A Call to Welcoming & Affirming Congregations
The Coalition for LGBTQ+ Students, a grassroots community group of volunteers, parents, teachers, and students, is seeking support for LGBTQIA youth in Anne Arundel County, MD.
Our Coalition supports LGBTQIA youth through education and advocacy. We promote legislation, policy and social change that protects the rights of the LGBTQIA student community and enhances the quality of life for all.
We have been alarmed by the increasing influence of anti-government groups who seek to eradicate policies and educational practices that protect LGBTQIA students in our public schools. Some of these groups are affiliated with national extremist groups.
To our dismay, these groups have been successful in engaging religious leaders to testify against policies that seek to protect LGBTQIA youth in our schools, which has promoted the false impression that faith groups in Anne Arundel County do not support LGBTQIA youth.
We know that this is not true, and we also know it’s important to counter the false narrative. Therefore, we are reaching out to welcoming and affirming religious leaders and their congregations who support civil rights, social justice and the inclusion and affirmation of marginalized groups.
Specifically we are seeking faith communities to develop a unified message that faith communities support educational practices that affirm our LGBTQIA students. This can be done in the following ways:
when needed, submit either written or in person testimony at Board of Education meetings in support of our LGBTQIA students;
when needed, submit letters to the editor to local newspapers
Additionally, we are alerting faith communities in our county that - just as is being done nationwide - extremist groups have been fielding candidates in local Board of Education races. Currently, in four of the 7 districts in Anne Arundel County, there are candidates running who oppose our inclusive values and goals. Some of the candidates are affiliated with groups like Moms for Liberty who want to ban books and eradicate protections for LGBTQIA youth. If elected, these candidates likely will propose and vote for dismantling current school policy and regulations that support LGBTQIA youth. In contrast, there are other Board of Education candidates who clearly support LGBTQIA youth and are committed to equity and inclusivity so that all our children thrive.
While most voters care deeply about public education, many do not know much about the Board of Education candidates. We are sharing information about the candidates and hope that you will share this with your friends, community, and congregation.
Here are two ways to learn more about the candidates.
First, most of the candidates responded to a questionnaire sent out by four social justice groups, (the Coalition for LGBTQ+ Students, Annapolis Pride, Connecting the Dots, and Maryland WISE), as well as to questionnaires sent by the Capital Gazette, the Baltimore Banner, and the Parental Alliance for Student Safety (PASS). Here is a link to a spreadsheet of the candidates’ responses that provides a valuable summary about the candidate’s positions on the issues that are under attack. Endorsements by the Teachers Association of Anne Arundel County (TAAAC) and PASS are also included.
(NOTE: There have been multiple questionnaires that speak to issues such as school budgets, redistricting, teacher pay, and recruitment. This spreadsheet focuses on responses to questions and issues that have been targeted as being “divisive” by extremist groups.)
Second, the Anne Arundel County League of Women Voters is sponsoring a candidate forum for the Board of Education on October 10 in Waugh Chapel from 6:30 to 8:30 pm. You can come and learn about the candidates in person. See: https://www.lwvaacmd.org/ for more information.
Thank you again for taking the time from your busy schedule to learn about our organization and advocacy. Please reach out to Abbie Ellicott at coalition4LGBTQstudents@gmail.com if you’d like more information and if we can assist your work to affirm and support LGBTQIA youth.
You can also learn more about our Coalition by going to our website www.coalition4lgbtqstudents.org. We have existed since 2017 and have been successful in advocating for important protections for LGBTQIA youth. We worked to get a law banning conversion therapy for minors in Maryland passed in 2018, making Maryland the 13th state to pass such legislation. Currently, there are 26 states that have passed similar laws, although these are now under attack from conservative groups. Several years later, we supported the Anne Arundel County Board of Education to develop a policy that safeguards the rights of LGBTQIA students called the Safe and Inclusive Environments for LGBTQ+ Students. This policy was passed in 2021 but is now being threatened by groups such as Moms for Liberty, who seek to eradicate protections for LGBTQIA youth in our schools.