Virginia governor pardons man whose arrest at a school board meeting galvanized conservatives
The father of a Virginia student sexually assaulted in her high school bathroom has been pardoned after his arrest two years ago protesting a school board meeting became a flashpoint in the conservative push to increase parental involvement in public education.
Virginia Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin announced on Fox News Sunday that he had pardoned Scott Smith of his disorderly conduct conviction stemming from the June 2021 incident. The episode featured prominently throughout the gubernatorial campaign that year for Youngkin, who has made support for the so-called “parents’ rights” movement a cornerstone of his political brand.
“Scott Smith is a dedicated parent who’s faced unwarranted charges in his pursuit to protect his daughter,” Youngkin said Sunday in a press release. “Scott’s commitment to his child despite the immense obstacles is emblematic of the parental empowerment movement that started in Virginia.”
According to Loudoun Now, Smith threatened to kick out the teeth of deputies who dragged him away from a Loudoun County School Board meeting over state-mandated protections for transgender students. The local news outlet reported that he had argued loudly, clenched his fist and sworn at a woman while demanding answers over the handling of his daughter’s assault.
The daughter of the man arrested was raped in her High School bathroom by another student. Apparently the rapist is trans and so Youngkin, who was the republican candidate for governor at the time, used this as a major talking point for his campaign “democrats want your daughters to share bathrooms with rapists”. Youngkin was elected as Governor and this was probably a large reason for his election. It seems like Youngkin is now reminding everyone of this whole event, and where his beliefs remain on this particular subject.
According to the article,
Yeah, sorry I was going off of memory. I remember the whole “issue” seemed half baked, and there were mixed reports at the time.
Why does this remind me of one of the school shootings where reports came out that the shooter was autistic and suddenly all the media had reports on "how autistic people can be violent."
I'm autistic and most times autistic people are victims of violence, not the ones committing acts of violence. But this possible exception happens and there's a group ready to portay all autistic people as violent just like there was a group ready to use this possible exception to label all genderfluid people as rapists.
That's super slimy. I still would probably lose my shit the way the father did at the school board meeting. But it certainly isn't because the person is trans.
Yeah, the school board actually did some seedy shit to try and downplay the issue. The superintendent and others were fired and might be awaiting criminal trials. The father was totally justified being angry.