Equality Advocates for Dalia Palchik

Fairfax County Public Schools are Virginia's largest employer and the nation's 10th largest school system. So when a 2013-2014 survey of the school's lesbian, gay, bisexual, and questioning students found that 49 percent had experienced symptoms of depression and 38 had seriously considered suicide, the majority of the School Board decided to take action, updating their non-discrimination policy and family life curriculum to protect and affirm LGBT youth and staff.

But Providence District School Board Member Patty Reed (R) refused to support adding gender identity protections, called it a distraction from "important pressing business," and voted against teaching teenagers that some people are LGBT and that that is okay. She chose to stand with the Traditional Values Coalition and other anti-LGBT forces who were outraged that schools would convey a message in conflict with Biblical law.

Standing with us -- literally and figuratively -- as the board considered these life-and-death policies was our friend Dalia Palchik, a dynamic and impressive young teacher running a strong campaign to replace Reed this November. Dalia will work tirelessly to ensure teacher retention, forward-thinking approaches to education, and robust programs to expose students to foreign languages and the arts-- and she has has made it clear that she will always fight to protect every student and teacher, regardless who they are, who they love, or how they identify. That's why Dalia received the unanimous endorsement of the LGBT Democrats of Virginia. That's why she has been enthusiastically endorsed by Senator Adam Ebbin and Delegate Mark Sickles, Virginia's first openly gay state legislators, soon-to-be Delegate Mark Levine, and LGBT Democrats of Virginia chair Maggie Sacra. And that's why we, the Equality Advocates for Dalia Palchick, are working to make sure she wins this November 3rd.

Please join us in making a contribution today so she can get her positive and inclusive message out to the voters of the Providence District. And please share this with all your fair-minded friends. Together, we can a strong message that we will stand with leaders who fight for equality -- and that those who vote to preserve discrimination will do so at their own risk.

Morgan W. Jameson and Joshua Israel, Co-Chairs, Equality Advocates for Dalia Palchik