Members of the crowd filling the school board meeting were on their feet, shouting at the politicians sitting on the dais. The voices had tinges of outrage.

“Shame on you,” one person yelled. “Tyranny,” screamed another.

For what are normally staid proceedings — with Fairfax County School Board members handing out certificates to long-tenured teachers and honoring Boy Scouts — the hearing last month turned contentious as the board considered expanding the school system’s sex-education curriculum to include lessons on gender identity and transgender issues.

Casting her no vote, Springfield district representative Elizabeth Schultz rose to her feet as the vast majority of those in attendance gave her a rousing ovation. Never mind that the measure passed in a 10-to-2 vote. Even in the lopsided defeat, a woman’s voice called out above the din: “Thank you, Elizabeth!”

Schultz is used to being on the losing end of votes as the mostly liberal board’s brash and loquacious conservative, but she reveled in the rare public appreciation as hundreds of parents in the audience applauded her stance. The mother of three current Fairfax County public school students, Schultz said she voted on behalf of parents and their right to opt their children out of sex-ed ­classes that cover sensitive material.

Read the article “School Board Rep Fighting Back against Transgender Policies in Fairfax County, VA” on washingtonpost.com.