‘EVIL!’: Republican Gov. Removes LGBTQ+ Suicide Prevention Resources Sparking Outrage
Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s (R) administration quietly removed LGBTQ+ youth resources from a state website after a conservative media outlet questioned the links, according to records seen by The Washington Post. “Within hours of an inquiry from the Daily Wire, a dozen resources, including a live-chat online support group for teens, were removed from the state health department website at the direction of a Cabinet-level agency, according to emails obtained under the state’s open records law,” the Post reported on Thursday. “The presence of the materials — and their subsequent disappearance on May 31 — generated two headlines and a flurry of online reaction from conservative readers of the outlet, co-founded by right-wing commentator Ben Shapiro.
The decision elicited concern from department leaders who had not been consulted and began emailing their higher-ups asking why this had happened — again,” the report noted.
The Youngkin administration has removed information from the website without consulting its own subject-matter experts at least three times in the year and a half, records show.
His actions have stripped public health resources on abortions, sexual health and pregnancy among other issues as he remakes state policy after eight years of Democratic control.
