A Montgomery County council member and former local public-school teacher suggested during a recent school-board meeting that Muslim students in the district who object to mandatory LGBT-related lessons are aligned with white supremacists.
“This issue has unfortunately put some, not all, of course, some Muslim families on the same side of an issue as white supremacists and outright bigots,” Mink said at a June 6 school-board meeting, Fox News first reported.
Several Muslim students spoke during the meeting about how questions of gender and sexuality are influenced by their faith, pushing back against the claim that their adherence to a unique belief system makes them “intolerant.” One student also questioned whether his “first-grade and third-grade cousins are prepared to read and discuss such issues.”
Mink has since released a statement apologizing for her remarks at the school-board meeting.
“Although my remarks were focused on promoting inclusion, they created an opportunity for misunderstanding and mischaracterization. I apologize for the hurt that this caused the Muslim community,” she said.
Mink claimed in her apology that she had discussed her change in thinking with members of the local Muslim community, but director of the Islam and Religious Freedom Action Team for the Religious Freedom Institute, Ismail Royer, said that Mink’s comments surprised him because they contrasted with claims she made during a private discussion they had after the meeting.
Mink had previously criticized Trump administration Middle East envoys as “Zionist Jews loyal to the Trumps with zero relevant experience” and resigned from left-wing organization Lights for Liberty because white women served in leadership positions.
Montgomery County residents and Muslim families have mobilized for the restoration of the opt-out option in recent months, with over 2,000 residents signing a petition and at least 400 demonstrators attending the recent school-board meeting, according to a press release by CAIR.
In a separate incident, a school-board member accused a student who objected to mandatory LGBT curricula of “parroting dogma” learned from her parents.