Photo: AP Photo/Steve Helber –
Virginia Republican gubernatorial candidate Glenn Youngkin launched a scathing new campaign ad against his Democrat opponent, former Gov. Terry McAuliffe.
Youngkin’s campaign released an ad highlighting McAuliffe’s surprising statement from Tuesday’s final gubernatorial debate, where he proudly stated that he did not “think that parents should be telling schools what they teach.”
Youngkin’s ad blasted McAuliffe’s belief that parents should have no say over how government-funded public schools educate their children.
Youngkin confronted McAuliffe during the debate for vetoing a bill as governor that would have required schools to notify parents of sexually explicit content in school materials and readings. Parents would have been notified of the material and had the opportunity to request alternatives for their child.
Parents in Fairfax County expressed concern to their school board last month after discovering that several books in their school’s library included written and illustrated sexually explicit materials involving young children.
Stacy Langton, a parent from Fairfax County, questioned the school board during a public meeting about why parents were not informed about sexually explicit books the school library. Langton explained the kind of content that was in the books.
“Gender Queer, an illustrated memoir, contains explicit illustrations of oral sex and masturbation. The novel, Lawn Boy, contains graphic descriptions of sex between men and children. Both books were previous winners of the American Library Association’s Alex Awards, which each year recognize “’ten books written for adults that have special appeal to young adults ages 12 through 18,’” Langton said to the school board.
After Langton quoted explicit passages from the books, the school board cut her off and chastised her for using explicit language.
As governor, Terry McAuliffe vetoed a bipartisan bill that would have required schools to inform parents of sexually explicit books in school libraries. It would have allowed for parents to request that their children not be exposed to the material.
“Yeah, I stopped the bill that—I don’t think parents should be telling schools what they should teach,” McAuliffe bragged during the gubernatorial debate.
McAuliffe boasted that he is “not going to let parents come into schools and actually take books out and make their own decision.”
The Virginia gubernatorial election will take place on Tuesday, November 2, 2021.