A Democrat Maryland elected official apologized in a Sunday afternoon statement addressed to the Muslim community days after she blasted their children who spoke against an LGBTQ+ curriculum at a Montgomery County Public Schools board meeting as being aligned with "White supremacists."
Kristin Mink, a Montgomery County council member and former public school teacher at MCPS, maintained in her apology statement that her Tuesday board of education meeting remarks were "focused on promoting inclusion."
"[My remarks] created an opportunity for misunderstanding and mischaracterization," she said. "I apologize for the hurt that caused in the Muslim community."
Muslim children at the Montgomery County Public Schools district had been speaking out against their parents' inability to opt them out of LGBTQ+ lessons they deemed violated their faith at the meeting.
Sa'ad, one of the children who spoke out, is a middle school student in MCPS. Sa'ad said he is aware of 40 Muslim children who want to be opted out of the curriculum.
"I'm here to talk about my rights. My religion teaches to respect all religions and all human beings and their rights. So does my country's law. And I want my right back to have an opt-out option," he said.
Another child said, "Although the introduction of texts and discussions related to transgenderism and LGBTQ+ may support MCPS's mission to be all-inclusive… I don't believe my first-grade and third-grade cousins are prepared to read and discuss such issues."
It was Mink's turn to speak following a series of such statements.
She said, "This issue [of LGBTQ+ instruction] has unfortunately put… some Muslim families on the same side of an issue as White supremacists and outright bigots."
"I would not put you in the same category as those folks, although, you know, it's complicated because they're falling on the same side of this particular issue," she continued. "And that is equity."
Mink, at the time, was wearing a shirt, which said, "Love. Empathy. Compassion. Inclusion. Justice. Kindness."
Following outcry from the Muslim community, Mink said "I apologize."
She then claimed to understand where the faith community was coming based on the fact that she sat down with members from the Montgomery County Muslim community before she spoke at the meeting.
However, Ismail Royer, the director of the Islam and Religious Freedom Action Team for the Religious Freedom Institute, told Fox News Digital he was "shocked" by the council member's comments because it was in stark contrast to their private discussion.
"We were really disappointed because we had all been speaking to her before meeting, and she was nodding along and seeming like she was at least understanding our point of view even if she didn't agree with it," Royer said. "But then for her to go and say Muslim views are the same as White supremacists… I was shocked. I was absolutely stunned. That's the last thing that I thought she was going to say."
Royer said Muslims audibly gasped when she made her remarks and many left the meeting.
"It was a very disturbing and jarring moment. And it just reveals what's kind of really lurking in people's hearts when they're pretending to be your friends," Royer said.
Mink added in her statement, "I look forward to continuing to work with members of our Muslim and LGBTQIA+ communities as we take on issues of importance for all residents."
Fox News Digital reached out to Mink for comment and asked about whether the Democrat had an apology for blasting individuals on the basis of being "Zionist Jews" and for calling for "White women" to be struck down from leadership to "dismantle White power," but did not immediately receive a response.
