Joe.My.God. LGBT News
Via press release:
Today Liberty Counsel filed a lawsuit against the School Board of Fairfax County, Virginia, for illegally changing its nondiscrimination policy so that it conflicts with the state’s policy. Virginia law explicitly prohibits local governing bodies from adding to, or removing protected classes from, the state’s nondiscrimination policy. In direct defiance, Fairfax has added new groups to its policy twice now. The board added “sexual orientation” on November 6, 2014, and again added “gender identity” on May 7, 2015, of which the school failed to even define its intended meaning.
After attempts failed to convince the school board to follow Virginia law, Liberty Counsel is asking for a declaratory judgment from the Circuit Court of Fairfax County. Liberty Counsel has also requested a preliminary injunction to stop the implementation of this improper policy. The school board’s actions are unequivocally prohibited by Virginia Code §§1-248, 15.2-965 and under Dillon’s Rule, which prevents local governing bodies, including school boards, from including groups beyond what has been defined as a protected class by the General Assembly. The school board’s law should be automatically found void and reversed.
This lawsuit names the school board in its official capacity and is brought on behalf of Andrea Lafferty, President of Traditional Values Coalition, who is a resident and taxpayer of Fairfax, and also an anonymous family who are taxpayers in Fairfax County and have a minor who is a student in the Fairfax school district. These clients requested anonymity out of fear of retaliation from pro-homosexual activists, which is commonly experienced in these cases.
The Fairfax County school board has been the target of Christian hate groups for over a year. This is what happened in their election last month:
The Fairfax County School Board will retain a pro-LGBT majority following Tuesday’s elections, which saw 7 of 8 incumbents who had voted for trans-inclusive nondiscrimination protections re-elected.
The only incumbent to lose was Ted Velkoff, who was defeated by Jeanette Hough. Hough had been endorsed by the Traditional Values Coalition (TVC), which strenuously objected to the inclusion of sexual orientation and gender identity in Fairfax’s nondiscrimination policy.
Another TVC-backed candidate, Tom Wilson, picked up an open seat in the the Sully District. Together with incumbent Elizabeth Schultz (Springfield) — who had no opposition Tuesday — TVC and similar conservative groups managed a net gain of one seat, while pro-LGBT incumbents and challengers retained control of the board by a 9-3 margin.