Fairfax County of Virginia will celebrate “Transgender Visibility Day” on the upcoming Easter Sunday, in what critics call a deliberate mockery of their Christian beliefs.
Supervisor Jimmy Bierman, another Democrat, echoed the remarks. “I’m just very happy that we’re recognizing a community that has too often been pushed into the shadows and celebrating yet another community within our diverse tapestry here in Fairfax County,” he said. “We really are One Fairfax, and we want to make sure that everybody who’s a part of our community feels welcomed, feels loved and feels empowered.”
The sole Republican on the board, Patrick Herrity, didn’t show up for the vote, prompting Democrat board member James Walkinshaw to state he was “looking forward to the day when we have a full dais for this proclamation.”
Transgender Day of Visibility was first held on March 31, 2009, by psychotherapist-turned-transgender advocate Rachel Crandall. Although the day falls on the same date every year, critics argued that the county board could have at least picked another time to avoid antagonizing Christians who don’t wish to see transgender ideology celebrated on their sacred day.
In an op-ed on Washington Examiner, Fairfax local Stephanie Lundquist-Arora called out the hypocrisy in the board’s advocacy of inclusion and belonging, saying that its decision sends a message telling Christians that “they do not matter.”
“If McKay and other members of the board were serious about their stated commitment to representing constituents, there are many other days they could have designated as Transgender Visibility Day,” she wrote.
The proclamation, Ms. Lundquist-Arora argued, goes far beyond the board’s stated intent of making people identifying as transgender feel seen.
“By voting to make Easter this year Transgender Visibility Day, they are intentionally trying to offend Christians on the holiest of days by forcing gender ideology down their throats,” she said in a statement. “This is reprehensible and unbecoming of our elected representatives.”
Transgender Visibility Day was designated in addition to the two full months of LGBT celebration in the county’s public school district. Fairfax County School Board has already made June “LGBT Pride Month” and October “LGBT History Month.”
Public school students in Fairfax County are not unfamiliar with district-sponsored LGBT activism. In 2020, Fairfax County Public Schools adopted a rule requiring all students to refer to their peers who identify as “gender-expansive or transgender” by their chosen name and pronoun. The rule also allows students to use the restroom and locker room “consistent with the student’s gender identity.”
Earlier this month, a female student sued Fairfax County School Board, alleging that her speech is being compelled and religious freedom is being denied because of the pro-transgender bathroom and pronoun policies.
The unnamed student, represented by the conservative legal group America First Legal, accused the school board of violating her Roman Catholic belief by compelling her to “share a restroom with a biological male” and to use pronouns that do not correspond with biological sex.
“There is a culture of fear that exists at her high school, where students are afraid of getting disciplined or chastised by staff and ostracized by other students and branded as intolerant or unwelcoming if they do not accept or rubber stamp other students claims to be ‘gender expansive’ or ’transgender,'” the complaint read.
