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LGBTQ+ advocates have repeatedly voiced outrage at Bridget Ziegler — not because it was revealed she had a sexual relationship with a woman, but because she's supported Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis's anti-LGBTQ+ policies.
Bridget Ziegler has made her most extensive comments since a sex scandal prompted calls for her resignation from the Sarasota County School Board.
Ziegler didn’t specifically address revelations that she and her husband, fired Republican Party of Florida Chairman Christian Ziegler, engaged in threesomes with at least one other woman. But the Moms for Liberty cofounder defended the state’s “don’t say gay” law and other controversial policies widely seen as anti-LGBTQ+.
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At the end of a school board meeting Tuesday night in Sarasota, Bridget Ziegler also acknowledged the personal scandal disrupted meetings since a rape investigation regarding her husband began last year. But she offered no hint she will resign and has resisted calls since December.
“I have taken a lot of arrows,” she said. “I know my colleagues up here have as well. It is not comfortable.”
Police aren’t pursuing charges against Christian Ziegler for rape, but recommended he be prosecuted for video voyeurism for illegally filming himself having sex with his accuser. Over the course of the investigation, authorities have released digital communications between the Zieglers acknowledging they had a threesome with the woman previously, with some of the most recently disclosed communications showing they had fretted over the woman’s mental status and may need to seek a different person to engage in future encounters.
The comments on Tuesday followed hours of public testimony, thanks to a “Ban Bridget” effort. That was organized by Zander Moricz, a local valedictorian who made national news last year after Pine View School administration told him he could not discuss being gay during his graduation address. He has since founded the Social Equity Through Education Alliance.
Bridget Ziegler, for her part, said she supported the right of the public to address any issues at meetings. But she also said she will not address a personal scandal there.
“Much of the conversation that's come up at public comment, I will never address in these chambers because it has absolutely nothing to do with my role as a board member,” she said.
She claimed despite outrage at her over her policy stances even before the scandal, the school district is in better shape. She pointed toward improvements in graduation rates as an example.
Ziegler also addressed a controversial incident last March when homophobic comments were hurled at fellow school board member Tom Edwards, an out gay man. She defended her handling of the situation at the meeting.
“A board member at one point walked out because he believed that the comment was so out of bounds. I will say that I will address a specific issue in a March board meeting,” Ziegler said. “I allowed public comment as chair to continue but did make my comments because I do believe it, specific to sexual orientation and what have you, should have no place in comments up here. Personal lives, families, all of those.
“I also accept the fact that as elected officials, we do open ourselves up to incredible criticism. But as an individual, I absolutely reject that.”
Ziegler has been a controversial figure for efforts in Florida to stop the recognition of LGBTQ+ individuals. She stood alongside Gov. Ron DeSantis when he signed the state's "don't say gay" law purportedly supporting parental rights that prohibits any instruction on sexual orientation or gender identity in schools. She also supported a ban on trans girls playing girls’ sports, and infamously shared photos online of herself wearing a shirt that read “Real women aren’t men.”
Ziegler defended some of the policies she supported as misunderstood.
“I don't want anyone to be fearful,” she said. “I don't want anyone in our district to feel that they will have anything, that we are providing anything other than a fair, safe, and tolerant environment for every single person to learn, and that means not just to learn and work, and I believe strongly that every single person on this board feels the exact same way.”
Ziegler also cofounded Moms for Liberty, though she hasn’t played an active role in the group for some time. The Southern Poverty Law Center last year designated the organization as an “anti-government extremist” group.
