All reference material on the LCPS Theatrical Presentations policy is archived here.
Wednesday, March 8, 7:30 pm
LCPS Administration Building (rooms 102 A and B)
21000 Education Court
Ashburn, VA 20148
The Loudoun Education Alliance of Parents will be hosting a panel discussion of the “Policy on Theatrical Presentations” adopted by the School Board last summer. The policy was adopted, after months of public debate, in response to the uproar created over a play about sexual identity and tolerance written and directed by then Stone Bridge senior Sabrina Audrey Jess.
Patricia Phillips, the Virginia state director of the pro-censorship group Concerned Women for America, told the Washington Post that “the policy addressed her main concern, which was for ‘the normalization of homosexuality to be prevented.’”
Translated into plain English, this statement expresses an intent to abuse the policy in order to silence a lawful and legitimate viewpoint – that it’s normal and natural for some people to be gay, lesbian, bisexual and/or transgendered.
If this is in fact how the policy is being interpreted, if principals and teachers are suppressing controversial content to avoid the threat of the “heckler’s veto” from Mrs. Phillip’s group, then the implementation of the policy is unlawful.
Please plan to attend this important meeting, which will be the first public discussion of the impact on student freedom of expression since the policy went into effect.