Gay Sarasota School Board member verbally attacked after public comment rules change

[Zorro]

At Tuesday's Sarasota County School Board meeting, where the board agreed to expand the public's comment time, one frequent speaker spent her three minutes launching personal, anti-gay attacks on board member Tom Edwards.

Melissa Bakondy, a regular school board meeting attendee and former member of the conservative group Moms for Liberty, called on Gov. Ron DeSantis to remove Edwards, who is gay, from the board, calling him an "LGBT groomer" and "a threat to the innocence of our children." She also implied he was a threat to the safety of children, citing his sexual orientation, at one point asking why he wanted to read books to elementary students, something commonly done by school district officials, and why he posted the pictures on social media.

The incident again highlighted a simmering debate over the tension between allowing wide-ranging public input and the rancor that often accompanies it at Sarasota School Board meetings over the past few years.

During the speech, Bakondy called on the district to send an email to the parents of all the students Edwards read to.

"These notification letters should include that young children may have been inappropriately photographed and placed on the internet and should include Mr. Edwards' background of alcohol sales and participating in LGBTQ grooming events...," said Bakondy, who also called Edwards a "groomer" at a meeting last September, and was removed from a meeting in April 2022 for refusing to step away from the lectern after speaking out of turn.

https://www.heraldtribune.com/story/news/education/2023/03/09/sarasota-school-board-member-attacked-with-anti-gay-public-comments-desantis-tom-edwards-homophobic/69983102007/