Virginia governor pardons man whose arrest at a school board meeting galvanized conservatives
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 for his actions while protesting the school's handling of the case at a meeting two years ago.
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.
I didn't hear about this when it originally happened. Not enough detail in the article to understand what actually happened.
- Scott Smith's daughter was allegedly assaulted in a bathroom by someone identifying as genderfluid
- At a school board meeting, Smith got into an argument with a woman, I guess related to this incident in some way, during which he was arguing loudly, clenching his fist, leaning toward and swearing at the woman.
- Deputies arrested him, taking him to the ground and busting his face up a little bit
- He struggled with the deputies while being removed, and video got distributed of him with a bloodied face struggling and threatening to "kick their teeth in"
- He was found guilty of disorderly conduct and resisting arrest
- The governor of Virginia pardoned him
Basically, Republicans were super excited about this whole thing because it backs up two things they particularly like: (1) A rare and exciting confirmation of their almost-totally-hallucinatory claim that we urgently need to keep transgender people out of bathrooms to protect the children (2) People on their team being above the law, and justified in violently resisting law enforcement if someone tries to subject them to the same rules as everyone else (the fascist playbook of replacing "what did you do?" with "which team are you on?" when deciding whether someone is guilty of a crime).
Mrm, I dunno. I keep thinking, if this was a Black man protesting an instance of police brutality in the same way and he got pardoned, would liberals rejoice and say justice was served? Probably.
We’re all biased. Not necessarily to the same degree, but it always bears asking yourself “what would we do in the same situation?”
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.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
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.
In a statement released Sunday, Smith vowed to pursue legal action against Loudoun County Public Schools and continue fighting “for parents and their children.” The district did not immediately respond to a phone call and email requesting a response.
But Loudoun County Commonwealth’s Attorney Buta Biberaj said Sunday that Youngkin was interfering in the case for “political gain” before the start of early voting in legislative elections.
The teenager convicted of assaulting Smith’s daughter was later found guilty of forcibly touching another classmate at a nearby school where the perpetrator was allowed to attend classes while awaiting trial in juvenile court.
Model policies posted last fall by the Virginia Department of Education say students use of bathroom and locker facilities should be based on biological sex and that minors must be referred to by the name and pronouns in their official records, unless a parent approves otherwise.
The grand jury’s scathing report accused the school system of mishandling the teenage perpetrator and said authorities ignored multiple warning signs that could have prevented the second assault.
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Seems like a good pardon. I still don’t like Youngkin though.