This Republican politician told a girl with lesbian parents that she needed a father
Donald Trump holds an LGBT rainbow flag given to him by supporter Max Nowak during a campaign rally at the Bank of Colorado Arena on the campus of University of Northern Colorado October 30, 2016 in Greeley, Colorado. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty)
Two mothers in Virginia are furious after finding out that a local conservative politician told their daughter she needed a father.
Evelyn and Heidi BruMar say that Jeanine Lawson made the comments to their 15-year-old adopted daughter Rose, and are demanding an apology.
Lawson has been the Brentsville District Supervisor on the Prince William County Government since 2014.
As well as having held elected positions in the Republican party she is a proud supporter of the Family Foundation, a pro-life, anti-gay-marriage organisation.
The BruMars told PinkNews that Rose was handing out sample ballots for the Democrat party outside a polling station on November 7 when she met Lawson.
Lawson was at the polling station that day supporting Republican candidate Bob Marshall, the politician known for the controversial “bathroom bill.”
Upon finding out that Rose had two mothers, Lawson allegedly told her that she “deserved a mother and father in a biblical sense.”
“It’s very disrespectful, she devalued our family,” Evelyn said.
“Words matter to children, behaviour matters to children, setting an example matters to children.”
Rose was fostered by the BruMars for years, until four years ago they were able to adopt here.
Evelyn says Lawson’s hypocrisy is clear in the way she devalues their parenting, despite the fact that Rose’s “biological family ‘in the biblical sense’ were the ones who abused her.”
When asked by Inside Nova, Lawson did not deny making the comments, but insists that it was a “pleasant and civil” conversation, not a malicious one.
“She told me things about her family life, and I told her in a very polite way, I said I believe children deserve a mother and a father. It was not a debate about anything.”
Evelyn said when she arrived at the polling station to pick Rose up, it was to find Jeanine, and three other women who were campaigners for the Republican candidate, arguing with her daughter about abortion.
“My daughter was cornered, and surrounded by four women, and I could hear yelling. One of the women yelled ‘that’s some liberal bullshit!’ to my daughter,” Evelyn told PinkNews.
“She [Rose] was alone, and these women pounced on her.”
Lawson says she was not involved in the “disagreement,” but Evelyn questions why she, as an authority figure, did not intercede.
“Jeanine Lawson is an elected official – if she agreed that these other women were having a ‘heated debate’ with a child, why didn’t she step up? Why didn’t she intervene? Why didn’t she protect a child?”
“She likes to stand in a position of ‘holier than thou,’ that she sticks to her religious convictions and supposedly is protecting the children.
“Allowing a child to be bullied shows that she doesn’t even believe her own convictions.”
The BruMars, who are both local Democrat activists, want an apology from Lawson. As she has so far refused, they plan on appealing to the school board, and the Board of County Supervisors, to take action against her.
“I’m not going to let it die down,” Evelyn told PinkNews. ‘I’m not going to let people forget.”
Lawson maintains that “there was nothing at all hostile about my conversation with the young lady,” and allegations that her actions were inappropriate are “completely false.”
Although the BruMars have yet to get action, there is at least something of a happy ending to the story. That day, self-described “chief homophobe” Marshall was defeated by Democrat candidate Danica Roem, making her the first ever transgender state official, even after Marshall’s vile transphobic campaign against her.
