Last year, revelations that a biological male student who wore skirts was committing rape in the female bathroom in Loudoun County Virginia, and was then moved around the district so as to commit similar offenses, rocked the commonwealth. At least it did in the eyes of some. The Republican ticket, Glenn Youngkin, Winsome Earl-Sears, and Jason Miyares, running for governor, lieutenant governor, and attorney general, respectively, made it a major campaign issue, while Democratic gubernatorial nomineee Terry McAuliffe scoffed at and denounced such concerns. Those Republicans ended up winning their races, and in large part due to their commitment on education and parental rights.
In the months following the revelations, more and more damning information has come out. As Townhall has covered, it was ultimately revealed that a wild cover-up was in play, with Superintendent Scott Ziegler being fired and then indicted by a grand jury.
Youngkin and Miyares have tweeted their thoughts, mostly updates and reminders of a commitment to getting to the bottom of the issue.
On my first day in office, I issued executive order 4 that empowered AG @JasonMiyaresVA to investigate allegations of sexual assault in Loudoun County public schools. Today’s report is an important step towards accountability and I applaud the AG for his initiative. https://t.co/UUO7YY1i7U
— Governor Glenn Youngkin (@GovernorVA) December 5, 2022
The special grand jury's report on the horrific sexual assaults in Loudoun has exposed wrongdoing, prompted disciplinary actions, & provided families with the truth.
— Governor Glenn Youngkin (@GovernorVA) December 7, 2022
I will continue to empower parents & push for accountability on behalf of our students. https://t.co/Yr1usVT53w
Yesterday’s grand jury report represents a big step in ensuring that the number one priority for LCPS, as well as all school districts across the Commonwealth, is the safety of our students. https://t.co/PUl1JmCN2m
— Jason Miyares (@JasonMiyaresVA) December 6, 2022
In the midst of all of this, Earl-Sears also tweeted an article on the importance of parents being empowered.
https://t.co/yy7x3byR19
— Lt. Governor of Virginia - Winsome Earle-Sears (@WinsomeSears) December 8, 2022
"The index reveals direct correlation between student achievement and parent power. The more parents are empowered, the better students do. That’s why parents today are demanding more, and why they deserve more."
Such reactions are in strong contrast to how the crime and cover-up were initially reacted to. McAuliffe does not appear to have tweeted since November 29, before the grand jury released its report.
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It's not merely McAuliffe's lack of tweets on the issue that speaks volumes. He did speak out on the campaign trail, but it was to denigrate and downplay Youngkin's concerns, along with those parents and other voters who supported Youngkin and appreciated having a candidate who fought for them.
In response to Youngkin's rally from October 19, 2021 calling for an investigation into Loudoun County, McAuliffe's Communications Director Christina Freundlich sent a statement to The Hill's Julia Manchester claiming in part that "Glenn Youngkin's entire campaign has been based on Donald Trump's divisive conspiracy theories, and tonight we saw more of the same--angry Trumpian conspiracy theories and constant threats against public school funding."
.@TerryMcAuliffe communications director @christinafreund out with a statement responding to Youngkin’s call to investigate the Loudoun County School Board— accuses Youngkin of “angry Trumpian conspiracy theories and constant threats against public school funding” #VAGov pic.twitter.com/XqBoFK8l9A
— Julia Manchester (@JuliaManch) October 20, 2021
While it's been over a year since Youngkin beat McAuliffe, if there's anything worth remembering about how poorly McAuliffe ran his losing campaign is that he was far too obsessed with former President Donald Trump and tying Youngkin to him, though the Republican nominee kept his appropriate distance. Also in October 2021, Washington Examiner's Salena Zito wrote a fitting column on how Virginians didn't really care very much for making the gubernatorial race so much about Trump.
Another similarly memorable and horrid tactic of McAuliffe's campaign, was to downplay the importance of education and parents' rights. In the final days before the election, McAuliffe went on NBC News' "Meet the Press," where he helpfully recapped the ways in which he smeared and lied on the issue. The Youngkin campaign produced a list detailing how McAuliffe told 15 lies in fact during his approximately seven minute interview.
McAuliffe served as governor from 2014-2018, during which he vetoed six bills on education, including those that Youngkin has signed, such as those to do with informing parents about explicit sexual materials in school.
It's also worth reminding that on that note, a particularly memorable and losing moment from McAuliffe during his second debate with Youngkin on September 28, 2021 was that "I don't think parents should be telling schools what they should teach."
Terry McAuliffe: "I don't think parents should be telling schools what they should teach." pic.twitter.com/7S15pTv1gY
— Greg Price (@greg_price11) September 28, 2021
When Youngkin addressed ending divisive topics like Critical Race Theory (CRT) during his campaign, which he fulfilled as part of the executive orders during his first day in office, McAuliffe made that all about Trump too. While on CNN's "State of the Union" on October 10, 2021, McAuliffe claimed that the issue was "made-up" and was "a Trump/Betsy DeVos/Glenn Youngkin plan to divide people." He had also said that "I really hate to see what Glenn Youngkin is trying to do to Virginia what Donald Trump did our country."
He also referred to CRT as "a racist dog whistle" and falsely claimed that it has "never been taught in Virginia." This is despite how the Virginia Department of Education, in 2015, when McAuliffe was governor, promoted CRT by name.
It wasn't merely McAuliffe, though.
Former Attorney General Mark Herring, whom Miyrares replaced, also failed to act. Miyares is not only the first Latino elected statewide in Virginia, but Herring was the first attorney general to be defeated in his re-election bid since 1885.
As Attorney General, I'll do the job Mark Herring refuses to do.
— Jason Miyares (@JasonMiyaresVA) October 19, 2021
I'll investigate the Loudoun County School Board and their coverup of sexual assaults. pic.twitter.com/kFd3yzeluL
In those stories tagged "Loudoun County" from Blue Virginia, it's worth noting that a piece on Atif Qarni, the Secretary of Education under Gov. Ralph Northam (D-VA), highlighted how Qarni appeared particularly outraged that right-wingers would consider the convicted rapist to be transgender, when in reality he was a boy that wore skirts. Emphasis is original:
- Secretary Qarni commented on the Loudoun County school sexual assault case, saying that: “the student who did the assault was actually NOT a trans student; in the media – Fox News and others – were saying that this was a trans student who sneaked into a girl’s bathroom and assaulted another child. That, I was clearly told is inaccurate; that’s a lie in the right-wing media. Now, the other things about whether the student was dressed up as a female student, pretending to be a female and sneaking in, that’s speculative, that I cannot verify…I do want to emphasize that there’s a bigger problem here…It’s a really unfortunate event where the school division did drop the ball and a student got assault, whether that’s a trans student or not; one student assaulted another student, it’s a significant problem…We have to prioritize safety of our children and it’s unacceptable that this occurred.”
- Secretary Qarni added that what “bothers me the most” about the Loudoun County bathroom situation is “how is it…these two students had a relationship, and how is it that they were allowed to leave the classroom for so long and carry on with this relationship and unfortunately it resulted in a significant assault, but why was that happening in the first place?”
- Also, Secretary Qarni argued, regarding the Loudoun County assault story: “the right-wing media exploited the situation and exploited the hurt of the specific student that was assaulted and manipulated and manufactured a false narrative, which is really unfortunate.“
Yup, it's "the right-wing media" that is at fault here.
It's also worth reminding that Northam was Youngkin's predecessor, and under whom the rape and other crimes throughout Loudoun County occurred. He also signed legislation that would stop requiring schools to report misdemeanor crimes to the police, which included sexual battery.
Our friends at Twitchy highlighted another shameful response, this one coming from The New York Times' Michelle Goldberg, though she has had plenty of shameful takes on a variety of topics.
Luke Rosiak of The Daily Wire, who was responsible for extensive reporting on the situation in Loudoun, showed a screenshot of Goldberg's article from October 28, 2021 side-by-side with his report about his reporting about the indictment from December 12.
How it started .... How it's going pic.twitter.com/Xc103yyTNj
— Luke Rosiak (@lukerosiak) December 12, 2022
Matt covered Goldberg's shameful take at the time as well, which Twitchy also did when Justin Jouvenal, with The Washington Post, had a similarly garbage take, though Goldberg's take was even worse. Leave it to The New York Times to publish op-eds that blame the victims if it gives them an outlet to blame the right.
Goldberg has not written further about Loudoun since details of the cover-up and indictments were reported, though Jouvenal has. There's been no update to Goldberg's op-ed in question either, though that's sadly not surprising given how the truth doesn't fit her narrative.
