LTE – JoAnn Utphall – 6-30-2021
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Loudoun County, Virginia has been in the news later. The local residents drew a line in the sand at the recent Loudoun County Public School Board meeting against the Critical Race Theory, Equity Collaborative training, transgender bathrooms, instructing teachers to address a person by that person’s gender affiliation even if it goes against the teacher’s belief, etc. During the last decade a lot of people have moved there from the metropolitan area; liberals were voted onto the school board. After these board members were elected, the residents found out what these officials really stood for and are not happy with the changes.
According to Mark Levin, there were reports of out-siders being bused in to speak in favor of the school board policies. Ian Prior, Fight for Schools ED and senior counsel for Silenced Majority, was listening/watching by zoom. He said that the first 17 speakers spoke in favor of the school board policies. After that most of the speakers were against current policies. The 7th speaker said that “Hate was dripping from the followers of Jesus in the room” which Prior thought was stated to rile up the crowd. Many in the room booed and so the school board took a 5 minute recess and voted that if there were any more eruptions they would close the meeting down. Later the audience applauded after Retired Senator Dick Black spoke and so the board ended the meeting. Prior stated that he believed that applauding was a form of expression that is guaranteed by the first amendment. Therefore shutting down the meeting due to applaud is a violation of the first amendment.
Black started off by bringing up the issue of teacher, Byron “Tanner” Cross who was placed on administrative leave for exercising his right to free speech when he was suspended for refusing to affirm trans-identity for school kids and speaking at the previous board meeting. The LCPS School Board also advised Plowman that he was restricted from the school building and ground of all LCPS property which would make it impossible to take part in future public comment sessions. There went his right to freedom of speech. When the school board cut off his comments by announcing they were moving on to the next agenda item, hundreds of local parents booed. At that point, the board dismissed the meeting. The parents wanted to continue talking. One of them was arrested by the police for trespassing. Another one was arrested while at the podium. All were being peaceful.
At the previous LCPS Board meeting, the teacher Plowman made national news for his speech to the school board, about his concerns governing the gender identity policy. Plowman said that he would never lie to a student about his/her gender and would not affirm that a biological boy can be a girl and vice versa. Judge Plowman ordered the school board to immediately reinstate him. Cross’s lawyer, Alliance Defending Freedom Senior Counsel, Tyson Langhofer, stated that “Public schools have no business compelling teachers to express ideological beliefs that they don’t hold, nor do they have the right to suspend someone simply for respectfully providing their opinion at a public meeting. … The bottom line is that the school district can’t use teachers as a mouthpiece to promote a political agenda that violates the teacher’s belief.”
It boils down to whether we have a right to voice dissenting opinions to our elected officials. In a free society everyone has a right to make their opinions and concerns known to their elected officials.
It seems like this pattern is showing up throughout the US, even on the local level. We are seeing this at some of the village, town or school board meeting where the chairperson is refusing to put certain items on the board meeting agenda (opposing opinion or they feel it is a waste of time), limiting who can speak or reducing the time a person can speak at the meeting (from what has been the traditional limit) during “public input.” I have also witnessed intimidation and harassment to residents who have a different opinion than the board member. Little things can grow into a gradual reduction of our freedoms.
A common meme on the social media has a picture of a train track leading into the notorious Nazi concentration camp Auschwitz in German-occupied Poland. On it are these words:
“It didn’t start with gas chambers. It started with one party controlling the media. One party controlling the message. One party deciding what is truth. One party censoring speech and silencing opposition. One party dividing citizens into “us” and “them” and calling on their supporters to harass “them”. It started when good people turned a blind eye and let it happen.” See any similarities?
Sincerely,
JoAnn Utphall
Boyceville