GoFundMe — one of the largest crowdfunding platforms on the internet — seemingly caved to pressure from progressive activists, removing a campaign by a group of Northern Virginia parents concerned about critical race theory making its way into their children’s school curricula.
Scott Mineo, who runs the “Parents Against Critical Theory” group in Loudoun County, Virginia, said the site shut down the campaign after it raised around $4,000, according to The Washington Free Beacon.
Mineo started the GoFundMe page in mid-March after “anti-racist” parents associated with Loudoun County Public Schools launched a campaign against groups like PACT, The Daily Wire reported.
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The counter-group, “Anti-Racist Parents of Loudoun County,” is reportedly made up of current and former Loudoun County teachers and parents with the goal of publicly revealing the identities of those who are against critical race theory and finding ways to disrupt their communications and take down their websites.
Additionally, a former member of the Loudoun County School Board Equity Committee encouraged current committee members to report the campaign.
While GoFundMe did not indicate which terms Mineo’s campaign violated, the platform’s guidelines state it can remove any account it deems “in its sole discretion to be unacceptable.”
Faithwire reached out to GoFundMe and will update this story if a representative responds to our request for comment.
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In a statement to The Daily Wire, Mineo said he believes GoFundMe caved to attacks from the left.
“GoFundMe canceled my campaign because they are weak, afraid to push back, and are unwilling to reach out to the very people running campaigns they shut down because of hysterical activist groups or equity committees,” Mineo told the outlet. “What LCPS doesn’t understand is that I’m not going away and I will continue to expose their false narrative.”
Mineo has since started a new fundraiser on the faith-based platform GiveSendGo. So far, it has raised more than $2,000.
Parents’ concerns with Loudoun County Public Schools began last June, when the district embraced a “Culturally Responsive Framework,” which calls “for all students, staff, families, and other members of our community to engage in the disruption and dismantling of white supremacy, systemic racism, and hateful language and actions based on race, religion, country of origin, gender identity, sexual orientation, and/or ability.”
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In September, LCPS Superintendent Scott Ziegler proposed changes to the school district’s professional code that would deem “any comments or actions that are not in alignment with the school division’s commitment to action-oriented practices” intolerable.”
“Nothing in this policy or any other policy shall be interpreted as abridging an employee’s First Amendment right to engage in protected speech,” the proposed changes state. “[H]owever, based upon an individualized inquiry, speech, including but not limited to via social media, on matters of public concern, may be outweighed by the school division’s interest” in “[protecting] class equity, racial equity, and the goal to root out systemic racism.”