Ziegler Should Shut Down Hate Speech At School Board Meetings: Edwards

SARASOTA COUNTY, FL — A week after walking out of a Sarasota County School Board meeting because of hateful, anti-gay insults hurled at him during the public comment period, board member Tom Edwards is speaking out about the incident.

He told Patch that he left the March 21 meeting to protest chair Bridget Ziegler’s handling of the comments, which implied that he “grooms” children to abuse them.

“I'm 64 years old and I've been a member of the LGBTQ+ community for over 40 years, and I've seen and heard and experienced all versions of hate in that regard,” Edwards said. “So, I protested because Mrs. Ziegler refused to protect our students and our community from senseless hate. I thought, ‘How can I instantaneously shut this down?’ And I walked out.”

Patch has reached out to Ziegler for comments. This story will be updated when she responds.

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The incident was weeks in the making, after resident Melissa Bakondy said that Edwards “appears to be a lawbreaker and an LGBTQ groomer” during the public comment segment of the board’s March 7 meeting.

The term “grooming” is a buzzword used by right-wing activists to perpetuate “false claims that LGBTQ+ people are ‘pedophiles’ who are ‘grooming’ children in order to abuse them,” according to the Anti-Defamation League. “This false and malicious narrative has been weaponized to label the LGBTQ+ community as ‘groomers’ and has fueled a slew of hostile legislation and policies aimed at erasing the discussion of LGBTQ+ related issues in schools, removing LGBTQ+ books from schools and public libraries and, especially, to ostracize, defame and harass transgender people.”

At the board’s March 21 meeting, another resident supported Bakondy’s earlier accusations against Edwards.

“It’s interesting that up until 45 minutes ago, no one had stated that what Melissa Bakondy said at the last board meeting was a lie or false,” Sally Nista said during public comments. “Tom Edwards is who he is. The fact that Melissa points (it) out is what seems to be so upsetting.”

Dozens of residents came out in support of Edwards that evening, and the audience at the meeting erupted in outrage, booing Nista, as she continued her comments about “what Tom stands for” and “what Tom wants to do to children in our district.”

Board chair Bridget Ziegler tried to quiet the crowd, rather than put a stop to Nista’s comments.

This prompted Edwards to walk out of the meeting.

The protest was less about him and more about the county’s students, school staff and residents, he said.

“I’m really fine,” he said, noting that he “did it for the community.”

Edwards, who lived in New York City for more than 30 years and later upstate New York, moved to Sarasota County six years ago.

He was elected to the Sarasota County School Board, representing District 3, in November 2020. His term ends Nov. 19, 2024, according to Ballotpedia.

He’s already filed to run for re-election in 2024, according to the Sarasota County Supervisor of Elections website.

“I love Sarasota and I love my community and in the nearly six years that Nick and I have lived here as a married couple, we never experienced homophobia in any way whether shopping or going to theater or restaurants,” Edwards said. “The only homophobic experience I’ve ever had in Sarasota County was in the board room by Mrs. Ziegler and her minions.”

Since walking out of the March 21 meeting, no board members or school district officials have reached out to him as of Monday afternoon.

“If they or the superintendent have called or emailed me with concern, I missed it,” Edwards said.

During the March 7 meeting, Ziegler didn't stop Bakondy's comments about him, but later apologized.

“That was wildly uncomfortable and inappropriate, and I apologize to Mr. Edwards,” she said. “Just as much as I do not believe anyone’s sexual orientation should be discussed in a classroom or office, I do not believe it’s relevant or should be discussed at this dais or in these chambers.”

At that meeting, he called on Ziegler, as chair, to shut down such “personal attacks" in the future.

“The chair should shut it down, but not for me. I can take it. I’m used to it. I’ve been doing it for two years at almost every school board meeting, probably worse than what they did today,” he said. “It’s not for me that the chair should learn to shut it down. It’s our fellow colleagues. It’s our educators. It’s our superintendent. It’s unacceptable and here’s where it starts.”

After he walked out of the March 21 meeting, Ziegler called a recess. When the meeting later reconvened, she told the crowd to “refrain from communicating with each other,” and allowed Nista to continue her comments, which had been interrupted earlier.

While she didn’t apologize to Edwards again at that meeting, Ziegler said later in the evening, “I hope we don’t have to block everything because of an unfortunate circumstance.”

“I did give her the benefit of the doubt at the first (March 7) meeting because of how surprising and how shockingly emotionally violent the comments were," he told Patch. "So, I gave her the benefit of the doubt in terms of how she handled the situation."

If such comments are made at future school board meetings, he’s not sure how he’ll respond, but he hopes the chair will stop “hate speech and attacks.”

The next school board work session and board meeting are scheduled for April 4.

“I'm counting on Mrs. Ziegler learning the difference between civil discourse and public attack, because the community is counting on her to learn that,” Edwards said. “I’m not asking everyone to agree with all my policies and my votes. That’s what democracy is all about — civil discourse. It’s ok to disagree, but you need to do so in a manner that’s constructive. That’s the difference between that and a public attack and hate speech.”

He added, “I’m counting on the public understanding the difference because of the last two meetings and the attention that it got and the community outrage. Otherwise, we’ll just have to keep shutting down the meetings, won’t we?”

He’s also grateful for the support he’s seen from the community in recent weeks.

“The outpouring (of support) that I've gotten from the hate speech and the attacks are overwhelming,” Edwards said. “Our community should know that that showing of values and support is who Sarasota really is. That extreme agenda that Mrs. Ziegler, the board members and public comments display is not who Sarasota is.”