Politicians in both parties are condemning a sign directed at Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears outside Thursday's meeting of the Arlington County School Board as racist.

Earle-Sears, the Republican nominee for governor, attended the meeting to criticize the Arlington school district's transgender policy.

A woman at the transgender rights rally held aloft a sign with the words: "Hey Winsome: If trans can't share your bathroom then Blacks can't share my water fountain."

Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears, the Republican nominee for governor, shown at a July 1 rally in Fairfax County, posted on X that she was "disgusted but not surprised" by the sign at the Arlington rally.

Earle-Sears, who would be the first African American woman to be elected governor in the U.S., said in a post on X: "I'm disgusted, but not surprised. This is the 'tolerant' left Abigail Spanberger defends."

Earle-Sears included the image of the sign in a new ad she released Friday. The ad highlights Earle-Sears speaking out about Northern Virginia school districts' transgender policies.

Spanberger, the Democratic nominee for governor, said in a post on X that the sign's message is unacceptable.

"As I said yesterday, the sign displayed in Arlington last night was racist and abhorrent," she wrote.

"Many Virginians remember the segregated water fountains (and buses and schools and neighborhoods) of Virginia's recent history. And no matter the intended purpose or tone and no matter how much one might find someone else's beliefs objectionable, to threaten a return of Jim Crow and segregation to a Black woman is unacceptable. Full stop."

On Thursday evening Earle-Sears, the GOP nominee for governor, showed up at a school board meeting in deep blue Arlington County to blast the school system's transgender policies.

Republicans from Gov. Glenn Youngkin to U.S. Sens. Ted Cruz, R- Texas, and Tim Scott, R- S.C., also condemned the image.

Youngkin wrote in a post on X: "The hypocrisy of the liberal left on display again. Winsome is so much bigger than this idiocy."

The new Earle-Sears ad also accuses Spanberger of silence on transgender issues.

Earlier Thursday, ahead of the Arlington meeting, Spanberger's campaign said in a statement about the transgender issue: "Instead of stoking division and backing the Trump Administration's threats to suspend funding for Virginia's school divisions, Abigail believes these decisions are best made at the local level with local parental input."

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