The father of a Loudoun County, Virginia, student who was sexually assaulted in a so-called gender-neutral bathroom at her high school back in May has accused the district of covering up the assault, and now dozens of others have joined him in taking a stand against the superintendent.
At the Loudoun County School Board meeting on Tuesday night, more than 60 concerned parents, residents and students spoke in the wake of two alleged sexual assaults reportedly perpetrated by a transgender student. Many were calling for the resignation of Loudoun County Superintendent Scott Ziegler for his part in covering up the incidents.
The first sexual assault took place on May 28, when the victim’s father says that his ninth-grade daughter was sexually assaulted in the gender-neutral bathroom by a boy who was wearing a skirt. According to an attorney for the victim’s father, the boy has been charged with two counts of forcible sodomy, one count of forcible fellatio, and one count of anal sodomy.
Although Ziegler said at a June school board meeting that “the predator transgender student or person simply does not exist” and that they did not have any record of an assault occurring in their bathroom, the Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office confirmed the existence of the case and a thorough two-month-long sexual assault investigation that is still pending court proceedings.
Ziegler’s denial of the incident enraged the victim’s father, who was arrested for disorderly conduct after an argument erupted at the meeting.
His attorney, Elizabeth Lancaster, said: “If someone would have sat and listened for thirty seconds to what [he] had to say, they would have been mortified and heartbroken.”
The school board then voted on August 11 to approve a controversial transgender policy known as 8040 which requires all of their teachers to call students using their so-called preferred pronouns as well as bathroom renovations to make them more private.
Then, in October, at a different school in the district, a 15-year-old boy was charged with abduction and sexual battery of a fellow student. According to reports, the boy forced the female victim into an empty classroom, where she was held against her will and inappropriately touched. Reports have connected the two assaults to the same perpetrator, who was reportedly transferred to the other school following the first rape.
Parents speak out about damage caused by school’s liberal agenda
One angry mother said at the school board meeting: “The 8040 policy was rushed through to a vote without consideration for the safety of all students, simply to satisfy a liberal agenda – a policy that you knew full well would allow our children to be abused inside our schools. At least two young women are recent victims of sexual assaults in our high schools, one of them in a restroom.”
Another mother stated that even worse than having a child raped at school is having those trusted with students’ safety covering up the crime. She added: “Today, Scott Ziegler must resign for the unconscionable act of allowing an alleged rapist back into school to rape again, and for that coverup.”
A student who addressed the meeting took issue with being used as a pawn to further a woke agenda, saying: “I am 14 years old, the fact that I have to be here defending my rights to not have your radical agenda shoved down my throat in school is not only concerning, it’s upsetting. My peers and I are not tools to further your political agenda.”
Unfortunately, school districts around the country are adopting similar stances and bathroom policies, and their students will be the ones to pay the price for their carelessness.
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