke at the launch that took place in Richmond. State Del. Kirk McPike (D-Alexandria), who co-chairs the campaign, also participated.
“This amendment is about making clear that the government has no business deciding which marriages or which families are worthy of recognition,” said Bauer. “The ACLU of Virginia has been fighting for Virginians’ right to marry who they love since the landmark case, Loving v. Virginia, which struck down the ban on interracial marriage. Now we are proud to carry that legacy forward by standing with our coalition partners in the fight to pass this amendment and finally enshrine the right to marriage equality in the commonwealth’s constitution.”
Voters in 2006 approved the Marshall-Newman Amendment.
Same-sex couples have been able to legally marry in Virginia since 2014. Former Gov. Glenn Youngkin, who is a Republican, in 2024 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.
Democratic Gov. Abigail Spanberger in February signed a bill that finalized the referendum’s language.
The referendum will take place on Nov. 3.
Virginia
Va. Supreme Court invalidates Democrat-backed redistricting plan
Voters narrowly approved new congressional districts last month
The Virginia Supreme Court on Friday struck down a Democrat-backed redistricting plan that voters approved last month.
Ten of 11 of Virginia’s congressional districts favor Democrats in the plan that passed by a 51-48 vote margin in last month’s referendum.
The Human Rights Campaign PAC is among the groups that support it. The court by a 4-3 majority invalidated the referendum results.
Democrats on May 11 asked the U.S. Supreme Court to stay the ruling.
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