Virginia Dem Says Masks Are Just Political Symbols, ‘Forced Masking’ Violates 1st Amendment

“It has become hard, if not impossible, to find a respected medical researcher who still defends Forced Masking of Children as a public safety measure,” Sen. Chap Petersen wrote Monday. Petersen, a moderate Democrat from Fairfax City, serves in a state senate where Democrats have such a thin majority that, when he votes with Republicans, Republicans can pass legislation.

“The decision to wear a mask in public – when there is so little correlation with public health – makes it de facto a political decision. In other words, by wearing a mask in a public setting, the wearer is able to communicate a political message, e.g. “I Care About Others” or “I voted for Biden” … You are forcing children to make a political statement that they (and their parents) may not believe. That violates the First Amendment,” he wrote.

It was a remarkable example of an elected Democrat politician calling out a nominally nonpartisan schools chief for being more partisan than he is — so partisan, in fact, that the superintendent was willing to implement what Petersen described as “inhumane” policies in service of political virtue signaling.

“For the past two years, we have seen the lives of our children disrupted and destroyed by a pandemic that posed little, or no, threat to them physically. Too many decisions involving children have been dictated by political expediency. As a parent, I’ve had enough,” he wrote. “In the coming days, I will ask the Governor to either send down special legislation or amend existing legislation so as to end the Forced Masking of Children. We will pass that with a bipartisan majority and this sad episode will finally end.”

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