‘Deeply troubling:’ LGBTQ advocates concerned over posts from incoming Duval school board member

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — While the primary election is over, there are new concerns about one of the incoming Duval County School Board member’s social media posts.

A teacher sent Action News Jax apparent anti-LGBTQ posts from Tony Ricardo’s personal Facebook page. Some of them appeared on his timeline during the same time he was running for Duval County School Board in District 1.

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“I think those posts are deeply troubling,” Joe Saunders, Equality Florida’s Senior Political Director, said. “While it is deeply troubling that a member of the Duval County School Board would come in holding an allegiance to this kind of anti-LGBTQ messaging, he is an outlier.”

Ricardo was backed by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and the Duval GOP. According to his website, he campaigned on keeping parental rights, and rejecting indoctrination and “woke gender ideology” in schools.

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Ricardo beat out Nadine Ebri, gathering 53% support compared to her 47% during last week’s primary election. Saunders said there’s been an increase in messaging from politicians like Ricardo in recent years, but that it’s not representative of the majority.

“We’ve seen candidates emerge who really rallied around toxic politics. So that’s what I think we’re seeing from this incoming school board member,” Saunders said.

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Some of the posts have been scrubbed from Ricardo’s timeline, but LGBTQ advocates are still speaking up and pushing back on the messaging.

“There will be a response that if they try to legislate that kind of hate from the school board, Duval County has proven over and over again that it will push back on anything that disrespects families,” Saunders said.

Action News Jax emailed and called Ricardo to get his comment on the posts, but so far we have not heard back.

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