Members of the McLean High School Gay Straight Alliance were among those on hand as the Board of Supervisors designated June as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Pride Month in Fairfax County.
Catherine Reed of Equality Virginia thanked McLean High School junior Darrell “DJ” Valdez for the effect he will have on the future, and on all civil rights.
“If it wasn’t for courageous people willing to stand up for the next generation, believe me, it’d be a lot harder for all of us,” said Reed. “It’s been 26 years of hard work to get where we are today.”
Valdez will be the president of McLean High School’s Gay Straight Alliance next year.
“Even in an area as progressive as McLean, it still feels as if our voice isn’t heard. It means a lot that you would voice this for us and with us. We are very grateful,” Valdez told the Board of Supervisors.
The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors designated June as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Pride Month in Fairfax County with a proclamation issued on June 2, 2015 in the Fairfax County Government Center.
“Fairfax County has a diverse LGBT community that includes people of all ethnicities, religions and professions,” said Supervisor John Foust (D-Dranesville). “Everyone should be able to live without fear of prejudice, discrimination, violence or hatred based on gender identity or sexual orientation.”
The proclamation “urges all residents to respect and honor our diverse community and celebrate and build a culture of inclusiveness and acceptance,” said Foust.
Six students from McLean High School and members of the GSA attended the ceremony.
“I suppose all I really have to say is thank you,” Valdez said.
“TOO MANY individuals continue to encounter discrimination and mistreatment,” said Foust. “Young people in particularly can find navigating sexual orientation very difficult and threatening during their teen years. That’s why it’s so important that we all join the fight against all discrimination.”
Supervisor Jeff McKay (D-Lee) referenced the May 7 School Board hearing, where the School Board added the words “gender identity” to its nondiscrimination policy.
“The School Board recently dealt with and grappled with a very touchy subject and I had the unfortunate opportunity of watching that entire public hearing and seeing some of the worst disrespect and hatred that still exists out there in our community,” he said.
“Many people have called this the civil rights movement of our era. Like all civil rights movement, it takes education, it takes advocacy if we are to make change happen,” McKay said. “I’m proud of what our school board did, I’m proud of people who came out to testify in support of it, I was disappointed in some of the things that were said that are just frankly untrue.”
“This is a human rights issue, plain and simple. We are all different in different ways,” said Board of Supervisors Chairman Sharon Bulova.
One of the McLean students who is transgender, thanked the Board for “everything that has happened this year.”
Doug Hansen, a Fairfax County employee with Department of Planning and Zoning, stood in alliance with the McLean students, representing all county employees in the LGBT community. Tara Dwyer, the faculty advisor also stood in support of her students. “As a person who falls under this umbrella, we would have never ever been so welcomed when I was a teenager,” she said.