(Editor’s Note: If you’d like to support Loudoun County parents, please visit Fightforschool.com)

Loudoun County, Virginia has become a hotbed of protest in recent months. You may remember the video of an impassioned mother delivering a scorching takedown of Critical Race Theory in front of the school board. That school board happens to be the subject of a mass recall launched by Loudoun County parents this spring. Parents are vying to remove six of the ten board members in protest of egregious COVID policies and the incursion of CRT into their curriculum without parent approval.

In yet another disturbing incident in the Loudoun County public school system, a Leesburg teacher was removed from his position last week after he refused to refer to students by transgender pronouns.

Byron “Tanner” Cross, a physical education teacher from Leesburg Elementary attended his latest school board meeting to lodge a formal protest against the county board’s draft legislation on “gender pronouns” and “gender inclusion” in the classroom.

From The Loudoun County Times:

Cross came before the board last Thursday and calmly addressed the proposed policy, explaining that it violated his religious principles and constituted “lying” to his students.

My name is Tanner Cross, and I am speaking out of love for those who suffer with gender dysphoria. “60 Minutes” this past Sunday interviewed over 30 young people who transitioned, but they felt led astray because lack of pushback, or how easy it was to make physical changes to their bodies in just three months. They are now detransitioning. It’s not my intention to hurt anyone, but there are certain truths that we must face when ready. We condemn policies like 8040 and 8035 because it was damaged children, defile the holy image of God. I love all of my students but I would never lie to them regardless of the consequences. I’m a teacher, but I serve God first. And I will not affirm that a biological boy can be a girl and vice-versa because it’s against my religion it’s lying to a child. It’s abuse to a child and it’s sinning against our God.

Loudoun County School Board just put a school teacher on administrative leave for stating he would not teach LGBTQ because it violates his Christian principles. pic.twitter.com/QCwzIYdNNw

— Michael S. Miller (@imichaelsmiller) May 27, 2021

Cross’s penalty for telling the truth as a teacher and Virginia taxpayers? An unceremonious email from the school principal announcing his involuntary and indefinite leave of absence.

It should not be lost on us that school administrations typically take years to fire or suspend teachers accused of sexual abuse. Cross gave a calm, reasoned, and personal appeal and was suspended for simply expressing his religious (and scientific) beliefs. So a teacher can be suspended for religious expression but children are to be revered for “gender expression.”

Got it.

Loudoun County parents continue to gather signatures to trigger a recall of the offending school board members. They represent a larger battle that is beginning to sweep through counties across the nation as average Americans begin to push back on a harmful progressive agenda that they did not vote for. In a video that any person of faith who struggles with the balance between protest and evangelism should watch, Cornerstone Chapel pastor Gary Hamrick deftly explains why he chose to distribute the recall petition in his congregation, using Cross’s testimony as an example.

If you live in Loudoun County and want to help with the petition drive or you’re just motivated to support the fight from where you are, Fight For Schools has information on petition drives, which school board members are being targeted, and ways to donate to support the effort.

There is no cavalry coming. The cavalry is you.