Arrested For Speaking At A School Board Meeting?

You can cut off the government-funded mics, but you can’t drown out the voices of hundreds of freedom-loving parents and students singing The Star Spangled Banner. 

That was the memorable ending of the Loudoun County School Board meeting yesterday evening. It began some five hours earlier with nearly 300 citizens who lined up to speak and packed out the school board room—the overwhelming majority of which were concerned parents and students who wanted to speak against rushing through a vote to adopt the “transgender and gender-expansive” policy; the promotion of critical race theory; and the prior suspension of physical education teacher Tanner Cross after he spoke against the transgender-issues policy.  

Though the meeting started with a school board official forbidding disparaging public comments, one of the first to speak was an LGBT activist who stated that "hate" was "dripping from the followers of Jesus in this room." Many in the crowd objected—yelling “hate speech”—to what seemed like a taunt against religious people, prompting a warning from the school board that public comments would be ended if the crowd could not remain quiet during testimonies. Family Foundation’s Candi Cushman was able to provide a balanced perspective with a plea to the board to put “the protection of kids’ minds, bodies and hearts first and foremost—ahead of political advocacy.” And a reminder “that it is possible to find compassionate ways to protect every child fairly without trampling on these core constitutional rights.”

As parent after parent—and many courageous students—continued to give compelling testimonies about how they felt their rights had been violated at the altar of a political agenda, audience members had trouble restraining themselves from supportive clapping and cheering. Eventually, after another round of cheering, the school board voted unanimously to end public comments—and that’s when things got interesting: As the school board members walked out, parents and students remained and began spontaneously singing The Star Spangled Banner. Then Jon Tigges, a concerned Loudoun citizen and community leader, invited the 200 or so people still waiting their turn to speak to remain and share their thoughts with the room—with the help of a megaphone and a stepping stool someone in the audience provided. What followed were some of the most moving and inspiring moments of the evening, as parents and students shared from the heart—including a high school student who shared the trauma she endured after being given a sexually explicit assignment dealing with group sex in her theater class. 

Unfortunately, after a brief disturbance was created by a couple of individuals (the circumstances weren’t clear at presstime)—which the majority of those in the room were ignoring and continuing to speak— a school board official declared that the meeting had become an “unlawful assembly” and told everyone they had to leave. John Tigges, however, who was facilitating the testimonies, said he would not leave until everyone had finished speaking. The police then arrested him, prompting an emotional reaction from witnesses in the school board parking lot.

At the time of this writing, reports were coming in that the school board was still discussing the transgender-issue policy. Meanwhile our Founding Freedoms Law Center will be representing Jon Tigges in fighting a trespassing charge. “Truth wins when people have the courage to share it. Today, truth won and everybody knows it,” Tigges told The Family Foundation.

In front of the school board building afterward, Family Foundation’s Candi Cushman shared with the crowd the encouragement that their “Wilberforce-minded” perseverance and courage was creating a ripple effect inspiring other parents and concerned citizens to speak out in their communities too.

Thanks to all of you who responded to our alerts and attended this meeting or signed our online petition in response. If you haven’t done so already, join the #protecteverykid movement today—this battle is far from over!