Equality Arlington Statement on the Indecent Exposure Incident at Washington-Liberty High School Locker Room

Equality Arlington, a nonprofit advocacy organization dedicated to improving the lives of the LGBTQ+ community, echoes the shock, grief, and outrage of Arlington residents that a serial sex offender was able to access the Washington-Liberty pool in violation of the law and Arlington Public School policy and was, as a result, able to commit acts of indecency in the women’s locker room. Exposure to unwanted sexual behavior, especially in a place that should be safe, is a devastating source of trauma and we hope the victim is receiving the care they need to recover from this incident.

According to media and police reports, Richard Cox has been a serial offender since 1992, is a registered sex offender, and allegedly committed almost a dozen acts of sexual deviancy in the fall of 2024 alone. A number of systems, designed to keep all community members safe, failed to stop this dangerous individual from getting access to school property locker rooms. We join with the voices calling for a complete account of how this happened and a report of what steps Arlington Public Schools will be taking to ensure it never happens again.

We condemn efforts by some to use the pain and suffering caused by this person’s actions to attack and seek to harm transgender individuals. While media reports have said that Richard Cox identifies as transgender, a person’s gender identity is not a factor in their ability to commit crime and harm other members of the Arlington community. It is shameful that certain individuals and organizations have chosen to use this incident to advocate for policies that discriminate against transgender residents instead of focusing on solutions that would prevent prolific sex offenders from having access to facilities that should be safe for all to use, including transgender residents.

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