In the latest round of action on bills, Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin signed 100 bills passed by the Virginia General Assembly, including one to protect Virginians from unlawful discrimination, hate crimes and antisemitism. The governor vetoed four others, including one to create civil penalties for shop owners who fail to advertise they are selling invasive plants that could harm other species.
Among the 100 bills signed is a measure that will codify a recommendation by the Commission to Combat Antisemitism that Virginia revise its laws to better protect Jewish citizens from hate crimes, along with Muslims, Sikhs and other ethnic-religious groups.
Youngkin said the legislation aligns with one of his top priorities: combating antisemitism.
“As the first state to weave religious freedom into the fabric of our nation, Virginia is leading once again and sending a clear message that Virginians should not be the victim of a crime simply because of their religion, race, or ethnicity,” the governor said in an April 2 press release.
Sen. Bryce Reeves, R-Spotsylvania, and Del. Dan Helmer, D-Fairfax, carried the legislation, Senate Bill 7 and House Bill 18.
“I’m thankful for the governor’s signature and the bipartisan co-patrons of this important bill,” said Reeves in a statement. He added that legislation outlawing antisemitism isn’t just about protecting a particular group, but about “defending the fundamental values of equality, justice, and human dignity for all.”
Helmer, a descendant of Holocaust survivors and a Jewish man whose children “confronted antisemitism” in school, Helmer said the legislation is important to him.
“Hate has no place in our communities,” Helmer said in a statement, adding that he is grateful for the governor’s signature to “protect people of every ethnicity across the commonwealth.”
Other interesting pieces of legislation the governor signed into law include House Bill 143, which directs the Virginia Department of Transportation to create a publicly-accessible utility work database and map that details projects within state-maintained areas, excluding emergency maintenance and services to private properties. Another measure, House Bill 322, will create a Cosmetology Compact, which will allow people to be licensed to provide barbering, hair styling and other cosmetic services in Virginia and other states that join the compact initiative.
Vetoed legislation
The governor also vetoed four bills that would have required the state to adopt model public education policies on climate change and environmental literacy, permitted college instructors to request non confidential garnishment data for research purposes, and created penalties for shop owners who fail to identify invasive plants they sell.
In explaining why he rejected the bill on adopting model policies for climate change, the governor said the measure is already included in the Standards of Learning for students, and the proposal “imposes a significant and redundant task” on the Department of Education and the Board of Education. Read More
A teenager detained for an alleged shoplifting attempt at Fair Lakes Shopping Center was responsible for a series of antisemitic flyers scattered around Fair Oaks last week, police say.
Officers determined that the teen distributed the flyers after they were apprehended at Target (13047 Fair Lakes Shopping Center) on Sunday (Aug. 20), according to the Fairfax County Police Department.
“The Target Asset Prevention Team advised that the suspect was observed stealing a staple gun, sandwich bags, glue, and other miscellaneous items,” the FCPD said in a news release published last night (Tuesday).
The Target is near where some flyers were found, and the teen was caught on video by a local homeowner’s surveillance camera, FOX5 reported.
The FCPD said on Saturday (Aug. 19) that it had received numerous reports of “suspicious flyers portraying bias material” over the past two days, noting that it was talking with local religious leaders to identify safety measures but there was “no specific threat within our community.”
“We are grateful for our strong ties within this community, which help us in gathering additional information and developing long-term solutions to address instances of hatred like this one,” the FCPD said at the time.
The flyers were stuck to windshields, doors and yard signs supporting Del. Karrie Delaney’s reelection campaign, the delegate said in a statement. Delaney represents the 67th House District, which was redrawn as the 9th District and includes Fair Lakes and parts of Chantilly.
“I am deeply disturbed by the distribution of these flyers in our community,” Delaney said. “I stand unequivocally with the Jewish community, and condemn this action in the strongest of terms. There is absolutely no place for this kind of hate in Fairfax County, or anywhere in Virginia.”
The teen has been charged with petit larceny and is currently in custody at the county’s Juvenile Detention Center, according to police.
This isn’t the first time Fairfax County has dealt with antisemitic propaganda. Flyers targeting local school board members were found in Fairfax Station in 2021, and county leaders condemned a series of flyers distributed in the Wolf Trap area last year.
As many as 50 flyers claiming to be from a Virginia-based branch of the Ku Klux Klan were discovered in McLean this past February.
Image via Google Maps
Fairfax County police found as many as 50 flyers advertising a white supremacist hate group around McLean yesterday morning (Thursday).
Officers from the McLean Police District responded to “numerous reports of suspicious flyers” in multiple residential neighborhoods in western McLean, the Fairfax County Police Department said.
“Homeowners alerted officers to sealed plastic bags containing a propaganda flyer weighted with bird seed on their property,” the FCPD said. “Police have recovered 40-50 flyers throughout the neighborhoods. Detectives are working to determine the origin of these flyers.”
Police believe preliminarily that the flyers were distributed randomly.
At least one of the flyers appeared to be attempting to recruit residents to the Loyal White Knights, a branch of the Ku Klux Klan that operates in North Carolina and Virginia, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center.
“Fairfax County taxpayers! ‘Wokers’ are playing you for fools! Evidently, tolerance does have a price — $60,000+,” said the flyer, which was shared with FFXnow by a resident who said they were found scattered along Churchill Road.
The flyer also featured a post office box and phone number for the Loyal White Knights.
“100% Americanism — pray for white Americans,” it said.
The FCPD is investigating the flyers as a “bias incident,” which it defines as an act that’s motivated by bias against an individual’s race, religion, ethnicity or nationality, disability or sexual orientation, but doesn’t constitute a crime.
Bias incidents can be considered violations of civil law.
“They become criminal acts only when they directly incite perpetrators to commit violence against persons or the destruction of property,” police said.
The KKK has targeted Fairfax County before, distributing about 30 flyers with antisemitic propaganda and disparaging comments about the Fairfax County School Board in Fairfax Station in June 2021. Antisemitic flyers were also found around Wolf Trap last February.
The FCPD is asking potential victims or witnesses to contact its detectives:
If you are the victim or witness of a Bias Crime or Incident in Fairfax County, please contact the FCPD at 911 (for in progress) or our non-emergency number at 703-691-2131. Anyone with information about this crime or who may have noticed anything suspicious is asked to please call our McLean Police station at 703-556-7750. To contact our detectives, please call our Organized Crime and Intelligence Bureau at 703-802-2750
Fairfax County police are investigating a threat of violence against the Blue Iguana in Fair Lakes and a local drag performer partnered with the restaurant and bar.
The anonymous email sent Saturday morning (Dec. 10) said that “several bombs” had been placed inside the restaurant in the Shops at Fair Lakes (12727 Shoppes Lane) as well as the home of a drag queen who hosts a “Sassy Saturdays Drag Brunch” on the second Saturday of each month, starting Nov. 12.
The email, which got sent to FFXnow, also threatened to “shoot up any drag performers we see there.”
The Fairfax County Police Department confirmed that it was alerted to the threat and had officers on the scene that day.
“Officers searched the building and did not find anything suspicious. Officers remained in the area throughout the day,” the FCPD said. “Detectives are continuing to investigate the threat.”
The department said anyone with information about the incident can contact its detectives at 703-691-2131. Tips can also be submitted anonymously through Crime Solvers by phone (1-866-411-TIPS) and online.
“Anonymous tipsters are eligible for cash rewards of $100 to $1,000 dollars. Please leave contact information if you wish for a detective to follow up with you,” the FCPD said.
Blue Iguana and the company that organized the brunch didn’t return requests for comment by press time.
While no violence occurred in this instance, drag performers and the LGBTQ community have been subjected to a surge in threats, harassment and hate crimes both locally and nationally over the past year.
GLAAD identified 124 incidents in 2022 of protests and threats specifically directed at drag events, a trend that the advocacy group links to a rise in anti-LGBTQ legislation and rhetoric from right-wing politicians, pundits and social media.
Released on Nov. 22, the report didn’t include the Nov. 19 shooting at Club Q in Colorado, since police hadn’t officially declared a motive at that point. The gunman was charged with hate crimes last week for shooting 22 people, killing five of them, during a drag queen’s birthday celebration.
In Fairfax County, police have recorded an escalation of anti-LGBTQ bias incidents and crimes in recent years, with cases jumping from seven in 2017 and five in 2018 to the double digits every year since 2019:
- 2019 — 10
- 2020 — 10
- 2021 — 11
- 2022 — 14
The department says the threat against Blue Iguana would be classified as a bias crime, which is defined as an unlawful action against a person or property due to their race, religion, ethnic or national origin, disability or sexual orientation.
Earlier this year, a Starbucks in Clifton was vandalized twice and had its Pride flag stolen, and Fairfax County Public Schools had to shut down an Instagram account that targeted LGBTQ students.
Though not a criminal incident, the McLean Community Center drew criticism last year for supporting a “Drag Queen Storytime” event at Dolley Madison Library in June 2021. Opponents equated the event — where drag queens read picture books to kids — to porn or “adult entertainment.”
Drawing on familiar homophobic stereotypes and obscuring drag’s history as a form of personal expression, arguments that drag is inherently sexual and dangerous to kids have taken hold among protestors — including in the threat against Blue Iguana, which accuses the targets of “grooming our children” — and legislators looking to ban minors from events.
Photo via Google Maps
(Updated at 12:30 p.m.) Last week, Fairfax County’s Board of Supervisors authorized a grant that aims to help protect local Jewish organizations from hate crimes.
The Fairfax County Police Department (FCPD) is applying for a $150,000 grant (page 244) from the Department of Criminal Justice Services’ Combating Hate Crime Grant Program. The funding will be used to better secure local congregations against hate crimes.
The application comes amid a notable upswing in antisemitic hate crimes nationwide. A new state report showed a rise in antisemitic harassment and vandalism — though the report also conflates opposition to the Israeli government with antisemitism.
“Generally, while the Commonwealth has not seen antisemitic assaults take place since 2018, there has been an increased frequency of antisemitic harassment and antisemitic vandalism at levels which have remained constant from 2018 to 2021,” the report said. “In 2021, 411 reported antisemitic incidents impacted residents of the Commonwealth. These incidents showed a 71% increase over the 292 reported incidents in 2020.”
The FCPD has recorded eight antisemitic incidents and crimes so far this year, according to data shared with FFXnow. That’s an increase from last year, when there was only one such incident, but it matches the number of reports from 2018 and is lower than 2020 (10 incidents) and 2017 (12 incidents).
Fairfax County releases reports on bias crimes over three-year periods. The latest report, covering 2018-2020, said there had been an uptick in “bias crimes and incidents” in recent years.
“The aggregate total of all bias crimes and incidents for 2018-2020 was 320,” the report said. “This represents a 65.8% increase over the previous 3-year total of 193 incidents encompassing the years 2015-2017.”
Anti-Black bias comprised around 40.6% of the aggregate total. The second most prevalent was a general “other ethnicity/national origin” category at around 11.3%, while anti-Jewish bias crimes represented around 6.9% of the aggregate total.
Calls for “suspicious events” represented the most frequent incident at 25% of the aggregate total. Disorderly conduct accounted for the second most common category, representing 21.6% of the aggregate total.
A staff report said the grant funding would make the following locations more secure:
- Bethlehem Lutheran Church
- Congregation Olam Tikvah
- Gesher Jewish Day School
- Lutheran Social Services of the National Capital Area
- Pozez Jewish Community Center of Northern Virginia
- Temple Rodef Shalom
The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors expressed solidarity with the local Jewish community today (Tuesday) after dozens of anti-Semitic flyers were found in a Wolf Trap neighborhood over the weekend.
Reiterating a statement released on social media yesterday (Monday), Chairman Jeff McKay characterized the flyers as a backlash to the county’s embrace of religious diversity during the board’s meeting this morning.
“It’s not by accident that sadly Fairfax County is targeted by this hateful propaganda, because we are proud in our county to have the largest Jewish congregation in Virginia,” McKay said.
The Fairfax County Police Department confirmed yesterday that it is investigating the 70 to 80 anti-Semitic flyers reportedly found in the 1400 block of Laurel Hill Road on Sunday (Feb. 20).
The flyers were reported by a community member who found one in a plastic bag weighed down with corn kernels on his property, according to police.
The FCPD said it has increased patrols in the neighborhood, which is on the south side of Route 7 near the McLean Bible Church. It is also working with the Anti-Defamation League and the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Washington to raise awareness.
Calling the perpetrators “despicable people,” Dranesville District Supervisor John Foust advised community members to contact the police if they have any information about the flyers, especially surveillance video that may have captured their distribution.
FCPD Organized Crime and Intelligence Bureau detectives can be contacted at 703-802-2750. Tips are accepted anonymously through Crime Solvers by phone at 1-866-411-TIPS (866-411-8477), text (type “FCCS” plus tip to 847411), and online.
Detectives are still working to determine where the flyers came from, and it’s unclear so far why the Wolf Trap neighborhood was targeted, FCPD spokesperson Sgt. Ian Yost told FFXnow.
Fairfax County is one of several communities across the country hit by anti-Semitic flyers this past weekend, from Bowie, Maryland to California’s Bay Area, Colorado, Texas, and the University of Illinois.
Yost says Fairfax County detectives are collaborating with regional and local partners to see if there are any commonalities across the reported incidents.
McKay noted this morning that Fairfax County has seen these “scare tactics” before. Just last summer, flyers attributed to Loyal White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan were discovered in the Springfield and Sully areas, specifically targeting members of the county’s school board.
Anti-Black hate crimes and incidents tend to be the most prevalent in Fairfax County, according to police data, but there were also 22 anti-Jewish incidents reported between 2018 and 2020.
These acts won’t be tolerated and strengthen the county as people stand in solidarity with the Jewish community and all religions, McKay said.
David Taube contributed to this report. Photo via FCPD/Facebook.
