Category Archives: LGBQT

No Woke-ism to See Here, Move Along Now: VMI Edition

Posted on March 10, 2022 by | 11 comments

A correspondent has forwarded to me a communication to all Virginia Military Institute employees from the VMI chief of staff:

The Office of Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion would like to offer a voluntary workshop (with certification) for employees who would like to learn more about working with the LGBTQIA+ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, questioning, queer, intersex, asexual +) community in a military context. Please read the following link https://modernmilitary.org/portfolio-items/rainbow-shield/ to learn more about what topics are covered in the certification. If you are interested in participating, please complete the survey below; the suspension is Friday, March 11 COB. If there is enough interest will try to have the training in collaboration with W&L.

Thank you in advance for your participation in this survey.

The creation of a bureaucratic machinery for Diversity, Equity & Inclusion at VMI came in response to allegations of systemic racism and, to a lesser degree, sexism. It looks like VMI will be treated to the full DEI experience, including LGBTQIA+.

At least the certification is voluntary.

— JAB

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The Richmond Times Dispatch, “Hate Groups” and Journalism

Posted on March 9, 2022 by | 40 comments

by James C. Sherlock

The Hanover County School Board (HCSB) is seeking legal assistance in reviewing its transgender policy from the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), a conservative legal organization that provides its services pro bono.

ADF’s key values that it goes to court to defend are religious freedom, free speech, marriage and family, parental rights, and the sanctity of life.  It has  won 80% of its court cases and played a role in 64 victories at the United States Supreme Court.

The HCSB, the target of an ACLU lawsuit, wants to know if their transgender policy is defensible in court.  ADF offered to review the policy and advise on modifications if any and a defensive strategy for free.

Seems reasonable.

But not to the Richmond Times Dispatch (RTD). Continue reading →

40 Comments

Posted in Charity and philanthropy, Civil Rights, Courts and law, Culture wars, LGBQT, Not-for-profits

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Is Your Kid Trans? Don’t Expect the School to Tell You

Posted on February 2, 2022 by | 27 comments

by Kerry Dougherty

In case you’re wondering how Glenn Youngkin came to be elected in Virginia perhaps it’s because the Northam regime ensured that you could drop your son off at school where he could duck into the girls’ room, slap on lipstick and demand everyone address him as “She/Her.”

And you’d be the last to know.

That’s right. Parents aren’t automatically notified if their kid is trans in Virginia thanks to the nutty wokesters in the last administration.

Get a load of these:

Continue reading →

27 Comments

Posted in Culture wars, Education (K-12), LGBQT

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Allyn Walker and ODU to Part Ways

Posted on November 25, 2021 by | 6 comments

by Kerry Dougherty

It’s official.

Allyn Walker, the Old Dominion University assistant professor who wants to normalize perceptions about pedophilia is out at ODU. Or rather, Walker will be out at the conclusion of the spring semester, when the professor’s contract expires.

Walker was placed on administrative leave earlier this month when an interview of the professor’s bizarre attitude toward pedophiles went viral.

In the meantime, the professor who uses the pronouns “they/them” and prefers to call pedophiles “minor-attracted people” will remain on leave and continue to draw an ODU paycheck.

This delay may do little to staunch the national outrage over the repulsive positions this professor has taken towards perverts who are sexually aroused by children. Continue reading →

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Posted in Education (higher ed), LGBQT

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ODU Professor Allyn Walker Put on Administrative Leave

Posted on November 17, 2021 by | 20 comments

by Kerry Dougherty

That didn’t take long.

Two days after Old Dominion University issued a tepid word salad supporting assistant professor Allyn Walker, who’s attempting to normalize pedophilia, the president of the university, Brian O. Hemphill, placed Walker on administrative leave.

Looks like the brass at ODU heard loud and clear from the parents, donors and students — you know, normal people — who are outraged that an assistant professor in the department of sociology and criminal justice is urging society to dignify pedophilia by referring to these freaks as “minor-attracted people” or MAPs.

This is the person — who uses they/them as pronouns – who’s been in the news for the past few days:

https://twitter.com/libsoftiktok/status/1458985538334068740?s=20

Continue reading →

20 Comments

Posted in Culture wars, Education (K-12), LGBQT

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Pedophiles Ought to be Stigmatized

Posted on November 15, 2021 by | 22 comments

by Kerry Dougherty

Stop it. Just stop. We’ve had enough.

At least I’VE had enough and I think I speak for many Americans who are done with woke. Done with the left. Done normalizing things that are anything but normal.

Late on Thursday night, as I was putting the finishing touches on Friday’s post, I got a text from a friend, “You’re prob aware of this – I just saw it,” with a link to this:

https://twitter.com/libsoftiktok/status/1458985538334068740?s=20

Continue reading →

22 Comments

Posted in Culture wars, LGBQT

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Harassment and Bullying Not the Reason for New Transgender Protections in Virginia Schools

Posted on November 13, 2021 by | 27 comments

by James C. Sherlock

The Virginia Department of Education’s Model Policies for the Treatment of Transgender Students in Public Elementary and Secondary Schools continue to be fiercely controversial.  

The Left points to harassment and bullying as the reason the 2020 law was needed. Yet we already had a law and policy against that.

The new policies were developed in response to House Bill 145 (22 Democratic sponsors) and Senate Bill 161 (four Democratic sponsors) enacted by the 2020 Virginia General Assembly.  

VDOE was directed to address each element specified in the law. Many think the authors went much further than they needed to comply with the law. 

It is important to know that the controversies are not over the parts of the law that protect transgender kids from bullying. Nobody defends bullying. And Virginia already had laws and policies to address that.  

It is time to provide and assess the facts. Continue reading →

27 Comments

Posted in Children and families, Education (K-12), LGBQT

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The Loudoun Way — School Rapes by a Member of a Progressive Protected Class

Posted on October 21, 2021 by | 17 comments

Loudoun County Commonwealth’s Attorney Buta Biberaj

by James C. Sherlock

Any time you think there is only one system of justice in America, consider these two stories I offer below, one a progressive dream and the other true.

The true story will show some progressives care more about their dogma than kids.

And any time you think only big city progressives don’t give a damn about child victims of crime, like in Chicago or New York, read the true one below.

It is underway in Loudoun County. Continue reading →

17 Comments

Posted in Children and families, Civil Rights, Courts and law, Culture wars, Education (K-12), Government Oversight, Individual liberties, LGBQT, Money in politics, Parental Rights, Scandals

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Dueling Claims of Victory in Transgender Lawsuit

Posted on July 30, 2021 by | 20 comments

by Emilio Jaksetic

On July 27, 2021, Judge J. Frederick Watson, with the 24th Judicial Circuit of Virginia, issued a decision on a lawsuit challenging the adoption of the Virginia Board of Education’s Model Policies for the Treatment of Transgender Students in Virginia’s Public Schools, reports The Virginia Star. Because Judge Watson dismissed the lawsuit for lack of standing, he properly did not rule on the substantive merits of lawsuit.

A copy of Judge Watson’s decision is available here. A copy of the Virginia Board of Education Model Policies is available here.

Despite dismissal of the lawsuit on procedural grounds, both sides claimed victory.

The Christian Action Network claimed victory on the grounds that Judge Watson’s decision included a ruling that the Model Policies is a guidance document and that school boards have the option to decide whether or not to follow it. Furthermore, the Christian Action network claimed “the judge is granting school boards the right to decline to act on Virginia’s ‘Model Policies,’ which is exactly what our lawsuit intended.”

The ACLU of Virginia claimed victory on the grounds that dismissal of the lawsuit was warranted, and asserted “[a]ll school boards in the state are legally required by law to pass policies aligning with the model policies for the 2021-22 school year.” Continue reading →

20 Comments

Posted in Courts and law, Education (K-12), LGBQT

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Transgender Medical Care for Children – Do not Parents Have a Role?

Posted on July 12, 2021 by | 46 comments

by James C. Sherlock

Yesterday’s two-part column, I responded to the Virginian-Pilot’s assertion that transgender rights are being conflated by conservatives with critical race theory in schools. 

I agree that they are, and I find it appropriate.  

Child instruction in CRT and transgender affirming psychological and medical interventions for children without parent participation are being advocated by the same people.

Some of our progressive commenters professed shock — shock — that I would characterize VDOE’s Model Policies for the Treatment of Transgender Students in Public Elementary and Secondary Schools as child transgender advocacy.  

A motion for immediate relief from Model Policies filed in Lynchburg circuit court offered some of the legal objections. Amicus briefs have been filed on both sides. So fair enough to disagree with me.

I will relate two contrasting viewpoints, one expressed in The Washington Post and the other by the the American Academy of Pediatrics.

The first minimizes the role of parents; the other considers parents as partners.

That is the primary political bone of contention in both the CRT in K-12 public schools and transgender student model policies controversies. The rest is details. To argue otherwise is sophistry.  So pick a side. Continue reading →

46 Comments

Posted in Civil Rights, Courts and law, Culture wars, Education (K-12), LGBQT

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School Board Fails on First Amendment

Posted on June 27, 2021 by | 104 comments

Tanner Cross   Photo credit: ABC11

by Dick Hall-Sizemore

The Loudoun County School Board has gone too far by disciplining a teacher for speaking in opposition to a proposed Board policy.

Tanner Cross, a physical education teacher, appeared before the Board at a meeting in May in opposition to a proposed policy regarding LGBTQ students. One of the provisions of the draft policy would require students to use the name and pronoun “that corresponds to [the student’s] consistently asserted gender identity.” According to the Washington Post, Cross said that he could not do that; he would never “affirm that a biological boy can be a girl and vice versa.” Continue reading →

104 Comments

Posted in Culture wars, Education (K-12), Individual liberties, LGBQT

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VDOE Transgender Policies Dangerous to Both Children and School Personnel

Posted on April 14, 2021 by | 5 comments

by James C. Sherlock

Virginia’s Model Policies for the Treatment of Transgender Students in Virginia’s Public Schools is a bigger mess the more I study it.

It is as far as I can tell unprecedented in scope. I checked parallel California, D.C. and Arlington County policies. None of them comes close to the dangerous nonsense in Virginia’s new Model Policies.

Even if we ignore the legal, medical, ethical and parental rights issues, which we won’t, Model Policies will prove untenable in any school that tries to comply.

We absolutely need to make transgender students feel safe at school and not discriminate against them in any way.  Arlington County has done it well in my view. But the Virginia Department of Education’s (VDOE) (Department) new regulation fails every test of professionalism and common sense with its attempt to address those needs.

Be assured however that Model Policies meets key tests of radical progressivism.

  • Its prescriptions challenge the tenets of every major religion and the ethics of people who care about ethics;
  • It is unsupported by evidence or common sense, uncaring of consequences, unachievable by sentient adults; and
  • It is mandatory.

Continue reading →

5 Comments

Posted in Children and families, Civil Rights, Culture wars, Education (K-12), Ethics, General Assembly, LGBQT

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Virginia Board of Education – In Loco Parentis and Headed to Court

Posted on April 6, 2021 by | 34 comments

Mark Herring

by James C. Sherlock

Is your child yours or does he or she belong body and soul to the state in the person of the Virginia Department of Education (VDOE)?   

That is a question that is not only reasonable, but absolutely necessary after reading its new transgender student regulation. That regulation represents a straight-up, in-your-face denial of parental rights.

The quasi-religious fervor with which the radical left now pushes children to “find” their transgender selves and the state to offer “support” in that decision to very young children is as disturbing as anything in American life. They consider that gender identity is an innate characteristic that most children “declare” by age five to six. They further believe the state should take it from there to protect them from their parents.

VDOE just released what will prove a fiercely controversial Model Policies for the Treatment of Transgender Students in Public Elementary and Secondary Schools pursuant to House Bill 145 and Senate Bill 161 enacted by the 2020 Virginia General Assembly. Under that 2020 law, the “policies” just released are mandatory for school boards, thus granted the status of a regulation.  

The whole conceit that the government – read the radical progressive left who wrote this regulation for VDOE – knows best what is right for your children is on full display in the document. It presumes to enforce government decisions on the sexuality of very young children both hidden from and against the wishes of the parents.   Continue reading →

34 Comments

Posted in Children and families, Courts and law, Culture wars, Education - Early Childhood, Education (K-12), General Assembly, LGBQT

Old News: Transgenders and Bathrooms. New News: Taxpayer-Funded Gender Reassignment Surgery

Posted on January 6, 2021 by | 39 comments

Del. Danica Roem, D-Manassas, Virginia’s first transgender legislator.

by James A. Bacon

I’m surprised this hasn’t caused an uproar yet: In his newly revised budget, Governor Ralph Northam wants to guarantee that transgender enrollees in Virginia’s expanded Medicaid program have access to “gender-affirming” care.

“This is an important equity issue and a critical part of making our commonwealth welcoming and inclusive of all,” Northam spokesperson Alena Yarmonksy told The Virginia Mercury.

The Mercury cites an estimate that 34,500 transgender people live in Virginia, of whom 2,000 are on Medicaid. Medical treatments can range from counseling to hormonal therapy and gender reassignment surgeries. If the General Assembly adopts Northam’s budget language, Virginia would become the 19th state to explicitly state that Medicaid covers transgender treatments. Continue reading →

39 Comments

Posted in Culture wars, Health Care, LGBQT

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Libertarians Need Not Apply

Posted on June 14, 2020 by | 41 comments

By Peter Galuszka

The Virginia Republican Party had a big shock Saturday.

Far-right candidate Bob Good snatched the party’s nomination in the fifth congressional district from incumbent Denver Riggleman, who was backed by President Donald Trump and Jerry Falwell Jr., the head of Liberty University.

The remarkable twist could presage an arch-conservative backlash against Trump’s populism in the run up to elections this November.

University of Virginia political analyst Larry Sabato tweeted early Sunday morning that “the Virginia GOP has gone so far to the right that a congressman backed by (Trump and Falwell) isn’t conservative enough to renominate.”

The 5th District includes the cities of Lynchburg and Charlottesville and covers broad swaths of highly socially conservative rural areas. Riggleman’s problem was that he had Libertarian tendencies and had officiated at a gay wedding. Continue reading →

41 Comments

Posted in Business and Economy, Courts and law, Culture wars, Elections, Electoral process, Immigration, Individual liberties, LGBQT, Media, Money in politics, Politics