Sex offender called 'poster boy' for GOP's transgender ideology concerns faces court hearing

Serial sex offender Richard Kenneth Cox appeared in Arlington, Virginia circuit court Friday facing several prurient charges, with a vulgar rap sheet going back to the George H.W. Bush administration.

Cox has been described as the "poster boy" for Republican concerns about transgender ideology and permissive policies at schools and on sports teams as statewide electoral races in Virginia heat up.

Cox, 58, was born male but recently began identifying as female, a change that allowed him access to women's facilities at a Fairfax County recreation center despite his criminal record - sparking outrage from the commonwealth's top GOP nominees.

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An Arlington official told Fox News Digital on Friday that Cox appeared at 9:30 a.m. ET before Judge Daniel Tomas Lopez to face seven of at least 23 upcoming counts on the court's docket.

Cox is facing Lopez on two counts of possession of child pornography, a second-or-greater offense, two counts of indecent liberties with a child under 15, one count of indecent exposure, one count of contact with a child after conviction and one count of entering school property as a Tier III (the most serious level) sex offender.

Four charges stem from October 2024, and two others from December of that year. More than a dozen other similar charges are scheduled to be heard Monday in Arlington, as well.

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Two charges were lodged in connection with an Oct. 21, 2024, incident in which a victim at the girl's locker room for Washington-Liberty High School's pool witnessed Cox exposing himself. Two more charges were lodged on Oct. 30, 2024.

In December, Cox racked up the remaining two charges in connection with an incident at a Barcroft, Virginia gym where he allegedly entered the women's locker room and exposed himself to an adult and multiple children.

After the incident at the school pool, Arlington Superintendent Francisco Duran sent a letter to parents saying Cox was not present during school hours and that the pool has a separate entrance than the school, according to ABC's Washington affiliate.

Duran said Cox was summarily banned from the pool, while adding later that "Arlington Public Schools will continue to foster an inclusive community for all, including members who identify as members of the LGBTQ+ community."

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The sentiment of that last remark has brought Cox to the forefront of political battles in Virginia in this year's election.

Attorney General Jason Miyares, a Republican running for re-election against former Del. Jerrauld "Jay" Jones, D-Norfolk, blamed his opponent for helping create the conditions in which Cox could victimize the community.

Miyares pointed Wednesday to Jones' support for a bill then-Gov. Ralph Northam signed into law that allows people to choose which sex appears on their driver's license regardless of biology.

"Jay Jones is complicit, allowing the scarring of the countless victims who watched as Richard Cox repeatedly exposed himself under the protection of a bill he voted for," Miyares said.

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Jones did not respond to a request for comment at the time, and Miyares also hammered Fairfax County Commonwealth's Attorney Steve Descano for declining to prosecute Cox for similar alleged transgressions to those in neighboring Arlington.

Cox also reportedly defended himself in one such exposure case in a women's locker room, by saying that "transgender people identify as belonging to a gender which may not conform to the sex they were assigned at birth."

"For a transgender person to be observed in a locker room nude is no proof that this also was anything more than platonic," Cox said, according to ABC Washington.

"Nudity among the ancients was not always segregated by gender either," Cox wrote in a court document that spoke about "social nudity" in early Greek culture.

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Fairfax officials said at the time that one indecent exposure charge was dropped after an alleged victim did not appear in court.

Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears, running for governor against former Rep. Abigail Spanberger, also called out what she called her opponent's "word salad" when pressed on transgender issues in Virginia.

When asked by Roanoke's ABC affiliate about transgender women in girls' spaces, Spanberger said that Virginia "until very recently we have had a process in place where, on an individual, one by one basis, schools, principals, parents, coaches were making decisions based on fairness, competitiveness and safety, where a child might be able or might not be able to play in a particular sport."

As for Cox, he reportedly told a judge in 1995 that he had been sexually abused by an older cousin as a child, and was "aware that I suffer compulsions to expose myself in public places."

Cox reportedly told the judge he tried to have himself castrated because of such urges but ultimately relented.