Virginia Feminists Resist the Gender Borg
by Margot Heffernan
It’s a dangerous time to be a woman, a female, regardless of age. I’ll tell you why: “Transgenderism,” the grand ideology that has corrupted virtually every corner of our society is a straight up threat to everyone, but especially to women and girls.
It is a lie, a hoax, a jacked-up scam promoted by medical societies and corporations alike, a dangerous scheme that goads the most vulnerable into believing that their troubles are caused by a misalignment between one’s sex and a mythical “gender identity.”
And, no, Virginia, Loudoun County has not gotten the message. In fact, the commonwealth represents a microcosm of the problem writ large as scandal after scandal brings more real-world harm to women and girls each day in Loudoun and four other counties that define northern Virginia.
Hysterical? Overblown? Hyperbole you say? No, no, and no again.
When Governor Ralph Northam released the original set of “Model Policies for the Treatment of Transgender Students in Public Elementary and Secondary Schools” in 2021, red flags were raised by those concerned about women’s rights and private spaces. These policies crush the material reality of human biology by elevating the illusory concept of gender over sex.
A boy or a man could now “self identify” as female within the state school system just like that. It was only a matter of time before real harm was done.
It came to pass of course when two young women were sexually assaulted in different Loudoun County High Schools by a male student named Hunter Hecker. In the privacy of their own public bathrooms, circa 2022.
Just. Like. That.
It didn’t seem to matter though. The perpetrator had the rules on his side. He was a “she” that day so his will prevailed. This vile incident and many more belie a very hard truth: When males are allowed to take on the persona of womanhood and this concept is sanctioned or codified into law, we have reached an ominous tipping point.
Does our society give a damn about the well-being of women and girls?
But the chaos turned and spun while the will of citizens was ignored. In 2021, students and parents robustly protested the ensuing cover up of the sexual assaults. In 2023 a special grand jury issued a scathing report of both the school’s and sheriff department’s handling of these assaults.
Red flags raised again.
Governor Glen Youngkin was elected in 2021 in large part because he promised to stand up to the gender borg. Parents and those concerned with female rights were heartened as damage done by the previous administration’s anti-woman policies was partially reversed. But resistance remained, especially in Loudoun and surrounding counties where gender is worshipped on high, where membership in the cult provides some hefty social cred.
Then a solid win for women’s sovereignty came in January of 2025, through the actions of Jason Miyares and five other state attorneys general when a U.S. District Court vacated Joe Biden’s rewrite of Title IX.
A correct move indeed. A job well done.
The gender gestapo, though, has tentacles far and wide; its coffers deep. And all those believers, well, they are beholden by emotional tithe. So, it was no surprise when Loudoun County announced last week that it would defy the Department of Education’s order for “transgender” students to use the bathroom of their sex.
One day later, Fairfax, Prince William, Arlington Public and Alexandria City marched in lock step, sanctioning the use of girls’ private spaces by males. That is the headline that must lead.
Winsome Earl Sears, gubernatorial candidate, spoke out, saying these counties went “rogue.”
She is right. We must not be afraid to say that.
But there is a question still: Where are the feminists in all of this? In a state where suffragettes made history over 100 years ago? Where women are punished now for objecting to males in their private spaces. Where young women are coerced into believing that they are better off as “he/him.”
We are here in the eye of the storm.
Women’s Liberation Front, or WoLF, is a 401c3, nonpartisan organization that fights to restore, protect and advance the rights of women and girls using legal argument, policy and advocacy, and public education. Members herald from almost every state, including Virginia where there is an active force of women on the ground. Last spring a contingent of WoLF members came to Congress where we met with over 20 senators and congresspeople from both parties. Our goal? To codify into law many of the protections that women are losing quickly over time. And we work with those from either side of the political spectrum who put women and girls first.
Now it’s time to face cold hard facts: What the commonwealth is afflicted with is nothing more than misogyny on high. Equating gender ideology with modernity and progressivism is a loser of a deal. Your father’s brand of “chauvinism” seems quaint and naive now.
WoLF is not afraid to speak such truth. And we are right here in the commonwealth ready to spread the word.
Margot Heffernan is Board Vice President at Women’s Liberation Front.
Republished with permission from Bacon’s Rebellion.
