The culture war was on full display last night at a meeting of the Albemarle County School Board. Fifty-two people signed up to speak about whether a conservative leader from Richmond should be allowed to address a meeting of Turning Point USA – a high school branch of the group started by the late Charlie Kirk. Sandy Hausman has more on the controversy.
Victoria Cobb heads a group called the Family Foundation which opposes abortion under all circumstances, objects to gay marriage and disputes the right of students to identify as something other than their gender at birth. When Western Albemarle High School agreed to let her speak during the meeting of a conservative student club, one member of the board of education – Allison Spillman – objected.
"Last week I did make a Facebook post on my personal and private account. I expressed my concern about a speaker invited to Albemarle High School and within hours someone screen shot my post and shared it with media and some political organizations," she recalls. "What followed was a coordinated campaign of harassment and intimidation, and it was terrifying."
Even during the board’s meeting, some speakers called on her to resign, but Spillman defended her post – wondering if, under current policies, a member of the Ku Klux Klan could also be allowed to address students.
"I did not intend to equate the TPUSA kids to the KKK," Spillman said. "I realize that that is how it was interpreted by many. I tell my children all the time that if you hurt someone – whether you intended to or not – you should always apologize.
She then apologized, but that didn’t satisfy some who saw this as a matter of religious freedom. Dana Langley noted that Charlie Kirk, the founder of Turning Point USA, who was recently assassinated, was a Christian.
“I think the devil has overplayed his hand. I pray that tens of thousands of young people will pick up Charlie's banner, courageously speak truth in a culture that tries to deny God’s truth. At this time I'd like to offer a prayer of gratitude for the schools board. Heavenly Father, we lift up our school board members to you tonight. Thank you for calling them to serve and for the commitment..."
Opponents in the audience then began coughing loudly, prompting the chair to pound her gavel. She had stopped the meeting twice to remind members of the audience not to applaud, cheer, boo or in any other way disrupt the discussion.
The hearing also brought testimony from students like senior Gray Tracy.
"Scientific consensus has for decades held that sex and gender are not inherently coupled and that individuals exist with genders different to the ones assigned to them at birth, and indeed with genders outside the conventional binary of man and woman," he explained. "However, the claims that Turning Point wants to bring to my school aren't just untrue. They're cruel. I am transgender and non-binary. I have first-hand experience with the ignorance and hate that are sadly so prevalent in our society."
And mental health professional Matthew Christianson felt compelled to speak:
"I have sat with people who are trans. I have heard their stories, the pain and hurt they have endured, the denial of their very existence. I have heard some tell me they want to die, because of the way they've been treated — that they don't know if they can keep going under the weight of the hate that has been piled on top of them, the death threats they've received just for existing. Schools are supposed to be a safe place for our children. Why allow in a speaker who is going to tell trans and non-binary students their existence is a lie?"
But parent Tavis Coffin defended the Turning Point Club, insisting its members might disagree with fellow students but were not guilty of hate.
“Believing in traditional gender roles or holding religious convictions about sex and identity is not hate speech," he said. "If we continue to start labeling every traditional viewpoint as dangerous or extreme, where does that leave the thousands of students in churches across this country who also hold these same beliefs? Are they also to be considered. extremist."
And the club’s faculty advisor, Michelle Karpovich, said she was deeply troubled by Board Member Spillman’s post, in which she wondered whether current policy would allow the KKK on campus.
“Our schools should be places where all students, regardless of background or belief feel safe, respected and heard. Equating a speaker presenting a widely held, biology-based view of gender is a reckless misuse of language.”
The superintendent and two board members had said at the outset that their hands were tied — that the Supreme Court had staunchly protected free speech in schools, but a member of the audience, civil rights attorney Lauren Baum, disagreed.
"The First Amendment and the Equal Rights Access Act do not protect discriminatory speech. You may lawfully prohibit speech that poses a material risk of substantial disruption or interferes with the rights of others. You also have a legal obligation – this is acknowledged in board policy – to maintain a safe and supportive school environment, free from harassment and discrimination. you have a legal duty to restrict this speech."
If the board did not change course, she said, she would ensure that gay and trans students could lawyer up and file suit.
Victoria Cobb is expected to address the TPUSA Club sometime next month. The title of her speech: Two Genders, One Truth.
