Virginia gubernatorial race heats up over transgender bathroom policy

A protester holding a sign bearing the image of Richard Cox, a man convicted of child molestation charges, showed up at Democratic gubernatorial candidate Abigail Spanberger’s campaign stop in Annandale on Sunday. The protester sought to criticize Spanberger’s stance on allowing transgender students to use the school bathroom that matches their gender identity.

The issue for which Cox was dubbed “the poster boy” again disrupted the campaign trail in Virginia, as Republican Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears continued to pressure Spanberger to state whether biological males should only use men’s restrooms.

The protester appeared in front of Spanberger’s parked campaign bus during a stop Sunday in Annandale, an upper-middle-class suburb halfway between Fairfax and Washington, DC.

“Abigail supports men in girls’ locker rooms,” the sign read, and the camera remained focused on it for several moments before a member of Spanberger’s staff appeared to discuss with members of the press how the contestant was going to leave the house she was visiting.

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A protester in Annandale, Virginia, holds a sign depicting sex offender Richard Cox. (Fox News)

Staff mentioned the “narrow streets” the bus would have to take on its way out.

A Fox News reporter at the scene said it appeared staff did not want the man protesting to be further recorded.

Cox was scheduled to appear in court in neighboring Arlington County on Monday on other charges related to sex crimes — with Fairfax’s elected Democratic district attorney under fire for refusing to pursue Cox as vigorously for similar allegations in his current case.

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Cox, born male and with a sex crime record dating back more than 30 years, recently began identifying as a woman — and complained to Arlington school district officials about being ostracized for his choice of restroom at a school-run aquatic center.

During their only debate in Norfolk in October, Earle-Sears repeatedly pressed Spanberger to take a stance on the issue and explain his refusal to call for the removal of scandal-plagued attorney general nominee Jay Jones.

“If your little girl came home and told you she was forced to undress in a locker room with a biological boy, what would you say? She’s crying. What would you say?” » Earle-Sears told Spanberger, who ignored the question.

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“Abigail Spanberger voted for the so-called Equality Act. That vote says a grown man can walk into your daughter’s locker room naked and if she’s uncomfortable, she’s the problem,” the Republican said in an October statement citing Spanberger’s record in Congress.

“Virginia, our daughters are not the problem, politicians like Abigail are.”

Spanberger said in September that Virginia had “a process in place where individually, one by one, schools, parents, principals and coaches made decisions based on fairness, competitiveness and safety when a child could or could not play in a particular sport.”

Asked about Cox, Spanberger spokeswoman Libby Wiet told The Federalist that the sex offender is a “predator who should be in prison.”

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“Abigail is a mother of three daughters in Virginia public schools and a former federal law enforcement officer who went after child predators. Nothing is more important to her than the safety of Virginia’s children,” Wiet said.

The election is Tuesday.