A middle school community in Virginia is fighting back after their principal was fired for starting an “LGBTQ+ Kindness” flex-time class to provide a safe space for LGBTQ+ students.

Dr. Jerry Putt, Frederick County Middle School’s principal since 2017, has been removed from his role after a divisive debate at the school board over his actions, The Winchester Gazette reports.

The controversy erupted on Tuesday at the Frederick County School Board meeting, where a conservative faction of parents and board members argued that the “LGBTQ+ Kindness” class deviated from state-approved curricula and called it “inappropriate.”

The leader of the group in opposition to the class was a Back Creek District resident named Chris Davey, who claimed the optional class was “perverted.”

He faulted Putt for permitting it without parental notice and took his frustrations to the school board, where he found a sympathetic audience. 

The board put school staff “on notice” that “unsanctioned curriculum” additions wouldn’t be tolerated and could be grounds for termination.

Two days later, they made beloved principal Putt an example.

On Thursday, the school community received notice from district superintendent Dr. George Hummer announcing Dr. Putt’s removal without explanation, along with an introduction to an interim principal.

Wendy Werner, a former counselor at the school, described the events as “appalling” and criticized parents at the board meeting as “hateful and uninformed.”

Now she and other community members are fighting back with a grassroots campaign to reinstate Putt, starting with an online petition that has already gathered nearly 1300 signatures in the small town and has served as a forum to describe how the board and parents’ rights advocates have done a disservice to the community with their campaign of anti-LGBTQ+ hate.

One local resident called the board’s decision misguided.

“The principal is out because he created opportunities for ALL students during the school day and that was ‘off script,’” Luke Mason wrote, questioning whether other extracurricular activities, like the “four-wheeler club” or pep rallies, would face similar scrutiny.

Sonia Marfatia-Goode raised the issue of discrimination, explaining one parent wanted “the LGBTQ+ flex canceled but to keep all of flex for everyone else.” 

“I wouldn’t be surprised if the division was sued over this,” she said with a warning of repercussions.

Marfatia-Goode said the divisive environment at recent school board meetings was having an effect on kids.

Children “pay attention, and they are finding out that if you don’t want something, you yell and yell until you get your way,” she wrote.