This year, a Virginia county unanimously agreed to mark Transgender Day of Visibility on Easter Sunday, which some critics consider “intentionally trying to offend Christians on the holiest of days.”
The Fairfax Board of Supervisors approved the declaration 9-0 last week, with Republican Supervisor Patrick Herrity absent.
LGBTQ+ campaigners and groups generally commemorate TDOV on March 31st, which also happens to be Easter this year. Easter does not fall on the same day every year for Protestants and Catholics, and it can occur as early as March 22 or as late as April 25.
“I’m just very happy that we’re recognizing a community that has too often been pushed into the shadows and celebrating yet another community within our diverse tapestry here in Fairfax County,” said Democratic Supervisor Jimmy Bierman during the vote.
Bierman, one of the nine members who requested the proclamation, stated that the county wants “to make sure that everybody who’s a part of our community feels welcomed, loved, and empowered.”
In response to Herrity’s absence, Democrat board member James Walkinshaw stated that he is “looking forward to the day when we have a full dais for this proclamation, and that day will come.”
County Board Chairman Jeff McKay, a Democrat, described the proclamation as part of the board’s “moral responsibility to stand up for all people, not just those we like or agree with.”
However, Stephanie Lundquist-Arora, a Virginia mother and the Fairfax chapter leader of the Independent Women’s Network, a nonprofit organization that describes itself as “a private online forum empowering conservative women to inspire, influence, and impact their communities,” called the decision “reprehensible.”
In a statement, Lundquist-Arora stated that board members “are not simply trying to make transgender people feel seen.”
“By voting to make Easter this year Transgender Visibility Day, they are intentionally trying to offend Christians on the holiest of days by forcing gender ideology down their throats,” said the spokesperson. “This is reprehensible and unbecoming of our elected representatives.”
The Human Rights Campaign, an LGBTQ+ advocacy group, describes TDOV as an acknowledgement of “significant progress in recent years, with more visibility than ever before.” However, it claims the group is “still fighting for basic human rights for the community.”
GLAAD, the largest non-governmental LGBTQ+ media watchdog charity, casts TDOV from a political perspective. According to the group’s website, the frequency of so-called “anti-LGBTQ+ bills,” such as those that limit surgical operations and hormone prescriptions for children, “harms all trans people.”
“That’s why it’s still necessary for trans people to be seen through authentic, diverse, and accurate stories that reflect the actual lived experiences of trans people, both for themselves and for those who believe they’ve never met a trans person,” a statement from GLAAD notes. “This includes in the news media, where too often trans people’s voices are missing from coverage of anti-trans laws and policies affecting their lives.”
The Fairfax County announcement comes as more conservative states seek to prohibit both surgical and nonsurgical transgender operations for adolescents. States such as Idaho, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Alabama, and Florida make it a felony to conduct surgical treatments on children, such as sex alterations, or to give them gender-transition medications.
Meanwhile, numerous states have enacted “shield laws” to safeguard these operations and gender-transition prescriptions for transgender individuals. California, Oregon, Washington, Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, New York, Vermont, Rhode Island, Maryland, Illinois, and Massachusetts are among the states represented.
