VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — The Virginia Beach School Board on Tuesday passed a resolution to honor October as LGBTQIA Month in its schools on a narrow vote.
After moving the resolution from the consent agenda to action items – separating it from resolutions honoring special months for bullying prevention, disability history and awareness, dyslexia awareness, and Filipino American history as well as Indigenous People’s Day – the board voted 5-4 to approve the recognition.
Only one board member – David Culpepper – spoke about the recognition before the vote, saying he wouldn’t support it.
“LGBTQ issues are intensely controversial and not appropriate for this environment for lots of reasons, and therefore I can’t support it,” he said.
Local resident Melissa Lukeson spoke in support of the resolution during the public comments period.
“You’re intentionally discriminating against students that you are supposed to represent,” she said.
Voting for the resolution were Beverly Anderson, Jennifer Franklin, Kimberly Melnyk, Jessica Owens, and Trenace Riggs.
Those who voted against it, in addition to Culpepper, were Michael Callan, Kathleen Brown, and Victoria Manning.
Shannon Kendrick and Carolyn Weems abstained from the vote.
October has been LGBTQ+ History Month since 1994, when Missouri high school teacher Rodney Wilson founded it.