This week, the Virginia Beach School Board held an eight-hour meeting that ended at 2 AM, voting on two resolutions: passing one that affirmed a commitment to non-discrimination against LGBTQ+ youth, and rejecting a proposal that would create a list of library materials with "objectionable content."

On this episode, we're joined by Emily LaBar and Jacob Cruz, two student organizers who worked with dozens of fellow students and school board members over several months to help pass the non-discrimination resolution. They discuss their path to organizing their community, passing the resolution, and affirming the safety of LGBTQ+ students in the face of model policies that threaten their rights.

Episode Transcript

Aaryan Balu  

I'm Aaryan Balu. And this is Pod Virginia, a podcast that loves to see teens get involved in politics. Thomas and Michael are off this week. But the news does not stop. This week, the Virginia Beach School Board voted on two pretty important resolutions. They adopted one resolution that affirms non-discrimination against LGBTQ+ people, or as you'll hear in this episode, and sort of modern parlance, queer folks in the community, and they voted down a proposal that would create lists of library books with quotes of objectionable content. You've probably heard about Governor Youngkin's model policies regarding transgender students and the bathroom they're allowed or not allowed to use or the calls to create lists of objectionable books, calls which the Virginia Library Association says are putting immense strain on school librarians. Now both of these votes in Virginia Beach are due in part to some public school students and students from that district; they organized dozens of speakers to come to meetings over several months before the vote was finally taken. This week, we have two of the students who led that charge. Emily LeBar, and Jay Cruz. Welcome to Pod Virginia. So to start, I gave both of you kind of a brief introduction. But I'd love to hear in your own words how you get involved in this vote in this advocacy,

Jay Cruz  

I'm a senior at first colonial High School. And I kind of just got into all of this because I saw way too many Instagram posts that were like, who your rights are getting degraded, and I got really mad about it and wanted to do something about it, eventually. 

Emily LeBar  

I'm a graduating senior from first colonial High School. I'm also a part of the queer community and the president of our school's Gender Sexuality Alliance; I didn't set out to be involved this deeply, but I saw something was wrong. And I thought I needed to address it. 

Aaryan Balu  

Okay, so walk me through these votes. What were these two resolutions that the Virginia Beach school board was voting on this week?

Jay Cruz  

we kind of had more involvement and the resolution proposed by Miss Owens, and essentially that one was the, you know, in light of Governor Youngkin, proposing his model policies, you know, too, much to the chagrin of many queer students, and just the general attacks on like, on queer rights across the nation. Miss Owens proposed a resolution to basically reaffirm the school board's commitment to the rights of queer students, you know, not discriminating against them didn't go super far into specifics but cited laws like, you know, Title Nine, the Virginia Human Rights Act, the Civil Rights Act, and just reaffirm the board's commitment to those laws, which, you know, seems kind of obvious. But at this time, I think it's, unfortunately, pretty necessary.

Aaryan Balu  

So how about the other proposal that would start to make a list of books with objectionable content?

Emily LeBar  

we weren't as involved in that one because we wanted to have more of a unified focus on the other resolution. But that would allow a lot of books to be banned or taken out of libraries because they're, quote, sexually explicit. But the list of these books included a lot of queer authors and queer topics. So that was calling them sexually explicit was a way just to get those topics banned.

Jay Cruz  

And I think it's worth pointing out that there's already in Virginia Beach City public schools, and in pretty much every public school district, there is a method by which parents can go to librarians at their school and say, I would not like my child to have access to this book, or check this book out. And this was essentially, like, just creating a suggested guideline list. And I just think it's kind of interesting that that suggested guideline list has disproportionately had to do with books about people of color and queer people.

Aaryan Balu  

So you were both pretty heavily involved in organizing support for that anti-discrimination resolution. What did that advocacy look like?

Emily LeBar  

Most of our advocacy was through public comment for the past eight months; as time went on, we met with different school board members to try to develop a common understanding. In preparation for this last meeting, I talked to a lot of coalition groups, like the ACLU and the LGBT Life Center, to try to find anyone in everyone that would be able to help us. I also organized a rally outside of the school board meeting before the June 12th meeting, which was a little crazy, because I've never done anything like that before. I'd never even participated in a rally before. So I didn't know what it was supposed to look like. But I tried my best, and I think it was really successful. 

Jay Cruz  

You got a building use permit, right? 

Emily LeBar  

Yeah, I had to get a building use permit. And because I was going so by the book, I could only have 19 people at the rally at once. And we did it in the parking spots rather than on the sidewalk. So we got a little rained on.

Jay Cruz  

I don't think we were there for it. But we were told that a like rainbow started shining after we had left and after the rain had rained on our rally, which is what I thought was pretty cool.

Aaryan Balu  

So you guys manage to organize dozens of speakers for these meetings. But before you even get there, how did you even start developing this movement?

Jay Cruz  

At the very beginning, it was basically just, we would DM every single person that we knew and try and get them to come to do this. And like we take a lot of like public speaking classes and like a lot of like, we each do debate. So like, we kind of have like a good core of kids that we started off with. And we were really successful. And there weren't a lot of parents like, or anybody coming to, today, say us for a long time. But it's like, as we kind of grew the monster, and as we got more kids involved, and then it's like, our average number went from like 10, and then to 20. And then to 25. Like, as we kind of got stronger, a lot more parents started showing up. And you know, some were very supportive. And that was, that was awesome. But, um, honestly, like, we saw a lot of transphobias, we saw a lot of people, you know, they would make like remarks about, like, you know, they don't want boys playing in girls sports or about how like, you know, insinuating that we were mentally ill and we've even had parents insinuate that we're being paid somehow or that like, you know, there are board members manipulating us to come and speak here, which, which isn't true at all. Like, it's, it's kind of the exact opposite was we it was literally just we felt like this is an issue that needed addressing, it started off with like three kids went and spoke, and then eventually it ballooned because we tried to recruit more people. And I think it's just an issue that touches the heart of our community.

Aaryan Balu  

Okay, so you're trying to get support for this resolution? You've got people interested? How did you take that energy and turn it into compelling advocacy at the school board meetings over months?

Emily LeBar  

Well, typically, there are only two weeks between each meeting. So the first week after a meeting is like a recovery. And then the second week is getting ready for the next one. So we try to get everybody's speeches done as much in advance as possible. So we can read them and help them and time them. And then, as soon as the Google Form to Speak comes out, which is maybe three or four days in advance, I fill it out first because I'm the opener. And then, I have to go individually down the list of 25 to 50 people to ensure that they fill it out and nothing technical happens. So they'll be able to speak. And then there's an issue of getting rides because a lot of people are 14, 15, 16, they don't have a license. And if they do have a license, sometimes they don't have a car. And we have people coming all the way from Pungo or Blackwater to up to the Ocean Front. So ensuring people have a way to get there is also a challenge. 

Jay Cruz  

We're pretty meticulous, sometimes too like, to a point where it's almost masochistic. Like, there have been meetings where we wanted to nail it so much that we had a specific order for all 25 people. And people have accused the school board of rigging the order or whatever to favor leftists; that's not true. It's whoever signs up first gets the first slot. So we will give the form out in a specific order of like, okay, it's Emily first, and it's Natalie second, then it's Carolyn third. And then it's like we go down this order specifically. So we try and get the right rhythm of speakers. So that we feel like everyone will resonate at their best. God, what else? There are some ridiculous, like points that we've gone to, we've got to basically all these people who are in the closet and can't come to these meetings, getting them to write testimonies. And like dealing with the students who might not have time to write speeches for themselves, we really tried to make sure that we took every crumb from the plate possible. And just like every single meeting, we punched as hard as we could. And I think that's why we ultimately got a positive result. 

Aaryan Balu  

Okay, so to get into the nitty-gritty sort of process, what does it take to get from public comments to writing the resolution, putting it through the school board, and then getting it passed?

Jay Cruz  

It takes persistence. We, we did this for like seven months without much success. But eventually, we, we basically started to say after, you know, the model policies from Glenn Youngkin had gone silent. And after, really, we haven't seen much progress, we sort of started to change our rhetoric to, like, look, get something done, give us a meaningful change so that we can sleep, sound and move on with our lives a little bit. And thankfully, Jessica Owens, a great, great school Board Member kind of came up to bat for us and wrote a resolution. It got criticized a lot by community members and board members to a point where I was like, I was wondering if this whole thing was just gonna be dead on arrival. But she did some really great work. Edited it consulted with us, consulted with Board Members, not just politically aligning with her about conservative members, particularly Jennifer Franklin kind of gets insulted by a lot of conservatives at these board meetings for being like a fence senator, but I really respect the fact that she's willing to talk with someone like Miss Owens and got a resolution done that I feel like is incredibly moderate and is just a sensical solution to the problems that we see.

Emily LeBar  

The meeting that Miss Owens originally proposed the resolution. There was a record number of speakers. There were 112 speakers, and they tore her apart; they accused her of being fake, which she later fixed. But I'm just really glad that that didn't deter her on the day of the beating where they actually voted to members' proposed substitute resolutions, which just erased LGBT people from the resolution, which was offensive, actually, because the whole point of the resolution was to protect us anti-discrimination and anti-harassment of LGBT students. And they just took that part out.

Jay Cruz  

Yeah, one critique we heard level a lot, both by just community members and by board members, was like, What's the need for a specific resolution for queer students? Why is, like, why are they, in particular, getting like, quote, unquote, like special protections? And I mean, to that, I would say, like, type the word gay or transgender into your web browser, like just type it into Google, and see the results that come up. It's no mystery the fears that queer people are under right now. And I think they are worthy of positive acknowledgment right now when they're getting so much negative acknowledgment, let's say, with just hate from across the nation.

Aaryan Balu  

I guess I'm curious, what kind of feedback have you gotten from your community? Family, friends, peers, you know, how do people feel?

Jay Cruz  

I'll say a little bit. But I think Emily also has some good insights on this. I felt like every kid that we recruited, they started to see, like, the potential of what we were doing, or it's like, every time we got someone that was willing to come and speak and kind of got buy-in, they saw a little bit more what we had the potential to accomplish. And it just kind of gave them a little bit more optimism and made them want to go recruit their friends like we joke that it's a pyramid scheme, right? Like, we get a couple of people, and then they get really excited and invested in it. And they want to go get a couple of people. And you know, it sounds like very, I don't know, it sounds like overly romantic in some ways, I guess. But I think that among queer people, there tends to sort of just be this like, it's like almost like an infinite rain. And I think we gave them just a little bit of positivity to cling on to, and they really ran with it and wanted to bring everybody. I think that's how we grew. But Emily, you probably have some; you speak to this really well, as well.

Emily LeBar  

I think young people, especially young people in the queer community, can sometimes have a defeatist attitude. Because it seems like everything is going wrong, it's raining, and the sun is never going to come out. But I think our activism and the fact that we were effective, and we succeeded, is a really good sign to them that one day, it will get better. And even before this resolution was passed, just that prospect for months has been getting tons and tons of kids to come and speak because they believe they can make a difference. 

Jay Cruz  

One thing that really blew me away was we went a long time without getting pretty much any, as we'd met with, meet with board members, and they'd say nice things about us. And you know, as we'd have, like, people would like to tell us how great of a job we were doing right. But we didn't have any practical success, like pretty much at all. But it didn't slow down ever like kids just kept coming on board. And you know, people would rotate in and out. But, like, it felt like our average number, like what we were punching at consistently, like it never went down. We just kept growing in spite of the fact that, you know, from the outside, it looks like we aren't being very successful. And I think that speaks to what Emily was saying about just how powerful a force for optimism is in a community that can be so distraught at times. So it's

Aaryan Balu  

Been a few years since I was in high school. And it feels like the landscape around queer rights and the lives of trans people, specifically, has gotten pretty rough in America. As you mentioned, Jake, a lot of hate. I'm curious, do you feel like there's more support, generationally speaking, from your peers? Or is it just as rough in schools as it can feel in America broadly,

Emily LeBar  

I think things are getting better. There is still discrimination and harassment in our schools; the tearing down of the pride banner at Kellum High School is a great example of that. But I think overall, it's going to get better because it has to get better. And we're going to make it better.

Jay Cruz  

I think for the average student. I think sometimes it's difficult, right? Because you just kind of see the constant transgressions, and it's, it's tough to stomach all honestly. But I look at it sort of from like a historical view, like I'm biracial, right. And there was a time in American history where, like, I would have been mutts` or I would have been called a freak or whatever, but it's just the arc of history has gone along, and more biracial people have been in our communities, and you know, grown up with just, you know, with mono-racial people. We've started to see that, oh, wow, biracial people aren't these monsters. They aren't mutts or whatever. And all of a sudden, now I, you know, me or anybody else who's biracial walks down the street, nobody bats an eye, and you have afforded, not perfect, but life pretty much commensurate with anybody else. And I, I hope, and I'm sorry, We're going to see that we're going along a similar trajectory here where the hates temporary that hates a reactionary thing to a change. But ultimately, the direction where we're heading is that all these people who come at the school board meetings and call us mentally ill and say that we're crazy. They're, they're the past, and we're the present. They're the ones that are the force that's gonna go down on the wrong side of history.

Aaryan Balu  

So what's next for you both? Do you have anything else on the docket? You're both actually graduating the day this episode comes out. So you know where to go next?

Emily LeBar  

If you had asked me a few months ago, I would say, Well, what's next? As I finally have my Tuesdays back, at this point, I don't think I can stop, like this resolution can be done and over with, but there's always more work to do. And there's still a need in my community. And I'm not quite sure where to go next. But I know that I'm not going to stop my activism.

Jay Cruz  

You know, my parents, sometimes they'll talk to me and be like, they'll question why am I so devoted to this? Like, why is this something that I'm, I'm so invested in, and I basically told them, I'm like, I could do this every day for the rest of my life. Like, it fills me up so much. Like leading people and helping them fix their speeches, and helping them get ready for this meeting. And then, like watching them see the potential, they have to impact positive change. So if you're, if you're talking about next steps, kind of like what Emily said, like, we don't have a second policy initiative, right. We're part of this organization, Pride Liberation Project. And we have our own chapter in Virginia Beach. And my hope is that all of them, all the skills that we've in like all the time, you've invested into so many people trying to get them like equipped to be activists themselves. And to be quality public speakers, you can deliver a point respectfully and articulately and based on evidence that they're going to continue to use those skills and like, the ones who are in that, that chapter of pride liberation project that like, this isn't a one-time thing that we've taught people, a method for going about and trying to seek change, and that they can continue to keep the torch going in Virginia Beach. And I'm going to JMU, we're both going to jam you actually, Emily and I. And I'm hoping that whatever degrees we get there, and maybe whatever law school or graduate school or lack thereof, we get, can help us go make maybe more meaningful change, like take it up a level from local government,

Emily LeBar  

I think that all of our speakers, even if they weren't there the entire time, even if they weren't as involved in the planning and organizing, they've grown so much. And now, they have so many skills, a passion, and a drive that they can use to apply anywhere in their lives. And to further activism, even if it's not with us.

Jay Cruz  

We cried tears of joy about this resolution. Like, I'm not trying to undersell the importance of this resolution that we got passed. But I think the more meaningful change that we impacted is that we got like 50 kids. And we showed ourselves in that count, by the way, that we showed them the power of advocacy. And we showed them that, like, Hey, you can actually impact change in your community. And it's not completely hopeless. And it's not like the local politicians of them don't care about you. Like if you go about these things the right way, and you go into it with some good faith and not just trying to scream your way to success, then you can get some change done.

Aaryan Balu  

Well, all right. Emily LeBar, and Jay Cruz, congrats on your successful advocacy. Happy graduation. And thanks so much for joining us on Pod Virginia. 

Jay Cruz  

Thank you.

Emily LeBar  

Thanks!