I’m running for County Supervisor in Prince William, Virginia. If anyone had told me 10 years ago that my life would consist of fighting Neo Nazis, Klansmen, Confederate Sympathizers and Homophobes, I would have called you crazy… but here we are.
Yesterday, for the second time in our county’s 150-year history, our local officials took up a resolution to proclaim June as LGBTQI+ Pride Month. Yes, I know it’s already more than half way through the month, and yes I know that we’re in Northern Virginia, but our current set of county board members are behind… in more ways than one.
Last year, the extreme right came out in droves to preach to us about how embracing the LGBTQI+ community would lead to sexual assaults in bathrooms, integrated locker rooms, LGBTQI+ literature being handed out at festivals, and same-sex marriage being taught about in our schools. In the end, they lost and our board passed the resolution 5-3.
The very same people who voted against it last year did so again this year, including my Tear Party Republican opponent Ruth Anderson. The very same Ruth Anderson who has spoken at events for the Koch Brothers-backed Americans for Prosperity and spoke out against the Equal Rights Amendment. She has spoken in talking points for the Family Foundation against women’s reproductive freedom, too.
In her remarks last year, Ruth Anderson said that the resolution is “divisive.” I find erasing the accomplishments of an entire community due to religious extremism divisive.
That’s one of the many reasons why I’m running to replace Ruth Anderson this year, and why I need your help to do it.