This Virginia Republican lawmaker sees LGBTQ+ history recognition and calls it ‘disgusting’

A Republican lawmaker in Virginia claimed that a local school district recognizing LGBTQ History Month was “transing the kids.”

Del. Tim Griffin used his campaign Instagram page to criticize the Loudoun County School Board for approving a proclamation honoring October as LGBTQ History Month. Griffin, who represents parts of Amherst, Bedford, and Nelson counties, cast the recognition of LGBTQ+ history as an effort to recruit children into the community.

“Loudoun County in Virginia is up to it again, where they are now having a gay month, an LGBTQ transing the kids month in October,” he said.

He suggested without evidence that the timing was intended to reach more children in school.

“If you thought that was only for June, I thought that as well, but I always wondered why they just did it during the summertime, where they couldn’t get as many kids into their transing program as possible,” Griffin said. “But here we are again, where they’re going to try to teach this to kids.”

He also condemned the board’s vote. “Despicable, disgusting. I hate to see this. Leave children alone. Like we shouldn’t have to do this,” he said.

The Advocate reached out to Griffin’s office to ask why he felt compelled to intervene. He did not immediately reply.

LGBTQ+ History Month began in 1994, when Missouri high school history teacher Rodney Wilson sought recognition for LGBTQ+ history similar to Black History Month and Women’s History Month. October was chosen partly because school was in session and because it marked the anniversaries of the 1979 and 1987 marches on Washington and included National Coming Out Day. In 2025, Wilson told The Advocate that history months offered a way to confront federal attacks on LGBTQ+ people and academic freedom. “It’s vital that we resist the current of events in every way available," Wilson said.

According to Ballotpedia, Griffin first won election to the Virginia House of Delegates in 2023 and won reelection last year with more than 69 percent of the vote. Virginia will not hold its next regular legislative elections until 2027.

The school board approved the proclamation in September with five members voting in favor, one opposed, and three abstaining. Much of the debate centered on whether proclamations should be approved as part of consent agendas or separately, according to the Loudoun Times-Mirror.

Beyond recognizing the month, the proclamation affirmed that schools would not discriminate based on gender identity, sexual orientation, or gender expression.

School board member Deana Griffiths cast the only vote against the proclamation. “The parents of Loudoun County should question what we are teaching our students with this particular history proclamation,” she said, according to the local paper.

But fellow board member Ross Svensen emphasized the connection between an inclusive school environment and students’ ability to learn.

“We are here to ensure our schools are affirming, inclusive spaces,” he said. “It is an educational issue because students are only able to learn when the environment they're in respects them for who they are and is supportive. This is a great example of why we need to have proclamations like this.”