Right-Wing Extremism Already on the Rise in Virginia After Glenn Youngkin’s Election

From the DPVA:

Right-Wing Extremism Already on the Rise in Virginia After Glenn Youngkin’s Election

Richmond, VA — Barely a week has passed since the election and right-wing extremists in Virginia have already proposed to ban and burn books and target transgender students with discriminatory anti-LGTBQ policies that violate state law.

“I think we should throw those books in a fire,” — Rabih Abuismail

Echoing Glenn Youngkin’s closing campaign message that called for the banning of books and the silencing of authors, Spotsylvania School Board members Rabih Abuismail and Kirk Twigg proposed the burning of LGBTQ-friendly books after voting with the school system to ban the books in schools on Tuesday.

After leading the charge with Twigg to ban the books from the school system, Abusimail told the board “I think we should throw those books in a fire.” Not to be outdone, Twigg remarked that he would like to “see the books before we burn them so we can identify within our community that we are eradicating this bad stuff.”

Then, in a Hanover School Board meeting on Tuesday, board members voted to target transgender students in the school system with an anti-LGBTQ bathroom policy. The board voted to implement a discriminatory policy that bars students from using the restroom of the gender with which they identify, which is against state law and Virginia Department of Education guidelines.

“The effort to ban and burn books and target LGBTQ students with illegal and discriminatory policies is what exactly happens when you embolden right-extremists with falsehoods to score political points as Glenn Youngkin did. It’s more than concerning to already see a rise in extremism and we call on all elected Republican officials to denounce this extremism,” DPVA communications director Jayce Genco said. “The Democratic Party of Virginia will fight tooth and nail against these efforts to ban books and target LGBTQ students, and we will continue to lead the fight to keep Virginia an open and welcoming place for all.”