Virginia’s largest school division appointed a sex therapist, Laila Cooper, to the Challenged Materials Interdepartmental Review Committee, responsible for evaluating requests to remove books from the school district.
Cooper’s professional background, which includes a focus on LGBTQIA issues, kink/BDSM, and providing documentation for gender surgery, sparked controversy.
“I work from an affirming and social justice approach with the LGBTQIA community and people of color, and I am kink- and non-monogamy informed and affirming… My work is focused on sex and gender issues (including transgender issues), sexual orientation, kink/BDSM, and interpersonal relationships (including couples, polyamory, family dyads),” Cooper wrote.
Cooper’s work “includes but is not limited to: navigating non-monogamy (i.e., polyamory, open relationships, swingers, monogamish, throuples, etc.), kinky sex (e.g., BDSM, group sex, fetish), painful sex, difficulty with orgasm, erection issues, shame and anxiety related to sex, out of control sexual behavior (aka sex addiction), sexual orientation, and gender transition. I work with all genders, sexualities, and relationship formats from an informed, non-judgmental, affirming, and celebratory stance.”
“As ethically possible, I provide all documentation necessary to do this following a consultation with you,” she wrote. “I work from an informed consent model, wherein my goal is to advocate for and help you achieve the care you need and desire.”
“As a longstanding advocate for the human rights of immigrants, I offer psychological evaluations (in English and Spanish) that accompany other legal documentation for asylum, human trafficking, and other immigration-related cases,” her website reads.
“Yes I was recently appointed to the Challenged Materials Committee,” Cooper said. “I applied for the committee as an involved mother who cares about the school community and, in particular, about access to diverse reading materials. Although that was the extent of my discussion with Mr. Frisch regarding my desire to be on the committee, I understand that my professional background is causing distraction from the important work being done by him and other members of the school board; thus I have stepped down from the role. My work as a licensed clinical psychologist is unrelated to my desire to be on the committee,” she said.
After inquiries, Cooper resigned from the committee to prevent political damage.
Concerns were raised about potential bias in assessing appropriate materials for schools, with critics questioning the appropriateness of such credentials for this role.
“A ‘professional’ with such credentials, assigned to a panel to adjudicate what is deemed appropriate material flagged by concerned taxpayers, will most certainly be biased in the determination of what’s appropriate to sit on our kids’ school library shelves, what’s presented to them in the classrooms and assemblies, in Family Life Education/sex-ed instruction, and what’s sanctioned to be presented in after-school clubs,” mother Brooke Corbett said.
“The biases someone like Cooper brings to this role promotes and enables grooming behavior of our children, plain and simple. It makes me suspicious and want to know what is Frisch’s motivation in supporting individuals and groups who normalize sexually explicit, disordered, adult practices to children… I hope all parents and concerned citizens take note of Frisch’s decisions,” she added.
The school board chairman, Karl Frisch, faced scrutiny for his support of Cooper and his own background as a career Democrat operative.
The appointment and subsequent resignation have drawn attention to the handling of controversial materials in the school system.
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