He Bullied My LGBTQ Child Online- and Va. Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) Promoted Him

[appalachiablue]

- Daily Kos, June 21, 2022. Ed. - Kellen Squire is an emergency dept. nurse from Barboursville, Va., running for the Va. House of Delegates in the 55th District, serving Albemarle, Louisa, Nelson, & Fluvanna counties. -

Almost immediately after I decided to run for the Virginia House of Delegates, the Virginia GOP went after my kids. I can't say I was surprised by that. Not even close. The rural district I'm running in is the bluest district they hold; it may well be the battleground race of the cycle. I was expecting the worst from the Virginia GOP- and I got it. So, going after my kids? Doesn't surprise me. That the Governor decided to hire the guy who bullied my LGBTQ kid to an advisory panel on LGBTQ issues? Well... that one did take me a little aback.

Link to tweet

I've alluded to what happened on several occasions, but never more than that publicly. I haven't wanted to expose my kids and family to the new reality of politics any more than I have to. I had several journalists contact me immediately after it happened, offering to write about it- but I demurred to each of them. Which, I know, is sort-of the point of those kinds of attacks. If I make a bunch of noise about it, it only makes those attacks go farther, get more attention. If I don't say anything, they can get away with doing it again and again.

I won't post any of the screenshots or links to what happened here; they are easy enough to find. Instead, I'll just give the Cliff Notes version. The gentleman in the story cited above- who is the President of the Richmond, Va. chapter of the Log Cabin Republicans- took umbrage towards my Tweets on the realities of what the pandemic did to emergency services providers. So he found pictures of my family and kids, posted them publicly on his Twitter feed, and encouraged his followers to come up with the best insults they could think of, offering a few of his own. Amazingly, he saw nothing wrong with mocking the physical appearance of my five-year old, and being incredibly vile towards my 14-year old.

Again, let’s discuss the dichotomy of someone being appointed to a gubernatorial board on LGBTQ issues electronically bullying an LGBTQ teenager, knowing full well that more than 50% of LGTBQ youth in middle & high school reported being bullied in the past year, with a full 3 fold increase in the incidence of suicidal ideation & attempts for those same kids. That's why I sat down with my 14-year old to talk with her about what had happened. She is very technologically savvy, & I knew that especially going into high school, she or someone she knows would be able to find out what had happened... & I wanted her to hear about it from me, instead of them. It was one of the hardest things I've ever had to do- she has been through so much the past few years, more than I ever had to deal with growing up when I was her age. And now she was being viciously attacked solely because I was running for office...

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