Equality Arlington president Kellen MacBeth argued that biological boys should be allowed to use girls’ bathrooms, where trans students have assaulted Virginia children
“Moderate” Virginia governor Abigail Spanberger (D.) tapped a left-wing activist with a long history of pushing gender transitions for minors to serve on the state’s LGBTQ+ Advisory Board. As Equality Arlington president and founder, Kellen MacBeth has also fought to allow biological boys in girls’ bathrooms, an issue that has sparked controversy in Virginia following high-profile sexual assaults by transgender students.
Spanberger announced MacBeth’s addition to the 26-member panel on May 22 alongside dozens of state board appointees. The LGBTQ+ board, which was established by former governor Ralph Northam (D.), produces reports on gay and trans Virginians that include policy and funding recommendations on issues like health and housing. It also requires that at least 15 members “identify as LGBTQ+”—MacBeth is married to a man.
Spanberger’s decision to appoint MacBeth marks an embrace of left-wing gender activism—one that contradicts the rhetoric Spanberger offered on the issue while campaigning as a “moderate” Democrat. Asked whether she supported biological boys playing in girls’ sports and using girls’ bathrooms, Spanberger gave vague answers arguing that local schools should make such decisions on an “individual” basis without offering her own views. In one case, Spanberger ran from a reporter who asked her to give a “direct” answer on the topic, leaving a campaign event in her car.
MacBeth’s organization, Equality Arlington, has offered clearer positions on transgender issues in schools. In February 2025, the group sent a letter signed by MacBeth to Arlington Public Schools asserting that students should play on sports teams that align with their chosen gender and urging the district to “stand up for the rights of transgender athletes.” It issued a similar letter the following July, calling on the Northern Virginia district “to oppose and resist” the Trump administration’s efforts to prohibit schools from allowing biological boys in girls’ bathrooms and locker rooms.
Elsewhere, MacBeth called the Trump administration’s attempts to prohibit hospitals from performing gender-altering surgeries and such procedures on children “dangerous and discriminatory.” Though MacBeth said those decisions should be “left to parents,” he also pushed Virginia lawmakers to reject bills requiring teachers to tell parents if their children identified as transgender and allowing parents to opt out of “any instruction or content related to the LGBTQ+ community.”
Transgender locker room policies have become a hot button issue in Virginia following several high-profile incidents. Last month, the U.S. Department of Education launched an investigation into Loudoun County Public Schools after a transgender student was accused of secretly filming at least 40 underage students in high school bathrooms. In the same district, in 2021, a male student who identified as “gender-fluid” was accused of raping a ninth-grade girl in a school bathroom, then was transferred to a different school where he assaulted another girl.
Neither Spanberger nor MacBeth responded to requests for comment.
MacBeth was not the only appointee Spanberger announced on May 22 with a record of left-wing activism. Spanberger also tapped Maryn Campbell, a policy analyst for the nonprofit Legal Aid Justice Center, for the African American Advisory Board, which was created in 2019 shortly after photos emerged of Northam in either black face or a Ku Klux Klan hood.
Legal Aid Justice Center defended the release of a man in 2020 who was twice convicted for shooting a police officer in the throat, arguing that Virginia shouldn’t ban parole for prisoners based on the crime they committed. It also lobbied for a bill—ultimately signed by Spanberger—prohibiting Virginia’s local law enforcement from assisting ICE unless the immigration agency provided a judicial warrant, which it rarely obtains since illegally crossing the border is a civil offense.
Campbell has also served as outreach director to Rep. Jennifer McClellan (D., Va.), who co-sponsored a reparations bill alongside Reps. Summer Lee (D., Pa.) and Ayanna Pressley (D., Mass.), both members of the “Squad.” The legislation would have provided $20 million to a federal commission that would develop reparations proposals for descendants of slaves.
Campbell did not respond to requests for comment.
Another Spanberger appointee, Nathan Shultz, was tapped to sit on the board of commissioners for Virginia Housing, a quasi-government agency that’s intended to make mortgages cheaper and more affordable, largely by funding loans and housing developments through bond sales.
Yet while Shultz served as chief of staff for the Federal Housing Administration under the Biden administration, the agency cut mortgage insurance premiums, a move the Wall Street Journal Editorial Board argued would push already soaring housing costs even higher.
Shultz did not respond to a request for comment. Instead, Brian Chappelle, a partner at Potomac Partners where Shultz serves as an adviser, said the board is “fortunate to have his experience and expertise.” “Nate has a long track record of working in a bipartisan fashion to address the challenges that limit access and affordability in housing,” Chappelle told the Washington Free Beacon.
Spanberger also appointed Robyn Sordelett, a leader of a left-wing nonprofit founded by two ousted George Soros-backed prosecutors, to serve on the state’s Criminal Justice Services Board, and David Wilkinson, who pushed masks for two-year-olds and mandatory vaccinations during the COVID-19 pandemic, to be her cabinet-level chief transformation officer, the Free Beacon reported.
By contrast, members appointed to the LGBTQ+ Advisory Board by Spanberger’s Republican predecessor, Glenn Youngkin, include Teri Crawford Brown, an American Red Cross-recognized nurse who started a nonprofit that provides furniture to needy families.
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