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A racist sign protesting the Republican nominee for Virginia Governor, Winsome Earle-Sears, has been slammed as abhorrent.
Earle-Sears, a black woman, was speaking at an Arlington School Board meeting on Thursday while a rally for transgender rights was held outside.
One elderly protester was photographed holding a sign that read: “Hey Winsome, if trans can’t share your bathroom, then Blacks can’t share my water fountain.”
- A protester held a racist sign linking trans bathroom policies to segregation, sparking outrage at a Virginia school board meeting.
- Lieutenant Governor Winsome Earle-Sears condemned the sign as 'disgusting hatred' and called for everyone to denounce it.
- Abigail Spanberger and Schuyler Vanvalkenburg publicly condemned the racist sign as abhorrent and unacceptable.
- The protester later labeled the sign as 'satire' aimed to provoke discussion about prejudice and non-discriminatory bathrooms.
A woman held a racist sign in protest of Winsome Earle-Sears
Image credits: Brandon Jarvis
The other side of the sign stated: “Hey Winsome, you have a gender neutral bathroom in your house.”
The sign has since gone viral on social media and has sparked significant backlash.
A video showing a man speaking to the protester is also circulating, in which he can be heard telling the woman, “That’s getting a lot of play on TV right now.”
As she looks down at the sign, he leans in closer to her and whispers, “Negative.”
Earle-Sears, the current Lieutenant Governor of Virginia, said there was no place for the “disgusting hatred” the sign portrayed.
Image credits: Win McNamee/Getty Images
“I’m disgusted, but not surprised. This is the ‘tolerant’ left Abigail Spanberger defends,” she wrote on X.
“I’m the sitting Lieutenant Governor, second in command in the former Capitol of the confederate states. I’m an immigrant, a Marine, and above all, a human being.
“There is no place for this disgusting hatred in our Commonwealth. Anyone who doesn’t condemn this sign is complicit in approving it.”
The rally was held in support of Arlington Public Schools’ refusal to enforce a policy requiring trans students to use toilets and locker rooms corresponding to their assigned sex at birth.
Here appears to be the moment she found out that her sign is getting a lot of attention https://t.co/1vs2gHGzIHpic.twitter.com/BluiXPZ9aM
— Brandon Jarvis (@Jaaavis) August 22, 2025
Thursday marked the first school board meeting since that announcement, made despite the Department of Education threatening to pull federal funding.
Earle-Sears attended the meeting to speak to board members about the decision.
She told them: “Here’s the truth: There are two sexes, boys and girls, and for generations, we’ve understood this — that they deserve their own sports teams, their own locker rooms, their own bathrooms,” ARL Now reported.
Democratic candidate for Virginia Governor, Abigail Spanberger, was among the politicians who condemn the sign in protest of Earle-Sears.
“Abigail condemns this repulsive display. It’s racist, abhorrent, and unacceptable,” her team said in a statement.
The sign was condemned by Republicans and Democrats
I’m disgusted, but not surprised. This is the “tolerant” left Abigail Spanberger defends. I’m the sitting Lieutenant Governor, second in command in the former Capitol of the confederate states. I’m an immigrant, a Marine, and above all, a human being. There is no place for this…
— Winsome Earle-Sears (@winwithwinsome) August 22, 2025
Spanberger re-tweeted a post of that statement made by Virginia journalist Brandon Jarvis.
“The blatant hypocrisy of the ‘tolerant’ Left was on full view in Virginia and it’s absolutely disgusting. What’s even more disgusting is Abigail Spanberger’s refusal to directly condemn this,” Kollin Crompton, rapid response director of the Republican Governor’s Association, said.
“A retweet from a local news report referencing a campaign spokesperson isn’t a statement. It’s insulting and cowardly.”
Virginia Democratic Senator Schuyler Vanvalkenburg also condemned the sign.
“Two wrongs don’t make a right. Been teaching my kids – and students – that for years,” he wrote on X.
“In the age of Trump it’s easy to get in the gutter. We should insist on betting the better angels of our nature.”
Image credits: Paul Weaver/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images
The unidentified liberal protester who was photographed holding the sign has since described it as “satire.”
In a statement to Fox 5, she said: “It was satire meant to provoke conversation around the absurdity of prejudice.
“If anyone thinks we are actually supporting separate drinking fountains based on race, they are mistaken.
“In the same way that drinking fountains should be usable by all races, bathrooms should be non-discriminatory.”
It comes as the Trump administration ramps up efforts to roll back trans rights in the U.S.
When he re-took office in January, he issued an order declaring that the U.S. government would only recognize the two biological sexes—male and female—that were assigned at birth.
He has also issued executive orders targeting trans youth, trans athletes, and trans service members serving in the military.
Those orders require federally funded institutions, including schools, to enforce bathroom and locker room use according to sex assigned at birth, preventing trans students from accessing facilities that match their gender identity.
Trans women and girls have also been banned from competing in women’s sports teams at federally funded institutions.
A recent U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee decision complying with Trump’s executive order confirmed that trans athletes would be banned from women’s sports.
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