ASHEVILLE – Peyton O’Conner, a member of the Asheville City Board of Education, announced her resignation from the board Dec. 5 after an anti-LGBTQ group made multiple appearances during public comment periods, repeatedly misrepresenting O’Conner, who is a transgender woman, and spreading homophobia. and transphobic rhetoric.
O’Conner is the first trans board member, and likely one of the only trans people to serve on a North Carolina school board, Western Carolina University political science professor Chris Cooper said, according to his report. fair to know and understand.
The Arizona-based group Alliance Defending Freedom, which was identified as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center in 2016, was represented by local pastor Ronald Gates, who identified himself as an “ambassador” for the organization. Gates began speaking at ACS board meetings in October.
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On its website, the Alliance identifies itself as a “legal organization committed to protecting religious freedom, freedom of expression, the sanctity of life, parental rights, and God’s design for marriage and family.” .
O’Conner said on December 5 that he made the decision to resign after a “controversy” at the November 16 board meeting.
His December 5 resignation was effective immediately. O’Conner was appointed to the board in March 2021. Her term was intended to last until 2024.
He noted at the meeting, and in a Facebook post did shortly after he announced his resignation, that this is part of a long-established Alliance playbook.
After continuing the attacks, Gates will wait until he is censured, he said, and use it as leverage to sue, “and turn our district into a circus and s — show that he and the ADF want. This is not I guess the ADF don’t try to hide their tactics.”
“In light of that, I have decided to step down, so that fight can be taken elsewhere. I did not make that decision lightly,” Peyton said at the Dec. 5 meeting.
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“I think the writing is on the wall in terms of what the Alliance to Defend Freedom has done in other localities, and I really don’t want that to become something that focuses on Asheville City Schools.”
This Alliance strategy was also mentioned by Craig White, director of support schools for the Campaign for Southern Equality, who highlighted the group’s involvement in several campaigns supporting the forced sterilization of transgender Europeans and a series of anti-LGBTQ court cases.
These lawsuits also include a recent action in Albemarle County, Virginia, after the alliance sued the school system in December 2021 on behalf of a group of parents who alleged that the board’s anti-racism policy discriminates against students and creates a culture of hostility, according to reporting from El Progreso Daily.
“Locally, everyone loses and the ADF moves on to the next school district,” White said. “I think there is no place for the ADF in Asheville.”
Alliance Defending Freedom did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
‘the dust’
The “controversy” in question came at the Nov. 16 meeting, when Gates criticized O’Conner for tearing up a letter delivered to the board, which called for parents, school board members and local clergy to be informed if the teachers plan to allow “indoctrination teaching” into the school system.
During Gates’ public comment, he repeatedly misled O’Conner and was interrupted by a sledgehammer, and President James Carter, who said he couldn’t “do that” and that was not the purpose of public comment.
Peyton also spoke up to say: “Mr. Gates, I urge you to refrain from bigotry and hate speech, that’s not my genre.”
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The doors were doubled.
“We should focus on reading, writing, (numeracy) and history, true history, rather than sexual immorality or indoctrination or CRT,” Gates said on November 16. the board, respectfully, and the person who took the time to break that information is not known, as you reflect, as ‘Miss.’ I’ll say ‘Mr.’ if the blood was drawn XY, that he is a male”.
In this, Interim Superintendent Jim Causby can be heard repeating “No” in the background. After Gates left the podium, the audio of the meeting cuts out and a police officer can be seen leading Gates and his supporters out of the frame.
‘Something has to change’
In a Dec. 6 conversation with Citizen Times, O’Conner said situations like this only make things more difficult for LGBTQ youth in the school system.
“Queer youth are already swimming against the current, in many ways. Just, basically, seeing adults debate its validity, I don’t think that’s a good look. It’s definitely not something that I think would foster an inclusive school system,” O’Conner said.
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“You’re already seeing so much rhetoric nationally, that I really hated to see that carried over to Asheville.”
In her time on the board, O’Conner said this was the first highly visible anti-LGBTQ campaign sent directly to them, though it’s not a new narrative in many area school districts.
“Most importantly, students, staff and families need to see really positive examples of partnership. And it’s clear that the queer community alone will not be able to take on all of this, we need an ally who is assertive and aggressive, and who is willing to push back on some of these messages,” O’Conner said.
“This is a fairly common incident, but given the totality of things… I think it should be informative that something needs to change.”
Whats Next?
O’Conner’s resignation comes less than two weeks before the board’s first elected members are sworn in on Dec. 15.
The newly elected board members will replace outgoing board members Shaunda Sandford and Martha Geitner in December.
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President James Carter and board member George Sieburg will remain until 2024, when all members will be elected to staggered four-year terms.
O’Conner said this was the “nail in the coffin” for his family, in many ways, and that they will “take a step back” on politics. She said they intend to “keep it down” and move to Madison County.
According to ACS spokesman Dillon Huffman, The Asheville City Council will appoint someone to fill O’Conner’s seat, as she was originally appointed by the council.
Huffman did not know the timetable for this decision.
In the future, once there is a fully elected board, he said the school board itself will be responsible for such appointments.
This story will be updated.
Sarah Honosky is the city government reporter for the Asheville Citizen Times, part of the USA TODAY Network. News tips? Email [email protected] or tweet @slhonosky.