Fairfax Committee Volunteers are Under Attack
Be an Observer at the March 19, 2025 FLE Curriculum Meeting
You may be unaware but sex education is under attack in Fairfax County. Since January 1st of this year, far right blogs and extremist groups have attacked the reputations, intentions, and actions of the students, parents, educators, and professionals on the Family Life Education Curriculum Advisory Committee (FLECAC). They have even gone so far as enlisting hate groups and the Fairfax GOP to spread lies about adult and student volunteers who have committed their time and talent to ensure inclusive, scientifically accurate, and age-appropriate FLE curriculum for K-12 in FCPS. You can read more about these attacks in Why is FLE under attack?
This year, the FLE committee was tasked with making the FLE curriculum in Elementary School more inclusive, meaning that it would include new topics or approaches to ensure that the diverse student population in Fairfax County could be seen in the curriculum. One component of this is to ensure that gender identity is included in the curriculum, as students and parents have expressed that the current curriculum ignores transgender and nonbinary students to such an extent that the curriculum can feel somewhat hostile and exclusionary. To learn more, please consider joining others to witness the important work of the FLECAC on March 19, 2025 from 7-9pm.
Of course, in these days of book banning and “culture wars,” a small, but loud, minority of people are trying to hijack these efforts. Right before the last scheduled FLECAC meeting on February 12, 2025, which was cancelled due to snow, Cathy Ruse and Deborah Maddrell sent a letter (see below) across the nation misrepresenting the actions of Fairfax volunteers, requesting that their followers attend the FLECAC meeting to be a “first-hand witness of the evil of planned child abuse” by the “Sex Ed drafters,” as they referred to the adult and student volunteers of FLECAC.
The entire letter used inflammatory language including the subject line of the email referring to a “Vote on Trans Cult Lessons for Littlest Students.” The situation was so “dire” that Ruse and Maddrell advised attendees to bring “holy water.” I’m not sure how “holy water” will be useful at a curriculum discussion meeting, but I hope that they keep it in their purses and pockets, because throwing it at people could be considered assault.
Absurdly, Ruse and Maddrell’s letter seems to indicate that FLECAC volunteers intend to vote to indoctrinate students and that participation is forced in these classes, despite the fact that: 1) FLE classes are age and scientifically appropriate and 2) it is easy to opt-out of the classes. In fact, it is so easy to opt out of FLE lessons that I opted my own child out of several FLE lessons one year because I felt they were incompatible with my family’s values. It was simple to opt out, and my child was given alternative material during the lessons.
Not only are Ruse and Maddrell leaders of the 11th Congressional District Virginia Republican Committee, but they are part of the same groups who organized the aggressive, disruptive protest at the West Potomac High School (HS) drama presentation of Kinky Boots last Spring. At the Kinky Boots musical at West Potomac HS, members of their group sprinkled unknown substances near the brunch for the drag show attendees, and harassed and filmed people as they arrived at West Potomac.
Sadly few people outside of the volunteers on the committee come to the FLECAC meetings. At this time, I’d like to cordially invite you to join us to witness the work of the FLECAC on Wednesday, March 19, 2025 from 7-9pm at Gatehouse in the first floor cafe of Gatehouse at 8115 Gatehouse Rd, Falls Church, VA (please park in the parking garage). You will need to be a silent observer, but we need you to attend to support the committees’ work because typically the only attendees are those who wish to misrepresent our work to inflame culture wars in our county in order to pit Fairfax residents against each other.
Help support the student and adult volunteers who are trying to bring sex education into the 21st century. Come bear silent witness to their work and to support them in the face of aggressive outsiders. Wear spirit or rainbow gear to show your support.
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