The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors voted 9-0 last Tuesday to mark Transgender Visibility Day later this month. The lone Republican on the board, Patrick Herrity, was a no-show for the vote.
“I'm just very happy that we're recognizing a community that has too often been pushed into the shadows and celebrating yet another community within our diverse tapestry here in Fairfax County," Democrat Supervisor Jimmy Bierman said during the proclamation's vote.
Democrat County Board Chairman Jeff McKay, meanwhile, said the board has a "moral responsibility to stand up for all people, not just the people we like or the people we agree with."
While Transgender Visibility Day is marked each year on March 31, critics are especially outraged this year given it falls on Easter Sunday for Christians outside of the Eastern Orthodox Church.
"By voting to make Easter this year Transgender Visibility Day, they are intentionally trying to offend Christians on the holiest of days by forcing gender ideology down their throats," Stephanie Lundquist-Arora, Fairfax chapter leader of the Independent Women's Network, told Fox News Digital. "This is reprehensible and unbecoming of our elected representatives."
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Tonight, Mayor Catherine Read proclaimed March 31, 2024, as Transgender Day of Visibility in #FairfaxCity. Accepting the proclamation was Rev. Emma Chattin of the Metropolitan Community Church of Northern Virginia of Fairfax City and church community members. #LiveLifeConnected pic.twitter.com/M6kMGF2a0G
— City of Fairfax, VA (@CityofFairfaxVA) March 26, 2024
"Visibility for some of our members has meant being filmed and photographed with their likeness bearing ugly and false accusations and statements spread over social media and used for anti-trans fundraising, fear mongering and conservative political gain and that's wrong," said Chattin, who's also executive director of Transgender Education Association. "As such, visibility can even be a heroic thing, especially for our trans women of color in our community, who face additional intersectional obstacles of prejudice regarding safety, housing, employment and health care."
Regarding the importance of the proclamation, Chattin said "it means that you you see this community, and this is a visible declaration of solidarity, and the leadership necessary to help build a better world."
In a column for The Washington Examiner, Lundquist-Arora argued the proclamation is totally unnecessary.
"Aside from the inappropriateness of Transgender Visibility Day being on Easter this year, the resolution seems unnecessary in Fairfax County," she said. "The transgender activist community does not have a visibility problem in northern Virginia. But it does appear to have a narcissism problem. Fairfax County School Board, for example, has designated June as LGBT Pride Month and October as LGBT History Month. The community gets two full months of celebration in our district’s schools. Apparently, that just wasn’t enough."
