After signing a lease in northern Virginia to qualify as a resident, conservative commentator Matt Walsh — who lives with his family in Tennessee — appeared Tuesday evening at the Loudoun County school board meeting, where he characterized members as “child abusers.”
Walsh made the appearance at the meeting after renting a home in Loudoun County, a decision he made in response to the district’s decision to ban non-residents from commenting at meetings. The new rules state participants must provide identification as well as proof of residence in Loudoun County to enter the facility for the meeting.
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“I would thank you all for allowing me to speak to you tonight, but you choose not to allow it, yet here I am,” Walsh said during his brief time in the meeting. “Now, you only give us 60 seconds, so let me get to the point. You are all child abusers. You prey upon impressionable children and indoctrinate them into your insane ideological cult, a cult which holds many fanatical views, but none so deranged as the idea that boys are girls and girls are boys.”
“By imposing this vile nonsense on students to the point even of forcing young girls to share locker rooms with boys, you deprive these kids of safety and privacy and something more fundamental, too, which is truth,” he continued. “If education is not grounded in truth, then it is worthless. Worse, it is poison. You are poison. You are predators.”
Walsh’s remarks Tuesday night centered on a measure the school board approved in August, requiring all teachers and staff members to refer to children using their preferred pronouns. They also approved a policy to permit students to choose to participate in whichever locker rooms, restrooms, and sports teams correspond to their selected identity.
In late May, the Loudoun County school district suspended a Christian P.E. teacher, Tanner Cross, because he said he would “never lie” to a student by affirming a person can be any sex other than that which corresponds with his or her biological makeup.
“I’m a teacher, but I serve God first, and I will not affirm that a biological boy can be a girl, and vice versa, because it’s against my religion,” he said at the time. “It’s lying to a child. It’s abuse to a child. And it’s sinning against our God.”
A circuit court judge ruled in Cross’ favor in early June, awarding a temporary injunction to the educator, calling the district’s suspension “unconstitutional” and “vindictive.”
Then, in late August, the Virginia Supreme Court rejected an appeal from Loudoun County Public Schools, leaving the earlier ruling in place and requiring the district to fully reinstate Cross.