MEAWW.COM / NEWS / HUMAN INTEREST

Outrage after Conway school board speaker says LGBTQ community members 'deserve death'

The board also decided that roommates for overnight hotel stays on school excursions would be determined by assigned sex at birth

CONWAY, ARKANSAS: An individual said that LGBTQ students "deserve death" during a discussion about trans community at a school board meeting in Arkansas. The meeting, which was attended by members of the school board and school students, sparked fury when a video of the speaker's horrific remarks was uploaded on TikTok with the caption: "the school board sat there and did NOTHING.”

In the TikTok video, the speaker was heard saying, “God gave them over to a depraved mind so that they do what they should not be doing. They invent ways of doing evil, but let me remind you that those who do such things deserve death. The LGBTQ community not only continues to do these very things, but also approves of those who practice them.” The board approved anti-transgender policies and voted to prohibit two books with LGBTQ themes. One of the anti-transgender policies requires trans students to use toilets based on their assigned sex at birth (or a single occupancy space). They also decided that roommates for overnight hotel stays on school excursions would likewise be determined by assigned sex at birth. After numerous attendees spoke in favor of the rule, the board decided overwhelmingly to forbid trans children from using toilets that correspond to their gender identity. 

RELATED ARTICLES

LGBTQ community slams Lena Dunham for saying she wants her casket driven through NYC Pride parade

Outrage forces Stonewall LGBTQ charity to backtrack on claims children as young as 2 could be transgender

A speaker who claimed that the idea of a "boy" using the bathroom with his daughter "doesn't sit well with me as a dad" was applauded. The anti-trans policies were also defended by state senator Jason Rapert. “For the first time in my entire representation in the Arkansas Senate have I ever felt led to come and speak at a school board meeting,” Rapert told THV 11. “I am proud of the school board members.” Students who were protesting also attended the meeting, waving Pride flags and yelling "shame." The protesters were hauled out of the meeting, according to someone who claims to have attended. It has been questioned if these regulations are in compliance with anti-discrimination and Title IX laws. As stated in an executive order signed by President Joe Biden last year, it is difficult to discriminate against LGBTQ persons without taking sex into consideration, thus the Title IX prohibition on sex-based discrimination in schools also prohibits discrimination on the basis of LGBTQ identities.

In response to the hate speech towards the LGBTQ community, Twitter users have come together in support after a tweet from a student called for help, stating: "Everybody! If you are in Conway Arkansas and can get to the School Board by 6:00 please show up. They have decided to vote on a policy that would ban all trans students from bathrooms as well as force teachers to out their trans students to their parents!" One of the users commented, “Wow!, the cruelty just doesn’t stop with these people. I am so so sorry the trans community and non binary individuals have to put up with the constant incoming hate by these people." Another one said, "Natal boys who are the least bit fem are grossly unsafe in adolescent gang-style restrooms. This is literally common knowledge & a totally clichéd truism. I imagine butch girls are also mistreated in the girls' restroom. This AR policy is like ordering mandatory bullying. SMDH."

While one of the users present at the debate replied to the tweet by saying, "I am at this meeting. I came in a bit late, but the first speaker I'm hearing is basically just preaching, spouting bigotry and slurring the LGBT community and talking about how we all deserve death."

This article contains remarks made on the Internet by individual people and organizations. MEAWW cannot confirm them independently and does not support claims or opinions being made online