In August 2025, a seventh grader at King George Middle School in Virginia began organizing a gay-straight alliance to give LGBTQ+ students a safe place to belong. The principal approved it. Seventeen students signed up. Three days later, after parents circulated the club's materials on Facebook and the faculty sponsor was doxxed, the school placed the club "on pause" and never let it come back.

What followed wasn't a neutral policy review. It was a targeted effort to erase one club.

The school board passed a rule banning all noncurricular organizations at the middle school level. Then it found ways to preserve nearly every other club. The Outdoor Club, which includes activities like skinning squirrels, kept meeting. The Fellowship of Christian Athletes was reclassified so it could continue. The Book Club, Robotics Team, and Beta Club carried on. Officials told GSA organizers they could have a club if they renamed it "Kindness Club" and stripped out any reference to LGBTQ+ identity. The students said no.

Federal law is clear. The Equal Access Act requires schools that receive federal funding and allow noncurricular student groups to give all groups equal access, regardless of their message. King George County cannot carve out one club because the school board disagrees with what it stands for.

The students who wanted this club have already told board members about daily slurs and physical assaults in school hallways. One left school because staying became too hard. Blocking the GSA tells LGBTQ+ students there is something wrong with who they are.

Sign to demand that King George County schools follow the law and let this club meet.