“Rep. Eugene Vindman faced a heated confrontation with transgender constituents and local Democrats in King George County over his May vote for Republican-backed H.R. 2616, legislation that would require parental consent before schools change a minor student’s gender markers, pronouns, or accommodations, leading to a profane hallway exchange and his abrupt departure,” The Advocate reported. Attendees challenged the first-term Democrat’s support for the measure, sharing personal accounts of being outed to unsupportive parents, while Vindman defended the vote as rooted in parental rights before later issuing an apology for failing to listen.

The clash occurred during a Tuesday meeting with the King George County Democratic Committee in the solidly Republican locality within Virginia’s 7th Congressional District, where Vindman has held no prior public town hall and where local LGBTQ+ students recently sued over the denial of a gay-straight alliance at the middle school.