My last DailyKos piece was about extending my worries and fears for LGBTQ youth in our schools based on actions of local school boards in Virginia. Now, our governor has exponentially escalated those fears. (Read more about my visit to the Virginia Beach City School Board here)
As the youngest state assembly candidate in the commonwealth of VA, I graduated 10+ years after a lot of the folks I see in this space. This has and will always make me a little more in-tune with how our schools operate today. I know what it’s like to be politically involved as a teen, I know what it’s like to be one of the few queer individuals as a teen, and I know what it’s like to have bullies like Glenn Youngkin who don’t know what they are talking about spread misinformation and hatred.
Recent headlines will fill you in for those of you not involved with Virginian politics. Youngkin has decided on his own that trans students don’t deserve respect, that teachers can ignore preferred names and pronouns. Ripping the commonwealth away from the mountains of progress that democrats have made in recent years ensuring that trans students felt safe and comfortable in their own schools. I would have thought making all students safe and comfortable was not controversial, but in this hellscape we have found ourselves in this doesn’t seem to be the case.
As a candidate, seeing these decisions on abortion and LGBTQ students being completely mishandled only make me want to push harder. My seat would be a blue flip in 2023 and I know that is one of the MOST impactful things I can do to show that Virginians don’t, won’t, and will never stand for this bigotry and discrimination. I immediately started looking into expanding my team, and I want people who are angry at our government because I know they are just as fired up as me to prove an actual point. VA 98 deserves an advocate as a leader, and after the overturning of Roe federally, trans restrictions at the state level, and book banning lunacy at the local level I feel equipped to be that advocate.
On the flip side of the coin, as a gay student in the commonwealth I feel these direct attacks on my community. I feel the anger and fear that I guarantee I am not alone in feeling. It’s scary that our elected officials are comfortable enough to project their feelings of hatred onto children, and that people are letting him. These decisions are embrace by an entire political party and to be entirely honest that makes my head spin so fast I think it will fly into the air before I am done writing this article. At the same time I get that motivation to keep pushing I also feel the desire to hide until this is over. I don’t like not having guaranteed answers and solvency but this is a situation with we will be riding on for a long time.
My name is Zach Coltrain and I am running for the Virginia House of Delegates in VA 98 at 20 years old. Help me win this fight, and help me actually make the discourse we will see over education in the state house aware of students perspectives and needs. We can and will legislate for ourselves in the near future and I am ready to jumpstart this in 2023.
