Moms for Liberty and the anti-trans culture war hogwash conservatives were hanging elections on was roundly rejected by voters across the country. The rejection was so thorough in places like Virginia that Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin may have to retire from political life for a while after his term is up in 2025.
Maybe they should have listened to Matthew Conner, a Virginia parent, in October, when he spoke in front of the Virginia Beach School Board and tried to simplify the choice as to whether or not to adopt the anti-trans education policies put forward by state Republicans and Youngkin.
I wasn’t surprised by another delay at the last school board meeting, because no matter how hard you try to implement these discriminatory policies in the right way, you are never going to find a right way to do the wrong thing. And Gov. Youngkin’s policies are wrong.
One of the ways you could tell is because you have speakers from groups like Moms for Liberty here to support them. And I'll be real simple in case you aren’t paying attention—they're not the good guys. How can you tell? I can help. The good guys don't get declared extremist groups by human rights organizations. Never in history have the good guys been the ones trying to ban books. Never in history have the good guys been a segregationist group pushing to legislate identity. Never in history have the good guys been closely connected with and supported by hate groups like The Proud Boys.
And the good guys don't put Hitler quotes for inspiration on the front of their newsletters. News flash: They're the bad guys. They’re the bad guys here, supporting bad policy. And if you support the same bad policy, guess what? You're one of the bad guys, too. When you look around and see only the wrong people support what you're doing, you're doing the wrong thing.
Now you've heard some speakers come up here and say how they love these kids but won't accept them. I'm here telling you that if your love makes somebody not want to be alive, it's not love. That's not love. Some speakers are going to get up here and talk about parental rights. The only right the parent has is the right to responsibility. And if you need somebody else to tell you who your kid is, you're probably not that good a parent.
And some are going to get up here and tell you how it's the law. Well, I remind you that slavery and segregation also used to be the law here in Virginia, and that there is no right way to do the wrong thing.
So do the right thing. Reject these policies that harm and endanger our LGBTQ students. Be the good guys while you still can.
Conner’s power comes from the truth of what he says.
The video was originally posted to his account on TikTok.
Campaign Action