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Donald Yarber; Union County school board members
Kentucky school board member Donald Yarber faced backlash for his anti-LGBTQ+ comments, causing him to flee a public meeting.
Parents, teachers, and community members in Kentucky confronted a school board member who posted anti-LGBTQ+ comments to his private Facebook profile, causing him to flee the public meeting held on Monday, local NBC affiliate WFIE reports.
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Donald Yarber has been a member of the Union Country Public Schools board in Morganfield since 2021. Earlier this month, he made anti-LGBTQ+ statements in since-deleted posts to Facebook.
“Keep letting those q***rs influence the minds of your children,” Yarber wrote in a now-deleted post, adding, “They won’t have any sickness except AIDS, mental instability, suicidal thoughts, jobs, wealth, self-respect or righteousness.”
Yarber, a mystery writer who studied journalism and creative writing in college, responded to his critics in another post to Facebook, saying his “job is NOT to please people” and that his job does not require him to “bend over and kiss any behinds because they do NOT like me or my beliefs.” He added that people can block or unfriend him if they don’t like his personal beliefs.
Yarber faced a hostile audience at Monday night’s school board meeting.
“I’ve dealt with bullies all my life, so Mr. Yarber, when you made those comments on Facebook, they roll right off me because I have developed a very tough skin,” Mark Lamb, an out dance teacher, told Yarber, adding, “When I was a kid, I suffered messages like you said when you cavalierly mentioned suicide, and they made me not want to be alive,” he says. “I believe that all of us need to do better. Even the bullies, even you, Mr. Yarber.”
Following Lamb’s comments, Yarber rose from his chair and left the meeting, followed by angry parents calling him out.
The school board later released a formal statement to the media about Yarber and his Facebook posts.
“Union County Public Schools (UCPS) remains deeply committed to upholding the highest standards of professionalism, ethics, and respect for all,” the statement said. “The views expressed on personal social media accounts by staff or board members are not representative of the official values or positions of our school district or Board of Education. Since board members are elected officials and not school district employees, UCPS does not have the legal authority to regulate their actions or suspend their terms.”
Yarber responded to his critics with another post to Facebook Tuesday: “Once again the gay community has been allowed to say, 'It’s OK to be Gay.' And I have not been allowed to say, 'No it’s not.'”
On his school board profile, Yarber says he “desires to raise the level of education in Kentucky by reducing the number of state and federal tests and concentrating on teaching instead of testing” and that he is committed to “limiting the Commonwealth’s control of curriculum in Union County Schools, returning the education of schools to the parents and teachers.”
Yarber was reelected to the school board representing District 2 in Union County last November with over 55 percent of the vote.
The Advocate reached out to Mr. Yarber for comment on short notice and will update the story to include his response.
