Spanberger taps LGBTQ activist who fought girls' bathroom protections for state board
Virginia Democratic Gov. Abigail Spanberger appointed an LGBTQ activist who pushed back against efforts to bar biological males from girls' bathrooms and locker rooms to a state advisory board that...
By Fox News · Fox News
Virginia Democratic Gov. Abigail Spanberger appointed an LGBTQ activist who pushed back against efforts to bar biological males from girls' bathrooms and locker rooms to a state advisory board that helps shape recommendations on LGBTQ-related policies. Spanberger's appointment of Kellen MacBeth on May 22, who previously led the LGBTQ nonprofit Equality Arlington, follows a gubernatorial campaign during which she ran as a moderate and sidestepped questions about transgender participation in women's sports and access to female-only spaces. MacBeth, the founder of Equality Arlington, has become one of Northern Virginia's most visible LGBTQ advocates. Under his leadership, Equality Arlington has urged Virginia school districts to implement policies allowing transgender students to use bathrooms that align with their "gender identity" and has encouraged local governments to resist efforts to reverse those protections. The organization also advocated for preserving transgender-inclusive policies in Arlington Public Schools despite federal pressure to change them. MacBeth has also opposed Virginia legislation that would require schools to notify parents when a student identifies as transgender or permit parents to exempt their children from classroom instruction involving LGBTQ-related topics. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION PROBING SOME VIRGINIA SCHOOL DISTRICTS OVER GENDER IDENTITY POLICIES Northern Virginia became ground zero in the nation's debate over transgender bathroom and locker-room policies after several school districts adopted rules allowing students to use facilities that align with their gender identity rather than their biological sex. Some parents and conservative critics argue that gender-inclusive school policies have, in some cases, compromised the privacy and safety of female students, pointing to incidents such as a ninth-grade girl being sexually assaulted in a school bathroom by a biological boy who identified as transgender. Last month, federal investigat…