In Fierce Opposition of the 2022 Model Policies

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The 2022 Model Policies are going to significantly harm trans students. The 2022 Model Policies define being a trans student as “a public school student whose parent has requested in writing, due to their child’s persistent and sincere belief that his or her gender differs from his or her sex, that their child be identified while at school.” It takes the power away from trans, nonbinary, and gender-nonconforming students from realizing their identity in their own right and instead defines it in terms of parents’ views. It also refers to gender identity as a “belief” instead of a deeply held knowledge and realization of one’s identity. This promotes a false narrative based on a lack of scientifically-based research. It also erases the identity of nonbinary and intersex people by operating on a male/female binary.

The 2022 Model Policies also remove sexual orientation and gender identity as explicitly protected classes for bullying, harassment, and discrimination. At the same time, it eliminates specific school personnel professional development for the health and well-being of LGBTQ+ students.

Outside of this, the 2022 Model Policies dangerously require misgendering and deadnaming trans students when the student’s preferred name and pronouns are not accurately reflected on student records. Some studies have shown that use of a trans student’s preferred name not only assists with social transition, but also reduces mental health risks such as depression, and suicidal ideation and attempts. https://www.jahonline.org/article/S1054-139X(18)30085-5/fulltext.

Trans students are also placed in danger of being outed. The 2021 Model Policies allowed disclosure, with a legitimate educational interest, only to other school personnel. The 2022 Model Policies permit disclosure, with a legitimate educational interest or when required by law, to other school personnel and the student’s parents. Many times, students feel safer coming out to school staff instead of their own parents. I believe the choice should rest with the trans student on who they would like to come out to.

Outing can be dangerous. “28% of LGBTQ youth reported experiencing homelessness or housing instability.” https://www.thetrevorproject.org/research-briefs/homelessness-and-housing-instability-among-lgbtq-youth-feb-2022/. These rates are disproportionately greater for non-white LGBTQ+ youth. Id. Further, “[h]omelessness and housing instability were reported at higher rates among transgender and nonbinary youth, including 38% of transgender girls/women, 39% of transgender boys/men, and 35% of nonbinary youth, compared to 23% of cisgender LGBQ youth.” Id. 16% of LGBTQ+ youth report running away because of fears of abuse, 14% report they were kicked out or abandoned, and 40% of those report being kicked out or abandoned because of their LGBTQ+ identity. Id. Despite making up 5-10% of the United States’ population, LGBTQ+ individuals make up 20-40% of the homeless population. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6695950/. LGBTQ+ youth, especially trans youth, are also overrepsented in the foster care system compared to their heterosexual and cisgender peers. https://www.childrensrights.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/2019.02.12-LGBTQ-Youth-in-Unstable-Housing-and-Foster-Care.pdf.

Trans youth face higher rates of suicidal ideation and attempts compared with their cisgender peers. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0886260520915554. This is not because of the fact that they are trans. Countless false narratives are circulating the media and the public comment section for the 2022 Model Policies that being trans or part of the LGBTQ+ community itself leads to worse mental health outcomes. Instead, many of the contributing factors to this phenomenon are attributable to the societal treatment of trans individuals such as “microaggressions, internalized self-stigma, and adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), and protective factors: school belonging, family support, and peer support . . . ” Id. In fact, major professional organizations such as the American Academy of Pediatrics are in consensus that being trans itself is not a mental illness, but conditions caused by the societal treatment of trans individuals–such as depression, anxiety, and gender dysphoria–are preventable. See, e.g., Brief of Am. Acad. of Pediatrics et al. at 8-9, Parents for Privacy v. Barr, 949 F.3d 1210 (9th Cir. 2020) (No. 18-35708), 2019 WL 1261905. VDOE can and should do more to address the societal discrimination of trans students instead of contributing to it.

The 2022 Model Policies also require sex segregation of facilities such as bathrooms and locker rooms based on “biological sex.” While the 2022 Model Policies permit school districts to modify the policies “to the extent required by federal law,” the baseline is already in conflict with federal law. First of all, these requirements conflict with federal law. See Grimm v. Gloucester Cty. Sch. Bd., 972 F.3d 586, 613-15, 616-19 (4th Cir. 2020) (the court reasoning that trans discrimination for bathroom access based on biological sex failed both the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the Federal Constitution as well as Title IX); see also https://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/docs/t9nprm-factsheet.pdf. Second of all, lack of trans students’ access to facilities corresponding with their gender identity can result in urinary tract infections, alienation, humiliation, suicidal ideation, and hospitalization. See, e.g., Grimm v. Gloucester Cty. Sch. Bd., 972 F.3d 586, 600 (4th Cir. 2020).

Sadly, the damage from VDOE has already been done. Anti-trans legislation and policies exacerbate trans peoples’ feeling of hopelessness and contribute to lower levels of feeling like they belong. https://www.apa.org/pubs/journals/releases/sgd-sgd0000481.pdf. VDOE is actively disparately impacting trans students and adults simply by the introduction of these transphobic policies. On the other hand, studies have shown that stronger LGBTQ+ protections in the law are associated with lower levels of bullying. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S037687162100154X. More LGBTQ+-inclusive state policies and legislation are also tied to better results in trans students’ physical health. https://www.liebertpub.com/doi/full/10.1089/trgh.2018.0031.

Further, respecting trans students’ preferred names, as opposed to deadnaming, improves their mental health and lowers suicidal ideation and attempts. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1054139X18300855. Trans students are nearly twice as likely to be threatened or harmed compared to other students. https://www.veanea.org/support-transgender-youth/. Outing to trans students’ parents and other school personnel will only exacerbate this.

I appreciate that VDOE has provided resources on school connectedness as some studies show that school-connectedness is associated with better mental health outcomes for trans students. https://www.veanea.org/support-transgender-youth/. However, removing explicit protections for bullying, harassment, and discrimination for LGBTQ+ students, LGBTQ+ specific annual training for school personnel, and the over sixty resources from the 2021 Model Policies undermines this principle.

Scientific evidence shows that VDOE has already harmed trans peoples’ mental health, trans students in particular. Scientific evidence also shows that the 2022 Model Policies will only worsen that trend. Many trans students are going to not just suffer worse mental health outcomes but die because of the 2022 Model Policies. I ask VDOE and the Virginia state government to think critically about if that is the right price to pay for “parental rights.”

This is wrong because children should be able to live their truths and be supported at school despite their home environments.

This affects me and my loved ones as they try to find safe places to live and thrive. Kids do not deserve to be mistreated in the ways that the 2022 Model Policies would create.

For these reasons, I ask you to repeal the 2022 Model Policies and reinstate the 2021 Model Policies.


OPPOSE!

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I strongly oppose the changes set forth in the 2022 mandate. How can a child reach out to a counselor at school if they're not guaranteed confidentiality? Have you seen Virginia's teen suicide rates recently??


In support of Gov Youngkin

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<p>Gender dysphoria is a disease that must be treated by clinical professionals and not encouraged by government agents or teachers. Forbidding parents from getting their children the proper medical attention needed to treat this mental disease is a gross injustice and evil. </p>


Oppose the 2022 Model Policies

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The 2021 Model Policies provided students an absolute right to dress in a way consistent with their gender identity or expression. However, the 2022 Model Policies impose a caveat to that right– and that caveat is concerningly vague. Namely, the 2022 Model Policies permit students to dress in any manner but requires that such manner must be “consistent with maintaining a respectful, distraction-free environment which supports a focus on learning for all students.”

Such vagueness may be a means to a discriminatory end. The 2022 Model Policies may allow schools to impose dress code limitations based on gender expectations because going against that expectation may be deemed a “distraction.” This vagueness gives schools and individual teachers too much power and discretion at the expense of targeting trans, non-binary, and gender-nonconforming students’ attire.

The vagueness in the 2022 Model Policies may also violate the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the federal Constitution. Since the new policy does not provide any guidance to students as to what constitutes a “respectful, distraction-free environment,” an ordinary student will not understand what that phrase means regarding attire.

This is wrong because the vagueness of the ruling lends itself to interpretation by individual teachers which can be influenced by bias; this level of scrutiny placed on students' clothing is counterproductive in the learning environment and can lead to the harassment of students by faulty and other students.

This affects the school aged children in my family, the school aged patients and their family who I care for as a current medical student  and will continue to care for in my medical career. From a child development stand point, adolescence is a time for self exploration and expression; this stage of self reflection is a vital part of developing a healthy self image and visualizing oneself as a future member of society. Given that students spend a significant amount of time in school during the day, school should be a safe haven for this process of self exploration and expression among their peers. My family members, current and  future patients will suffer under this policy and It would be irresponsible of me to not call attention to the harm that the 2022 policy will cause on the natural social and psychological  health of the patients who I care for now and will continue to care for in the future.

For these reasons, I ask you to repeal the 2022 Model Policies and reinstate the 2021 Model Policies.


Strongly in Opposition to 2022 Model Policies

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The 2021 Model Policies unequivocally required students to provide access to facilities, such as bathroom and locker rooms, corresponding with their gender identity. Additionally, the 2021 Model Policies required schools to provide, upon request from any student voicing privacy concerns, access to single-use/gender-inclusive facilities or another reasonable accommodation. These policies aligned with federal law which requires schools to allow students to use facilities corresponding with their gender identity.

The 2022 Model Policies blatantly violate federal law. See, e.g., Grimm v. Gloucester Cty. Sch. Bd., 972 F.3d 586 (4th Cir. 2020). These policies require students to use locker rooms, bathrooms, overnight travel accommodations, and other intimate spaces based upon their “biological sex.” Practically, this violation means trans students will be subject to humiliation, harassment, and even violence by using a facility that does not align with their gender identity. Not to mention, this will force certain trans students to out themselves by using a school facility they have likely not used in years.

The 2022 Model Policies require that access to facilities be made in respect to federal law, but blatantly contradict them. For example, the 2022 Model Policies require bathroom access based on “biological sex” as indicated by the student’s record which is in direct opposition to Grimm. The 2022 Model Policies require districts to break the law while trying to save face and tell them to follow it within the very same paragraphs.

This is wrong because it requires schools to violates state and federal law and harm transgender students in the process. Trans students are integral parts of their schools, communities, and our states. They deserve our respect and protection.

This affects me as a medical student and state resident. As a future family physician, I am concerned about how this will affect my patient's mental wellbeing, development, and personal safety. Policies like these also discourage me from continuing to practice in the state. I do not want to practice in a state that actively seeks to harm its most vulnerable citizens. If the state continues to push harmful, unscientific policies, it will drive out many professionals like myself. There will be resounding harms to the state due to this unncessary attack on trans students.

For these reasons, I ask you to repeal the 2022 Model Policies and reinstate the 2021 Model Policies.


How many sexual assaults on innocent children will it take?

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I support Youngkin's Model Policies. I am anti pedophile and against deviants that want to expose themselves to young women and girls. Anyone against criminalizing the assault of innocent children by sexual deviants should be punished to the fullest extent of the law.


Strongly oppose this height of hypocrisy!

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Every individual deserves basic human rights as a MINIMUM! The governor’s plan to deny our youth these fundamental rights is the height of hypocrisy! I strongly oppose these proposed changes. Trans youth deserve everyone’s support and encouragement to be their best selves along with all their classmates. Their privacy is just as important as all of ours! Please show everyone kindness not discrimination. It should be as simple as that.


Oppose

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At a time when more young people are beginning to feel safe expressing who they are - or feel they are at this moment in time - the 2022 Model Policy seems out of step and tone deaf.  If we are truly concerned with the mental and emotional wellbeing of all students, then we should be listening to them instead of talking over them.  We tell them we are building their critical thinking skills and teaching them how to form an argument and express their opinions, but if it doesn't fit the messaging of the Powers That Be, then the rules change.  First, we must do no harm.  Let them express themselves.  What harm does it do to call a child by their desired name and pronouns?  I think the bigger question is what harm does it do to NOT to call a child by their desired name and pronouns.

I can more readily understand the impact on other students to have mixed use bathrooms and locker rooms.  Out of respect for all student's comfort levels, it seems that having some form of He, She, They spaces for using the restroom or changing clothing is worth considering.


OPPOSE

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The proposed model policies show naivete and ignorance.  Do not enact them.


Support for the Guidance

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The new policies honor the sacred role of parents in the care of their children during school, athletics and other activities.

Parents know their children’s needs better than anyone. If children are struggling with gender dysphoria, they need guidance and emotional support from their parents. Under the new policies,     school officials must keep parents fully informed, and require schools to enforce laws, regulations and policies that prohibit and deter bullying or harassment.

Student participation in sex-specific athletics, school activities and events should be determined by sex, e.g., for overnight travel accommodations and locker rooms.

Students should use the bathrooms that correspond to their sex. Single-user bathrooms and facilities should be made available in accessible areas and provided with appropriate signage, indicating accessibility for all students.

The new policies protect the fundamental religious liberty interests of personnel and students.


OPPOSE

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Nearly one in five transgender youth attempted suicide in the past year.  They are not being supported at home.  These children need to explore all of their facets in order to find where they fit in as adults.  Parents, even reasonably flexible ones, are going to have a hard time with this, but that is not the child's fault.  If it isn't safe to explore their gender fluidity at home, then they will do it at school.  If it is forbidden at school, these kids are trapped in an untenable situation.  Instead of dropping out, running away, abusing substances, we can simply let them declare their gender boundaries in school.  Restrictive policies like this are directly responsible for the death of children, for the lowered graduation rates, increased runaways, and substance abuse.  If  we can save even one child by not enacting such foolish restrictions, isn't that worth it?


Support

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<p>Strongly support new policies which respect the fundamental religious and liberty interests of personnel and children, as well the fundamental interests of parents in raising their children.  Parents have a fundamental role in their children's education.  The most recent national report card results, documenting severe drops in math ability, evidence that that schools need to re-focus on core academic education, and that parents' concerns about the rigor and focus of education should have been validated.    </p>


Oppose the 2022 Model Policies

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The 2022 Model Policies are going to significantly harm trans students. The 2022 Model Policies define being a trans student as “a public school student whose parent has requested in writing, due to their child’s persistent and sincere belief that his or her gender differs from his or her sex, that their child be identified while at school.” It takes the power away from trans, nonbinary, and gender-nonconforming students from realizing their identity in their own right and instead defines it in terms of parents’ views. It also refers to gender identity as a “belief” instead of a deeply held knowledge and realization of one’s identity. This promotes a false narrative based on a lack of scientifically-based research. It also erases the identity of nonbinary and intersex people by operating on a male/female binary.

The 2022 Model Policies also remove sexual orientation and gender identity as explicitly protected classes for bullying, harassment, and discrimination. At the same time, it eliminates specific school personnel professional development for the health and well-being of LGBTQ+ students.

Outside of this, the 2022 Model Policies dangerously require misgendering and deadnaming trans students when the student’s preferred name and pronouns are not accurately reflected on student records. Some studies have shown that use of a trans student’s preferred name not only assists with social transition, but also reduces mental health risks such as depression, and suicidal ideation and attempts. https://www.jahonline.org/article/S1054-139X(18)30085-5/fulltext.

Trans students are also placed in danger of being outed. The 2021 Model Policies allowed disclosure, with a legitimate educational interest, only to other school personnel. The 2022 Model Policies permit disclosure, with a legitimate educational interest or when required by law, to other school personnel and the student’s parents. Many times, students feel safer coming out to school staff instead of their own parents. I believe the choice should rest with the trans student on who they would like to come out to.

Outing can be dangerous. “28% of LGBTQ youth reported experiencing homelessness or housing instability.” https://www.thetrevorproject.org/research-briefs/homelessness-and-housing-instability-among-lgbtq-youth-feb-2022/. These rates are disproportionately greater for non-white LGBTQ+ youth. Id. Further, “[h]omelessness and housing instability were reported at higher rates among transgender and nonbinary youth, including 38% of transgender girls/women, 39% of transgender boys/men, and 35% of nonbinary youth, compared to 23% of cisgender LGBQ youth.” Id. 16% of LGBTQ+ youth report running away because of fears of abuse, 14% report they were kicked out or abandoned, and 40% of those report being kicked out or abandoned because of their LGBTQ+ identity. Id. Despite making up 5-10% of the United States’ population, LGBTQ+ individuals make up 20-40% of the homeless population. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6695950/. LGBTQ+ youth, especially trans youth, are also overrepsented in the foster care system compared to their heterosexual and cisgender peers. https://www.childrensrights.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/2019.02.12-LGBTQ-Youth-in-Unstable-Housing-and-Foster-Care.pdf.

Trans youth face higher rates of suicidal ideation and attempts compared with their cisgender peers. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0886260520915554. This is not because of the fact that they are trans. Countless false narratives are circulating the media and the public comment section for the 2022 Model Policies that being trans or part of the LGBTQ+ community itself leads to worse mental health outcomes. Instead, many of the contributing factors to this phenomenon are attributable to the societal treatment of trans individuals such as “microaggressions, internalized self-stigma, and adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), and protective factors: school belonging, family support, and peer support . . . ” Id. In fact, major professional organizations such as the American Academy of Pediatrics are in consensus that being trans itself is not a mental illness, but conditions caused by the societal treatment of trans individuals–such as depression, anxiety, and gender dysphoria–are preventable. See, e.g., Brief of Am. Acad. of Pediatrics et al. at 8-9, Parents for Privacy v. Barr, 949 F.3d 1210 (9th Cir. 2020) (No. 18-35708), 2019 WL 1261905. VDOE can and should do more to address the societal discrimination of trans students instead of contributing to it.

The 2022 Model Policies also require sex segregation of facilities such as bathrooms and locker rooms based on “biological sex.” While the 2022 Model Policies permit school districts to modify the policies “to the extent required by federal law,” the baseline is already in conflict with federal law. First of all, these requirements conflict with federal law. See Grimm v. Gloucester Cty. Sch. Bd., 972 F.3d 586, 613-15, 616-19 (4th Cir. 2020) (the court reasoning that trans discrimination for bathroom access based on biological sex failed both the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the Federal Constitution as well as Title IX); see also https://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/docs/t9nprm-factsheet.pdf. Second of all, lack of trans students’ access to facilities corresponding with their gender identity can result in urinary tract infections, alienation, humiliation, suicidal ideation, and hospitalization. See, e.g., Grimm v. Gloucester Cty. Sch. Bd., 972 F.3d 586, 600 (4th Cir. 2020).

Sadly, the damage from VDOE has already been done. Anti-trans legislation and policies exacerbate trans peoples’ feeling of hopelessness and contribute to lower levels of feeling like they belong. https://www.apa.org/pubs/journals/releases/sgd-sgd0000481.pdf. VDOE is actively disparately impacting trans students and adults simply by the introduction of these transphobic policies. On the other hand, studies have shown that stronger LGBTQ+ protections in the law are associated with lower levels of bullying. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S037687162100154X. More LGBTQ+-inclusive state policies and legislation are also tied to better results in trans students’ physical health. https://www.liebertpub.com/doi/full/10.1089/trgh.2018.0031.

Further, respecting trans students’ preferred names, as opposed to deadnaming, improves their mental health and lowers suicidal ideation and attempts. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1054139X18300855. Trans students are nearly twice as likely to be threatened or harmed compared to other students. https://www.veanea.org/support-transgender-youth/. Outing to trans students’ parents and other school personnel will only exacerbate this.

I appreciate that VDOE has provided resources on school connectedness as some studies show that school-connectedness is associated with better mental health outcomes for trans students. https://www.veanea.org/support-transgender-youth/. However, removing explicit protections for bullying, harassment, and discrimination for LGBTQ+ students, LGBTQ+ specific annual training for school personnel, and the over sixty resources from the 2021 Model Policies undermines this principle.

Scientific evidence shows that VDOE has already harmed trans peoples’ mental health, trans students in particular. Scientific evidence also shows that the 2022 Model Policies will only worsen that trend. Many trans students are going to not just suffer worse mental health outcomes but die because of the 2022 Model Policies. I ask VDOE and the Virginia state government to think critically about if that is the right price to pay for “parental rights.”

This is wrong because it puts students who are already at risk into a worse situation. Protecting all students is important, but protecting students at higher risk requires intentionality and compassion, not erasure.

This affects me. I am a medical student in the state of Virginia. I will be treating patients who may require physical and psychological intervention due to the consequences of these policies.

This affects my family. As a family member of a Virginia student, I am concerned for the damage that will be done to my family member and their peers as they explore their identity and grow into adulthood. All students will be negatively affected by these policies by witnessing children and students be used as political pawns and be stripped of their personal rights. Trans students in particular have already been shown to be harmed. The role of the government should be to prevent harm, not cause it.

For these reasons, I ask you to repeal the 2022 Model Policies and reinstate the 2021 Model Policies.


Transgender School Policy Changes

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<p>The current proposed changes to the transgender policy does not support our children. They are politically designed to silence or restrict the rights of our individual child without protecting them. These new policies can only create an unhealthy environment in and outside schools by requiring parents to take action(s) that may infringe the wellbeing of our children. Please do not move the policy forward. I oppose this policy change. </p>


OPPOSE this proposal -- Support Trans Youth

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I am strongly opposed to the new proposal which will negate the advances made by 2021 Model Policies, which allowed educators and schools to support the rights of trans students to be called by their preferred name and pronouns, to use the restrooms that align with their chosen gender, and to participate in sports teams of their choice. Trans youth are at significantly higher risk of suicide than cis-gender youth and anything that can be done at school to support them in their search for identity and belonging should be undertaken. Students should not be "outed" to their parents. If a child is not sharing their gender identity with parents, there is a good reason for this--they know they would not be supported. Please think about how this will affect the children in these situations. They may be subjected to emotional abuse by their parents as a result, and even possibly thrown out of the home if they reveal their trans identity to unsupportive parents. Protect these children, please.


I Oppose the 2022 Model Policies

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The 2021 Model Policies unequivocally required students to provide access to facilities, such as bathroom and locker rooms, corresponding with their gender identity. Additionally, the 2021 Model Policies required schools to provide, upon request from any student voicing privacy concerns, access to single-use/gender-inclusive facilities or another reasonable accommodation. These policies aligned with federal law which requires schools to allow students to use facilities corresponding with their gender identity.

The 2022 Model Policies blatantly violate federal law. See, e.g., Grimm v. Gloucester Cty. Sch. Bd., 972 F.3d 586 (4th Cir. 2020). These policies require students to use locker rooms, bathrooms, overnight travel accommodations, and other intimate spaces based upon their “biological sex.” Practically, this violation means trans students will be subject to humiliation, harassment, and even violence by using a facility that does not align with their gender identity. Not to mention, this will force certain trans students to out themselves by using a school facility they have likely not used in years.

The 2022 Model Policies require that access to facilities be made in respect to federal law, but blatantly contradict them. For example, the 2022 Model Policies require bathroom access based on “biological sex” as indicated by the student’s record which is in direct opposition to Grimm. The 2022 Model Policies require districts to break the law while trying to save face and tell them to follow it within the very same paragraphs.

This is wrong for many reasons, and as a student doctor I can highlight a few medical reasons. Not only does it subject transgender and non-binary students to physical violence, but avoiding the bathrooms all day can subject students to physical health issues like recurrent UTIs, dehydration, and resounding permanent effects like neurogenic bladder. Also, due to the exclusionary and harmful environment LGBTQ+ students will ultimately avoid schooling completely because of these policies

This policy would directly affect many of my friends today, whether they are LGBTQ+ or not.

For these reasons, I ask you to repeal the 2022 Model Policies and reinstate the 2021 Model Policies.


I oppose the 2022 Guidelines

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I oppose the Model 2022 Guidelines as ill-informed and as furthering an ideology that would harm transgender and gender-non-conforming students. Upholding parents' rights and interests is a fine goal, but do it in a way that honors people of all genders and won't harm students.

As one example, the Model 2022 Guidelines are incorrect when they say, "Practices such as compelling others to use preferred pronouns is premised on the ideological belief that gender is a matter of personal choice or subjective experience, not sex."

A pronoun is exactly like someone's name. It is a referent to a person. It is not an ideology to expect someone to use my correct name.  It is not an ideology to expect someone to use my correct pronoun. To suggest that gender identity is an ideology is invalidating.

Also, this statement reveals that these guidelines are based on an ideology that gender=sex. Even if you agree that gender=sex, you need to acknowledge it as an ideology you are pushing in response to another ideology.  But in neither case is pronoun use ideological.  Pronouns are names.

The 2021 Guidelines were developed by an inclusive advisory committee with consultation and collaboration throughout the Commonwealth. They offer helpful background, terminology, and guiding principles that support the policies.

The 2022 Guidelines do not contain any of these advantages. They are a huge step backwards.

I firmly oppose these 2022 Guidelines - go back to the drawing board and find a compromise that honors the progress made by the 2021 Guidelines.


I support Gov. Youngkin

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I am in favor of the new Model Policies.

Children need to be provided truth in who they are and not in whom they concoct to be. Schools seem to be creating confusion by indoctrination to those who are very vulnerable.

Stop colluding in the ridiculous ideas coming from very confused people.


OPPOSE

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I oppose Youngkin’s anti trans and non-binary student policy because it’s hurtful and is just a political stunt to get votes. These children are fragile and should be protected.


OPPOSE

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I strongly oppose this!


OPPOSE

I write from personal experience to most strenuously strongly oppose the discriminatory soul-crushing policies Virginia intends (deriving from gubernatorial leadership) to implement in their public schools.My gender is not branded on my genitalia or manifest from secondary sex characteristics. It is how I feel within. I can only conjecture whether it is brain organization determined while in the womb and/or otherwise of spiritual nature, elusive of scientific investigation. Regardless, it took me half a century to embrace my truth as a transgender female. I lived under a pall of fear and repression, regarding my gender identity, which yielded to living a quite sad and unfulfilling life. I was mercilessly bullied in school; I was mistaken or suspected of being gay,and brutalized as a result throughout my adolescent school years. The secret I was keeping (and that I kept for over 40 years) is living the tumultuous existence of being transgender under wraps - dreamt of changing my sex, scared about divulging these thoughts/feelings to anyone - feeling helpless, hopeless, and profoundly guilt-ridden in a body and mind that conflicted. I got married late in life. I was raped multiple times by my wife early in the union. I have left her many times to put distance between (her and I) and in attempts to seek effective therapy, trying to address the trauma. I inform of this because after much soul-searching and reflection I realized I played an undeniable part in those rapes. This is not to masochistically victim-blame myself - for the torrential flood of red-hot anger and hate has been directed to my partner. I have pointed my finger at her without mercy and her inescapable primary responsibility for the deep injury inflicted upon me. But I was not prostrate/passive in what happened. I could write many more words but I will discipline myself and refrain. I am not only transgender but also asexual (it seems to me upon much contemplation that my gender identity and how I orient sexually are inextricably interrelated). She said she wasn't much interested in sex before marriage as well. But things changed after the exchange of rings... It all led down a very dark road. The rapes were a most perverse blessing. It pains me to pen such a horrific paradox but it is a ghastly truth: The rapes broke the glacial life-destructive repression of not facing me - being trans cannot be exaggerated in importance in defining me as a person. I was emerging from the onslaught of the sexual assaults (and continue to this day in appearance) from the closet. In those iniquitous experiences, I saw the woman within, and, in detaching from the burning that seared, I viewed as so real (inner rediscovery) and unreal (behavior adjudged from afar). My wife was the absurdly erroneous (caricatured) sexual stereotype of the male and I the female. In warring struggles in bed, in memory, I emerged into the light, into the heaviness but freeing of being - transgender.I can only imagine how much less fraught with conflict my social/intimate relationships would have been if I had been living out my inner struggle/drama in my culture and in today's world IN A MILIEU UNDERSTANDING OF MY IDENTITY, helping me in my journey to live my inner light in the outer world. What theVirginia Department of Education seeks to do is to do all that they can to keep transgender youth in suffocating closets, to guilt them, to instill fear in them, to relegate them to hiding in the darkness with all the lurking depredations and repercussions that may await (see my story above), to smother them in more cases than anyone might like to admit (to preventable homicides and suicides) to death. Shame of immense human proportions! Such policies, when viewed in their cumulative effect upon the transgender community, are nothing less than wholesale genocide against said community in my mind. Stop this war against a people who only wish to be embraced, loved, enabled, empowered by those around them for simply being true to who they are, Thanks for reading and compassionately considering.

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<span data-sheets-userformat='{"2":769,"3":{"1":0},"11":4,"12":0}' data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"I write from personal experience to most strenuously strongly oppose the discriminatory soul-crushing policies Virginia intends (deriving from gubernatorial leadership) to implement in their public schools.\n\n My gender is not branded on my genitalia or manifest from secondary sex characteristics. It is how I feel within. I can only conjecture whether it is brain organization determined while in the womb and/or otherwise of spiritual nature, elusive of scientific investigation. Regardless, it took me half a century to embrace my truth as a transgender female. I lived under a pall of fear and repression, regarding my gender identity, which yielded to living a quite sad and unfulfilling life. I was mercilessly bullied in school; I was mistaken or suspected of being gay,and brutalized as a result throughout my adolescent school years. The secret I was keeping (and that I kept for over 40 years) is living the tumultuous existence of being transgender under wraps - dreamt of changing my sex, scared about divulging these thoughts/feelings to anyone -  feeling helpless, hopeless, and profoundly guilt-ridden in a body and mind that conflicted. I got married late in life. I was raped multiple times by my wife early in the union. I have left her many times to put distance between (her and I) and in attempts to seek effective therapy, trying to address the trauma. I inform of this because after much soul-searching and reflection I realized I played an undeniable part in those rapes. This is not to masochistically victim-blame myself - for the torrential flood of red-hot anger and hate has been directed to my partner. I have pointed my finger at her without mercy and her inescapable primary responsibility for the deep injury inflicted upon me. But I was not prostrate/passive in what happened. I could write many more words but I will discipline myself and refrain. I am not only transgender but also asexual (it seems to me upon much contemplation that my gender identity and how I orient sexually are inextricably interrelated). She said she wasn't much interested in sex before marriage as well. But things changed after the exchange of rings... It all led down a very dark road. The rapes were a most perverse blessing. It pains me to pen such a horrific paradox but it is a ghastly truth: The rapes broke the glacial life-destructive repression of not facing me - being trans cannot be exaggerated in importance in defining me as a person. I was emerging from the onslaught of the sexual assaults (and continue to this day in appearance) from the closet. In those iniquitous experiences, I saw the woman within, and, in detaching from the burning that seared, I viewed as so real (inner rediscovery) and unreal (behavior adjudged from afar). My wife was the absurdly erroneous (caricatured) sexual stereotype of the male and I the female. In warring struggles in bed, in memory, I emerged into the light, into the heaviness but freeing of being - transgender.\n\nI can only imagine how much less fraught with conflict my social/intimate relationships would have been if I had been living out my inner struggle/drama in my culture and in today's world IN A MILIEU UNDERSTANDING OF MY IDENTITY, helping me in my journey to live my inner light in the outer world. What the\nVirginia Department of Education seeks to do is to do all that they can to keep transgender youth in suffocating closets, to guilt them, to instill fear in them, to relegate them to hiding in the darkness with all the lurking depredations and repercussions that may await (see my story above), to smother them in more cases than anyone might like to admit (to preventable homicides and suicides) to death. Shame of immense human proportions! Such policies, when viewed in their cumulative effect upon the transgender community, are nothing less than wholesale genocide against said community in my mind. Stop this war against a people who only wish to be embraced, loved, enabled, empowered by those around them for simply being true to who they are, Thanks for reading and compassionately considering."}">I write from personal experience to most strenuously strongly oppose the discriminatory soul-crushing policies Virginia intends (deriving from gubernatorial leadership) to implement in their public schools.

My gender is not branded on my genitalia or manifest from secondary sex characteristics. It is how I feel within. I can only conjecture whether it is brain organization determined while in the womb and/or otherwise of spiritual nature, elusive of scientific investigation. Regardless, it took me half a century to embrace my truth as a transgender female. I lived under a pall of fear and repression, regarding my gender identity, which yielded to living a quite sad and unfulfilling life. I was mercilessly bullied in school; I was mistaken or suspected of being gay,and brutalized as a result throughout my adolescent school years. The secret I was keeping (and that I kept for over 40 years) is living the tumultuous existence of being transgender under wraps - dreamt of changing my sex, scared about divulging these thoughts/feelings to anyone - feeling helpless, hopeless, and profoundly guilt-ridden in a body and mind that conflicted. I got married late in life. I was raped multiple times by my wife early in the union. I have left her many times to put distance between (her and I) and in attempts to seek effective therapy, trying to address the trauma. I inform of this because after much soul-searching and reflection I realized I played an undeniable part in those rapes. This is not to masochistically victim-blame myself - for the torrential flood of red-hot anger and hate has been directed to my partner. I have pointed my finger at her without mercy and her inescapable primary responsibility for the deep injury inflicted upon me. But I was not prostrate/passive in what happened. I could write many more words but I will discipline myself and refrain. I am not only transgender but also asexual (it seems to me upon much contemplation that my gender identity and how I orient sexually are inextricably interrelated). She said she wasn't much interested in sex before marriage as well. But things changed after the exchange of rings... It all led down a very dark road. The rapes were a most perverse blessing. It pains me to pen such a horrific paradox but it is a ghastly truth: The rapes broke the glacial life-destructive repression of not facing me - being trans cannot be exaggerated in importance in defining me as a person. I was emerging from the onslaught of the sexual assaults (and continue to this day in appearance) from the closet. In those iniquitous experiences, I saw the woman within, and, in detaching from the burning that seared, I viewed as so real (inner rediscovery) and unreal (behavior adjudged from afar). My wife was the absurdly erroneous (caricatured) sexual stereotype of the male and I the female. In warring struggles in bed, in memory, I emerged into the light, into the heaviness but freeing of being - transgender.

I can only imagine how much less fraught with conflict my social/intimate relationships would have been if I had been living out my inner struggle/drama in my culture and in today's world IN A MILIEU UNDERSTANDING OF MY IDENTITY, helping me in my journey to live my inner light in the outer world. What the
Virginia Department of Education seeks to do is to do all that they can to keep transgender youth in suffocating closets, to guilt them, to instill fear in them, to relegate them to hiding in the darkness with all the lurking depredations and repercussions that may await (see my story above), to smother them in more cases than anyone might like to admit (to preventable homicides and suicides) to death. Shame of immense human proportions! Such policies, when viewed in their cumulative effect upon the transgender community, are nothing less than wholesale genocide against said community in my mind. Stop this war against a people who only wish to be embraced, loved, enabled, empowered by those around them for simply being true to who they are, Thanks for reading and compassionately considering.


OPPOSE

There is zero reason for the laws you are trying to pass. If a cisgender kid wanted a nickname it would be fine, but god forbid a transgender kid gets to use their preferred name.Forcibly outing children can get them killed, and I feel like in a place for educating children this is rather counterproductive.Teansgender folks just want to use the restroom in peace- the cisgender folk are a threat to us, not the other way around.A child being transgender literally affects no one except that child. Affirming someone's gender doesn't mean allowing children to get surgery in elementary school or any other rubbish you want everyone to believe. Just hearing the right name and pronoun could be enough to keep a child from killing themselves.I am an educator, and everything you are doing is nothing but harmful. If a child came to me to ask about anything, I would help-not throw them directly into harm's way. Do better or get out of office.

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<span data-sheets-userformat='{"2":769,"3":{"1":0},"11":4,"12":0}' data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"There is zero reason for the laws you are trying to pass. If a cisgender kid wanted a nickname it would be fine, but god forbid a transgender kid gets to use their preferred name.\nForcibly outing children can get them killed, and I feel like in a place for educating children this is rather counterproductive.\nTeansgender folks just want to use the restroom in peace- the cisgender folk are a threat to us, not the other way around.\nA child being transgender literally affects no one except that child. Affirming someone's gender doesn't mean allowing children to get surgery in elementary school or any other rubbish you want everyone to believe. Just hearing the right name and pronoun could be enough to keep a child from killing themselves.\nI am an educator, and everything you are doing is nothing but harmful. If a child came to me to ask about anything, I would help-not throw them directly into harm's way. \nDo better or get out of office."}">There is zero reason for the laws you are trying to pass. If a cisgender kid wanted a nickname it would be fine, but god forbid a transgender kid gets to use their preferred name.
Forcibly outing children can get them killed, and I feel like in a place for educating children this is rather counterproductive.
Teansgender folks just want to use the restroom in peace- the cisgender folk are a threat to us, not the other way around.
A child being transgender literally affects no one except that child. Affirming someone's gender doesn't mean allowing children to get surgery in elementary school or any other rubbish you want everyone to believe. Just hearing the right name and pronoun could be enough to keep a child from killing themselves.
I am an educator, and everything you are doing is nothing but harmful. If a child came to me to ask about anything, I would help-not throw them directly into harm's way.
Do better or get out of office.


OPPOSE

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There is actual science about how letting trans kids be themselves saves lives--You don't want what could happen otherwise on your hands.


I strongly support the Governor's proposal

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The Governor's proposal provides a common sense approach to gender identity.  The plan provides support for the child and parents to fully evaluate and discuss all issues that have lifelong effects.  Provides for the protection of other children.


OPPOSE

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A great deal of unnecessary harm is created by developing and insisting on policies that degrade the humanity and sacred worth of those around us. People who identify as trans or nonbinary do not pose a threat to anyone simply by existing. There is no cause to continue to create more harm by enacting practices that ostracize and selectively attack those who do not identify as cisgender.


We are people too.

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<span data-sheets-userformat='{"2":769,"3":{"1":0},"11":4,"12":0}' data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"You all (governments & school districts) keep punishing those of us who are transgender why? Are you scared by l the propaganda out there against trans people? Are we not people too? Don't we have rights under the constitution & other government rules and regulations? We the transgender community are people too & when you take equality out of the equation you are saying we (children and adults don't matter. This opens up kids who get bullied anyway because they are different in even MORE DANGER. Danger of suicide which is VERY high amoung transgender people already. Not to mention more EXTREME BULLYING life THREATENING. SO EQUALITY MEANS RESPECT & respect opens more path ways then denying it! SHAME ON YOU Virginia schools and SHAME on the STATE GOVERNMENT for even CONSIDERING THIS TRAVISTY!"}">You all (governments & school districts) keep punishing those of us who are transgender why? Are you scared by l the propaganda out there against trans people? Are we not people too? Don't we have rights under the constitution & other government rules and regulations? We the transgender community are people too & when you take equality out of the equation you are saying we (children and adults don't matter. This opens up kids who get bullied anyway because they are different in even MORE DANGER. Danger of suicide which is VERY high amoung transgender people already. Not to mention more EXTREME BULLYING life THREATENING. SO EQUALITY MEANS RESPECT & respect opens more path ways then denying it! SHAME ON YOU Virginia schools and SHAME on the STATE GOVERNMENT for even CONSIDERING THIS TRAVISTY!


OPPOSE

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Protect trans kids!! They go through enough!


OPPOSE

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The lives of trans kids will always matter.


OPPOSE

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<span data-sheets-userformat='{"2":769,"3":{"1":0},"11":4,"12":0}' data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"I am a cisgender, queer woman with experience teaching high school-aged students, and as an ally to the trans and nonbinary community, I strongly OPPOSE the proposed policies requiring teachers to disclose students' identities to their parents and caregivers. Not only are these proposed policies discriminatory to trans students, but I firmly believe that this guidance would be detrimental to students' ability to learn and thrive in an academic environment. While I was fortunate enough to be educated in a K-12 school which, on the whole, was accepting towards their queer and trans students, I have personal experience in both my undergraduate and graduate education with witnessing discriminatory policies enacted against trans students. Discrimination towards trans and nonbinary students — including other students or instructors' refusal to use gender-affirming pronouns and chosen names, or the failure of instructors to protect trans students' confidentiality by outing them either intentionally or accidentally — is at best profoundly distracting for these individuals, and at worst distressing and irreversibly disruptive to their education. Trans youth and adults contend with discrimination, mental health issues, and threats to their wellbeing on a daily basis, and an academic environment should provide students a safe and supportive space in which to learn and develop no matter what their identity. I urge the Virginia Department of Education to reject the draft policy proposed by Governor Youngkin's administration. Thank you for your time."}">I am a cisgender, queer woman with experience teaching high school-aged students, and as an ally to the trans and nonbinary community, I strongly OPPOSE the proposed policies requiring teachers to disclose students' identities to their parents and caregivers. Not only are these proposed policies discriminatory to trans students, but I firmly believe that this guidance would be detrimental to students' ability to learn and thrive in an academic environment. While I was fortunate enough to be educated in a K-12 school which, on the whole, was accepting towards their queer and trans students, I have personal experience in both my undergraduate and graduate education with witnessing discriminatory policies enacted against trans students. Discrimination towards trans and nonbinary students — including other students or instructors' refusal to use gender-affirming pronouns and chosen names, or the failure of instructors to protect trans students' confidentiality by outing them either intentionally or accidentally — is at best profoundly distracting for these individuals, and at worst distressing and irreversibly disruptive to their education. Trans youth and adults contend with discrimination, mental health issues, and threats to their wellbeing on a daily basis, and an academic environment should provide students a safe and supportive space in which to learn and develop no matter what their identity. I urge the Virginia Department of Education to reject the draft policy proposed by Governor Youngkin's administration. Thank you for your time.


OPPOSE

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<span data-sheets-userformat='{"2":769,"3":{"1":0},"11":4,"12":0}' data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Please be kind to Trans and Non-binary identified youth. Make it so their names and pronouns can be respected. Give them someplace safe to use the bathroom. If you deny them these kindnesses it will not change them. If they are going to grow up and desire to transition to the opposite gender, it will not stop them from wanting to do this. If they are going to grow up and be genderqueer, genderfluid, or any other way of expressing themselves, it will not stop them from wanting to do this. If they are simply questioning their gender and eventually decide they actually are fine with being their assigned birth gender, that will also be fine. But please be kind and offer these kids some support. They didn't choose to be this way, and they deserve kindness and respect. To deny them this will only cause them more pain and instability. When children experience psychological pain it is traumatic and affects them for the rest of their lives. Listen to the advice of professional Psychologists and Counselors, they will be the best resource before making rash legislative decisions fueled by our sickening political landscape of Democrats and Republicans. This should not be a partisan issue."}">Please be kind to Trans and Non-binary identified youth. Make it so their names and pronouns can be respected. Give them someplace safe to use the bathroom. If you deny them these kindnesses it will not change them. If they are going to grow up and desire to transition to the opposite gender, it will not stop them from wanting to do this. If they are going to grow up and be genderqueer, genderfluid, or any other way of expressing themselves, it will not stop them from wanting to do this. If they are simply questioning their gender and eventually decide they actually are fine with being their assigned birth gender, that will also be fine. But please be kind and offer these kids some support. They didn't choose to be this way, and they deserve kindness and respect. To deny them this will only cause them more pain and instability. When children experience psychological pain it is traumatic and affects them for the rest of their lives. Listen to the advice of professional Psychologists and Counselors, they will be the best resource before making rash legislative decisions fueled by our sickening political landscape of Democrats and Republicans. This should not be a partisan issue.


Strongly opposed

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Governor Youngkin's proposed policy on transgender students is not only ill conceived; it's wrong.

Contrary to the fear-mongering on the part of those who support such a policy, transgender students aren't interested in preying on other students. They're more concerned with their own acceptance, not to mention survival, as the people they are. Further, their preferred name and pronouns take nothing away from, nor do they compromise in any way, their cisgender peers. This is overreach on the part of the policy's supporters. The proposed policy is ill conceived on these points alone.

Worse, the proposed policy is also wrong in (1) its use of force to keep transgender students from accessing facilities consistent with their identity and (2) its prohibition of school staff to refer to transgender students by their own designated name and gender. Look at that language and the weight that "force" and "prohibition" have and have had historically. It is, frankly, the language of a fascist mindset (and there's nothing "semi" about it).

The equitable treatment of transgender students shouldn't be subjected to the "beliefs" of cisgender students or those of their parents--or of anyone else, for that matter. The case has already been made that some transgender students face opposition, whether latent or manifested, in their own homes, sometimes culminating in violence--perpetrated by parents on their own son or daughter, or those sons or daughters taking their own lives. Schools can be safe havens for transgender students. Why would teachers be coerced into compromising that safety, let alone given free rein to indulge in discrimination?

The proposed policy appeals to a small-minded group of people whose only concern about parental rights is tied to their own personal beliefs, as if those beliefs were universal. They are not. They do not represent the beliefs of all parents. They specifically do not represent the beliefs of all Virginians. With an issue this divided, I should think an equitable, respectful, informed, and open-minded approach to trans-identity would better serve government policy than catering to prejudice, if not to say ignorance, on the part of those for whom nothing is at stake--not their own identity, not their own acceptance, not their own survival.

I urge the state superintendent to reject the proposed policy.

(This is the full text for a far more abbreviated comment I submitted three days ago.)


Protect our future by protecting our most vulnerable kids

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<span data-sheets-userformat='{"2":769,"3":{"1":0},"11":4,"12":0}' data-sheets-value='{"1":2,"2":"Look I stayed in the closet a long time there was no gas in my school days much less trans protections. I self harmed a lot tried suicide way to many times. I now have a lot of ptsd and still not the best family relationships. School should be a safe place for kids especially the most vulnerable ones who run the risk of being kicked out of there homes by coming out or worse. Not providing a safe space and acceptance is atleast abuse if not murder by proxy. If a kid is old enough to contemplate suicide and worse having adults and other children tell them they should do it because they are sick freaks, they are old enough to decide to transition and to be treated as the there gender the one they told they are not the one some piece of paper says. So to the pro life crowd try actually being pro life instead of pro birth and to the pro choice crowd try choosing to support your kids and our future if for nothing to be on the right side of history because how queer people are treated now will one day been seen with as much distain as how the Jews and queer people were treated in world war 2 because make no mistake the current state of lbgtq rights in this country especially trans rights is a genocide."}'>Look I stayed in the closet a long time there was no gas in my school days much less trans protections. I self harmed a lot tried suicide way to many times. I now have a lot of ptsd and still not the best family relationships. School should be a safe place for kids especially the most vulnerable ones who run the risk of being kicked out of there homes by coming out or worse. Not providing a safe space and acceptance is atleast abuse if not murder by proxy. If a kid is old enough to contemplate suicide and worse having adults and other children tell them they should do it because they are sick freaks, they are old enough to decide to transition and to be treated as the there gender the one they told they are not the one some piece of paper says. So to the pro life crowd try actually being pro life instead of pro birth and to the pro choice crowd try choosing to support your kids and our future if for nothing to be on the right side of history because how queer people are treated now will one day been seen with as much distain as how the Jews and queer people were treated in world war 2 because make no mistake the current state of lbgtq rights in this country especially trans rights is a genocide.


OPPOSE

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I oppose the proposed policy.


OPPOSE

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<span data-sheets-userformat='{"2":769,"3":{"1":0},"11":4,"12":0}' data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"When I was in HS, I had no idea why I hated my body so much. Other people would talk about certain parts with joy under certain circumstances, and I hated mine so much that I could never participate. I never understood why it made me uncomfortable to be gendered, and why I hated being referred to with honorifics. And then, after graduating, I discovered being trans was a thing and that I didn't mind gender neutral honorifics. I found a solution to the parts I hated. It changed my life. It made me happier and healthier. But whenever I am misgendered, it HURTS. Having my parents refuse to affirm me is uncomfortable and makes me not want to be around them. It's a huge change. Affirming my gender improves my mental health. Refusing to can make me suicidal."}">When I was in HS, I had no idea why I hated my body so much. Other people would talk about certain parts with joy under certain circumstances, and I hated mine so much that I could never participate. I never understood why it made me uncomfortable to be gendered, and why I hated being referred to with honorifics. And then, after graduating, I discovered being trans was a thing and that I didn't mind gender neutral honorifics. I found a solution to the parts I hated. It changed my life. It made me happier and healthier. But whenever I am misgendered, it HURTS. Having my parents refuse to affirm me is uncomfortable and makes me not want to be around them. It's a huge change. Affirming my gender improves my mental health. Refusing to can make me suicidal.


Comment from Senator Adam P. Ebbin (District 30)

Governor Youngkin’s model education policies are a cynical political stunt that targetLGBTQ youth and undermine parents in the Commonwealth. They are antithetical toscience and compassion and violate state and federal law. And make no mistake:these hastily prepared guidelines will hurt children.
In 2020, the General Assembly revised the Virginia Code to afford greater protections totransgender students in the Commonwealth. Sections 22.1-23.3 of the Virginia Coderequire the Department of Education to develop model policies that accord with“evidence-based best practices” and, among other things, comply with applicablenondiscrimination laws, protect student privacy, and maintain a safe and supportivelearning environment. Governor Youngkin’s model policies violate these legalobligations and fail to uphold the principles of dignity, equality, and privacy that are thefoundation of the law.
And it is no wonder that Governor Youngkin’s policies are so odious—they were hastilyprepared with little input from parents, educators, students, and the public. This is incontrast to the prior version of the model policies, which were the product of a year-longprocess that relied upon input from an advisory committee of school-based personnelrepresenting diverse Superintendent’s Regions and disciplines, representatives fromstate professional associations, local businesses, advocacy organizations, parents,students, and specialists from the Virginia Department of Education. Rather thanlistening to the voices of the experts, educators, parents, and community, GovernorYoungkin took shortcuts to push out uniformed policies that turn the Commonwealth’sstudents into political pawns.
Governor Youngkin’s policies also violates the Virginia Human Rights Act. To ensurethe rights and dignity of all citizens of the Commonwealth are respected, during the2020 legislative session Delegate Mark Sickles (D-Fairfax) and I drafted and passed theVirginia Values Act (SB868). This law was enacted with the support of businesses, faithleaders, parents, law enforcement, and citizens across Virginia who recognize andrespect their LGBTQ neighbors. The law amended the Virginia Human Rights Act (VACode § 2.2-3900) to make clear that it is the official policy of the Commonwealth to“safeguard all individuals within the Commonwealth from unlawful discriminationbecause of . . . sexual orientation [and] gender identity . . . in places of publicaccommodation, including educational institutions.” Under the Virginia Human RightsAct, conduct that violates any Virginia or federal law governing discrimination on thebasis of gender identity is an unlawful discriminatory practice.
At the federal level, Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 establishes that noperson can be discriminated against based on their sex in an educational setting thatreceives federal funding. And the Fourteenth Amendment to the United StatesConstitution guarantees all persons equal protection under the law. Federal courtshave confirmed that Title IX and the United States Constitution protect the rights oftransgender individuals. In Grimm v. Gloucester County, the Fourth Circuit Court of
Appeals relied upon the United States Supreme Court’s decision in Bostock v. ClaytonCounty to uphold the rights of a transgender student to access educational facilities inaccordance with their gender. Governor Youngkin’s policies fly in the face of thisestablished federal law.
The results of Governor Youngkin’s policies are stark. Students will be outed withouttheir consent. Rates of bullying and harassment of marginalized youth will increase.Students and parents will be required to jump through unnecessary legal hoops just sothat a student can be referred to by their proper name. Transgender youth who alreadyexperience drastically higher rates of suicide, depression, and homelessness will beplaced at further risk. These models policies will cause real, devastating harm.Our government should work to make our schools a place where all of Virginia’sstudents can learn and grow in a welcoming environment; that is not just what the lawrequires, it is what basic human dignity demands. The Virginia Department ofEducation must rescind these shameful proposed policies immediately for the good ofstudents, parents, and the entire Commonwealth.

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Governor Youngkin’s model education policies are a cynical political stunt that target
LGBTQ youth and undermine parents in the Commonwealth. They are antithetical to
science and compassion and violate state and federal law. And make no mistake:
these hastily prepared guidelines will hurt children.

In 2020, the General Assembly revised the Virginia Code to afford greater protections to
transgender students in the Commonwealth. Sections 22.1-23.3 of the Virginia Code
require the Department of Education to develop model policies that accord with
“evidence-based best practices” and, among other things, comply with applicable
nondiscrimination laws, protect student privacy, and maintain a safe and supportive
learning environment. Governor Youngkin’s model policies violate these legal
obligations and fail to uphold the principles of dignity, equality, and privacy that are the
foundation of the law.

And it is no wonder that Governor Youngkin’s policies are so odious—they were hastily
prepared with little input from parents, educators, students, and the public. This is in
contrast to the prior version of the model policies, which were the product of a year-long
process that relied upon input from an advisory committee of school-based personnel
representing diverse Superintendent’s Regions and disciplines, representatives from
state professional associations, local businesses, advocacy organizations, parents,
students, and specialists from the Virginia Department of Education. Rather than
listening to the voices of the experts, educators, parents, and community, Governor
Youngkin took shortcuts to push out uniformed policies that turn the Commonwealth’s
students into political pawns.

Governor Youngkin’s policies also violates the Virginia Human Rights Act. To ensure
the rights and dignity of all citizens of the Commonwealth are respected, during the
2020 legislative session Delegate Mark Sickles (D-Fairfax) and I drafted and passed the
Virginia Values Act (SB868). This law was enacted with the support of businesses, faith
leaders, parents, law enforcement, and citizens across Virginia who recognize and
respect their LGBTQ neighbors. The law amended the Virginia Human Rights Act (VA
Code § 2.2-3900) to make clear that it is the official policy of the Commonwealth to
“safeguard all individuals within the Commonwealth from unlawful discrimination
because of . . . sexual orientation [and] gender identity . . . in places of public
accommodation, including educational institutions.” Under the Virginia Human Rights
Act, conduct that violates any Virginia or federal law governing discrimination on the
basis of gender identity is an unlawful discriminatory practice.

At the federal level, Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 establishes that no
person can be discriminated against based on their sex in an educational setting that
receives federal funding. And the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States
Constitution guarantees all persons equal protection under the law. Federal courts
have confirmed that Title IX and the United States Constitution protect the rights of
transgender individuals. In Grimm v. Gloucester County, the Fourth Circuit Court of

Appeals relied upon the United States Supreme Court’s decision in Bostock v. Clayton
County to uphold the rights of a transgender student to access educational facilities in
accordance with their gender. Governor Youngkin’s policies fly in the face of this
established federal law.

The results of Governor Youngkin’s policies are stark. Students will be outed without
their consent. Rates of bullying and harassment of marginalized youth will increase.
Students and parents will be required to jump through unnecessary legal hoops just so
that a student can be referred to by their proper name. Transgender youth who already
experience drastically higher rates of suicide, depression, and homelessness will be
placed at further risk. These models policies will cause real, devastating harm.
Our government should work to make our schools a place where all of Virginia’s
students can learn and grow in a welcoming environment; that is not just what the law
requires, it is what basic human dignity demands. The Virginia Department of
Education must rescind these shameful proposed policies immediately for the good of
students, parents, and the entire Commonwealth.


OPPOSE

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<span data-sheets-userformat='{"2":769,"3":{"1":0},"11":4,"12":0}' data-sheets-value='{"1":2,"2":"I’m a trans Ph.D. student and I would have dropped out of college if I wasn’t lucky enough to have had access to gender neutral bathrooms as I started physically transitioning as an undergrad. This is, of course, secondary to the fact that I wouldn’t still be here if I didn’t have access to gender affirming care and supportive people to lean on. Kids in high school and under don’t have a choice about being in school, and it’s supposed to be a safe place. If you think taking that away any hope of safety in schools will make us cis, please PLEASE read the literature on trans/non-binary/gnc youth and suicide rates. If you have reservations about kids being able to express their gender, understand that if this passes, kids will die. It’s that simple. All you have to do is talk to doctors/researchers/TRANS PEOPLE and you will hear this confirmed. Don’t do this. Give us a chance."}'>I’m a trans Ph.D. student and I would have dropped out of college if I wasn’t lucky enough to have had access to gender neutral bathrooms as I started physically transitioning as an undergrad. This is, of course, secondary to the fact that I wouldn’t still be here if I didn’t have access to gender affirming care and supportive people to lean on. Kids in high school and under don’t have a choice about being in school, and it’s supposed to be a safe place. If you think taking that away any hope of safety in schools will make us cis, please PLEASE read the literature on trans/non-binary/gnc youth and suicide rates. If you have reservations about kids being able to express their gender, understand that if this passes, kids will die. It’s that simple. All you have to do is talk to doctors/researchers/TRANS PEOPLE and you will hear this confirmed. Don’t do this. Give us a chance.


I oppose anti trans policies in schools

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Anti trans policies in schools devastate children. Anti trans policies in schools are really about hate and control. Young people deserve respect and safety.


Opposed to the proposed guidance

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As an LGBTQ+ citizen of Virginia, I am opposed to the proposed guidance document.  My concerns relate primarily to two components of the guidance:

I believe that students should have the ability to confide in a trusted adult (IE a teacher or counselor) and request that their parents NOT be informed.  During the developmental years, the process of understanding and accepting one's identity is complex and emotionally charged.  A student will know best if they can be comfortable having these discussions with a parent.  Under the proposed guidance, if a student does NOT feel comfortable speaking with their parent, trusted adults at their school are removed as potential confidants.

The provisions around sex-specific activities and athletics require a legal change to a student's sex before the parameters for their participation can change.  This seems excessively bureaucractic; there should be an option for a consensual, non-legal agreement for a student to participate in an activity based on their asserted gender identity.

Personally, I worry that the proposed guidance will add further challenges for the mental health and well-being of students questioning their gender identity and/or sexual orientation.  I well remember the doubts, fears and suicidal thoughts I faced during my youth.  Children deserve support and care during these difficult periods; the proposed guidance seems like it will reduce the support and potentially increase the risk of harm.


OPPOSE

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<span data-sheets-userformat='{"2":769,"3":{"1":0},"11":4,"12":0}' data-sheets-value='{"1":2,"2":"I strongly opposed regulations being put in place by the Commonwealth of Virginia that are meant to limit and circumscribe the lives of LGBTQ+ children in schools. These children are human beings who deserve and have a right to treatment that respects their gender identity and sexual orientation, just as we offer that same respect to heterosexual children. There is nothing wrong with LGBYQ+ children and they should not be made to feel that there is. Yes, parents should be involved in the lives of their children, but if a child is afraid to come out to their parents then careful guidance and support need to be provided to make sure they are safe. These laws are draconian and cruel."}'>I strongly opposed regulations being put in place by the Commonwealth of Virginia that are meant to limit and circumscribe the lives of LGBTQ+ children in schools. These children are human beings who deserve and have a right to treatment that respects their gender identity and sexual orientation, just as we offer that same respect to heterosexual children. There is nothing wrong with LGBYQ+ children and they should not be made to feel that there is. Yes, parents should be involved in the lives of their children, but if a child is afraid to come out to their parents then careful guidance and support need to be provided to make sure they are safe. These laws are draconian and cruel.


OPPOSE

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I OPPOSE Youngkin's student policy,


Licensed Professional Counselor

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Have the evidence-based and clinical background supporting affirmation of LGBT+ rights and identity. I OPPOSE the draft policies reversing and/or restricting transgender rights.


SUPPORT

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Parents know their children’s needs better than anyone. If children are struggling with gender dysphoria, they need guidance and emotional support from their parents. Under the new policies,     school officials must keep parents fully informed, and require schools to enforce laws, regulations and policies that prohibit and deter bullying or harassment


Strongly Oppose

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This policy change is not grounded even remotely in real data or studies, though I'm fully aware that that does not concern its proponents in the slightest. All this is is political posturing disguised as concern for children that only hurts the kids affected by it. This updated policy will lead to children being abused, made homeless, or outright dying from violence or suicide. Anyone who plays any part in this policy coming to pass will have the blood of children on their hands.


Support Parental Rights

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Children frequently make silly decisions and we acknowledge this in most walks of life.  The transgender issue is no different, and the idea that children can transition without consulting their parents based on the ideological push of a minority of educators and activists is preposterous.  Parents must be included in discussions surrounding their children, especially when their children are considering "treatment" options that are largely irreversible.  The emerging number of de-transitioners should provide urgency to this issue, we ensure parents are included in the conversation.


OPPOSE

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The unimaginable pain that's lifted when one gets to be authentic to self is beyond words. Transitioning saves the soul, gives life and heals old wounds. I'm 58 years old, and although I've had to battle shame from a world that hasn't understood who I am, I'm grateful for being alive and living my truth.


OPPOSE

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ALL students should be treated with dignity & respect!  Do not pass this!  We do not need to visit the Dark Ages again.


OPPOSE


Oppose these harmful guidelines

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<p>These guidelines will only harm our most vulnerable children, trans and non binary kids. Why is an adult like the governor so hell bent on punching down on the least protected kids out there? To score political points for his maga followers? It’s disgusting. Protect our trans and non binary kids. Use their pronouns. Let them go to the bathroom in peace. This ‘othering’ of trans and non binary kids will only lead to harm. </p>


Gov. Youngkin's Trans gender school policy

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I support the transgender school policy that has been introduced. Schools should not be encouraging students to go behind their parents' back.  Parents are /should be aware of what their children are doing and requesting.  Everyone should be treated equally, but that should not mean that children can be secretive at school and keep something so important from their parents. This is not the job of the school administrators and teachers to encourage something that may be unknown / disapproved of by the parents. The school needs to focus on the teaching of educational subjects not encouraging behind the scenes actions concerning subjects that are between the kids and their parent.


NO TO DISCRIMINATION

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Trans students should not be discriminated against in one of the few places they should feel safest. Schools and teachers are meant to support every single child within their buildings. Your prime directive is the care and education of these children. I would have loved an environment as a student in which I would have been able to find the words to express my trans identity.


OPPOSE

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STRONGLY OPPOSE THIS PROPOSAL


OPPOSE THIS PROPOSAL

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Support trans and NB youth - oppose this policy!


Fully support the right of the parents to educated their children.

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Only parents can know for real what is best for their children. No one will love them more than their parents and will look for their protection.

You can not forget that parents have the inalienable right to educate their children in accordance with their convictions. That is how it is stated in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, a declaration that recognizes and sets the limit to the government.

Therefore, parents right to educate their children should be protected by the government and respected by everyone. It's time to remind them that the state's role in children's education is subsidiary but cannot never replace their parents.


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I oppose this in the strongest possible manor.


OPPOSE

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Trans rights are human rights! Do not reverse these evidence based policies!


STRONGLY OPPOSE

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<p>Please respect the rights of all human beings to live as and how they like as long as they are not harming others. </p>


OPPOSE

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<span data-sheets-userformat='{"2":769,"3":{"1":0},"11":4,"12":0}' data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Schools should be a place where ALL students are treated with respect. A student's preferred gender and pronoun isn't something that an educator needs to share with families. That's NOT my role. If families are that concerned about it, TALK to your children. Ask them questions. Support them. Listen to them. This is a divisive policy that is doing nothing more than padding a resume for someone's political aspirations. Stop using our schools as your battleground and do better."}">Schools should be a place where ALL students are treated with respect. A student's preferred gender and pronoun isn't something that an educator needs to share with families. That's NOT my role. If families are that concerned about it, TALK to your children. Ask them questions. Support them. Listen to them. This is a divisive policy that is doing nothing more than padding a resume for someone's political aspirations. Stop using our schools as your battleground and do better.


OPPOSE

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I OPPOSE the guidance. Transgender kids need to be protected. If they could tell their parents, they would. This policy endangers the children.


OPPOSE

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It’s hard growing up, and it’s even harder when the cards are stacked against you. Please reconsider this bill and give queer youth the space and time to understand themselves. Please have grace for those who are different than you. We are all just trying to figure ourselves out.


No EUA for Children

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I am very concerned about Emergency Use Authorized vaccines being administered or cleared to be administered to Virginians, especially to children.

Please consider that there isn't enough data over time to assess the long-term effects of a EUA vaccine. Please wait until this panic is over, the vaccine is authorized outside of an emergency situation, and at least 10 years of data on those who have received these EUA vaccines are gathered.

Thank you.


Stop These Harmful Policy Changes

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<span data-sheets-userformat='{"2":769,"3":{"1":0},"11":4,"12":0}' data-sheets-value='{"1":2,"2":"These proposed changes are bad for students. The proposed policies will increase bullying, hate, suicide, self-harm, and homelessness. \nTrans and nonbinary students need time and space to come out on their own time. These proposed policy changes will force kids out of homes. \nGender identity is real. Talk to people who are trans and nonbinary. Gender is a social construct created to control people. \nAs a trans and nonbinary adult myself who transitioned later in life due to the pressures of society to confirm  I know what these students are going through. These policy changes will cause nothing but harm! "}'>These proposed changes are bad for students. The proposed policies will increase bullying, hate, suicide, self-harm, and homelessness.
Trans and nonbinary students need time and space to come out on their own time. These proposed policy changes will force kids out of homes.
Gender identity is real. Talk to people who are trans and nonbinary. Gender is a social construct created to control people.
As a trans and nonbinary adult myself who transitioned later in life due to the pressures of society to confirm I know what these students are going through. These policy changes will cause nothing but harm!


Loneliness

Being transgender or queer is already lonely enough as it is. Being unknown, being seen as an object, not being respected, being mocked, harassed, even threatened, with no one to turn to, is horrifically dangerous. Making students unsafe in their own homes is only going to empty those classrooms that school boards are so desperate to fill. Students will undoubtedly go missing, die, be murdered, be abandoned, or abused, all because a group that has never been in their shoes thinks it's best that complete strangers know this information about these vulnerable human beings in their time of development. I am a genderqueer newly adult person who thought he wasn't good enough to be seen or loved because of the laws and the loudest most hateful viewpoints of society, which was never true, I was just made to believe it was true. I was/am loveable as I was/am, I just needed time with myself and my community to remember this. Destroying the privacy and connections that young individuals have made with the intentions of finding solace and comfort in people they are made to trust is insidious. To make these choices for people only says that you do not value them, respect them, know them, or wish to know them. You only want to know about them what you don't want to hear. You only want to change them and make them unsafe or put them in an unsafe environment in the hopes that they would somehow change their minds. This isn't how this works.Teens tend to hide things from their parents for whatever reason they have. Some teens do it out of embarrassment.Some teens do it out of a need to survive.

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<span data-sheets-userformat='{"2":769,"3":{"1":0},"11":4,"12":0}' data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Being transgender or queer is already lonely enough as it is. Being unknown, being seen as an object, not being respected, being mocked, harassed, even threatened, with no one to turn to, is horrifically dangerous. Making students unsafe in their own homes is only going to empty those classrooms that school boards are so desperate to fill. \n\nStudents will undoubtedly go missing, die, be murdered, be abandoned, or abused, all because a group that has never been in their shoes thinks it's best that complete strangers know this information about these vulnerable human beings in their time of development. \n\nI am a genderqueer newly adult person who thought he wasn't good enough to be seen or loved because of the laws and the loudest most hateful viewpoints of society, which was never true, I was just made to believe it was true. I was/am loveable as I was/am, I just needed time with myself and my community to remember this. Destroying the privacy and connections that young individuals have made with the intentions of finding solace and comfort in people they are made to trust is insidious. To make these choices for people only says that you do not value them, respect them, know them, or wish to know them. You only want to know about them what you don't want to hear. You only want to change them and make them unsafe or put them in an unsafe environment in the hopes that they would somehow change their minds. \n\nThis isn't how this works.\n\nTeens tend to hide things from their parents for whatever reason they have. \n\nSome teens do it out of embarrassment.\n\nSome teens do it out of a need to survive."}">Being transgender or queer is already lonely enough as it is. Being unknown, being seen as an object, not being respected, being mocked, harassed, even threatened, with no one to turn to, is horrifically dangerous. Making students unsafe in their own homes is only going to empty those classrooms that school boards are so desperate to fill.

Students will undoubtedly go missing, die, be murdered, be abandoned, or abused, all because a group that has never been in their shoes thinks it's best that complete strangers know this information about these vulnerable human beings in their time of development.

I am a genderqueer newly adult person who thought he wasn't good enough to be seen or loved because of the laws and the loudest most hateful viewpoints of society, which was never true, I was just made to believe it was true. I was/am loveable as I was/am, I just needed time with myself and my community to remember this. Destroying the privacy and connections that young individuals have made with the intentions of finding solace and comfort in people they are made to trust is insidious. To make these choices for people only says that you do not value them, respect them, know them, or wish to know them. You only want to know about them what you don't want to hear. You only want to change them and make them unsafe or put them in an unsafe environment in the hopes that they would somehow change their minds.

This isn't how this works.

Teens tend to hide things from their parents for whatever reason they have.

Some teens do it out of embarrassment.

Some teens do it out of a need to survive.


OPPOSED


Oppose these policies

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Children need to be supported and allowed to develop and grow.  Schools should be a safe place for all students, where they are supported and allowed to discuss their feelings.  We do not need to add to the mental health problems of our children. As a retired educator, I have always encouraged my students who have talked to me about a personal problem, to talk with their guidance counselor as well as me. Not all children come from a loving and supportive home, where parents care about the well-being of their children.  It is not the duty of a school or its staff to reveal a students' confidence when the student does not feel safe talking to their parents.  these policies will do more harm than good for our children.


Support Children - SupportParents

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<p>Do not let children make life-altering decisions they do not understand. Support children - support parental rights. </p>


Respect trans and nonbinary youth

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<span data-sheets-userformat='{"2":769,"3":{"1":0},"11":4,"12":0}' data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"It is vital for the emotional and mental well-being of young people that their gender identity, pronouns, chosen names, and expression is respected. Without this respect and support, young people are being hurt, and this can lead to depression and suicidal thoughts. Furthermore, showing respect and acceptance in schools is simply the right thing to do! It's doing unto others as you would have them do unto you. Showing respect and acceptance hurts no one and goes a long way to creating a positive environment where children and teens can learn. Creating a hostile environment for trans and nonbinary youth does the opposite."}">It is vital for the emotional and mental well-being of young people that their gender identity, pronouns, chosen names, and expression is respected. Without this respect and support, young people are being hurt, and this can lead to depression and suicidal thoughts. Furthermore, showing respect and acceptance in schools is simply the right thing to do! It's doing unto others as you would have them do unto you. Showing respect and acceptance hurts no one and goes a long way to creating a positive environment where children and teens can learn. Creating a hostile environment for trans and nonbinary youth does the opposite.


Strongly OPPOSE

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<p>As a high school teacher, middle school sports coach, and faculty sponsor of a high school genders and sexualities alliance, I strongly oppose Gov. Youngkin's draft guidance and urge the VDOE to reject the draft guidance. I have seen firsthand how much it matters to trans and non-binary students when they are supported in their identities at school. School is often a place where students can work through their identities with their friends and peers, and the VDOE must not accept guidance requiring school staff to report students' identities to families, which may well lead to unsafe situations for students if their families are unsupportive. School staff are meant to create a safe and welcoming learning environment for students, and if the VDOE accepts this new draft guidance, school staff will be forced to cause further harm some of our most marginalized students. </p>


Transgender kids are human too

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<span data-sheets-userformat='{"2":769,"3":{"1":0},"11":4,"12":0}' data-sheets-value='{"1":2,"2":"To Governor Glenn Youngkin and the VDOE— I ask you to reconsider your proposal to force transgender children to use their assigned gender at birth (agab)  restroom, out children to their parents and prevent trans kids from participating in sports. I encourage you to research that being transgender is not a choice, and there is nothing wrong with someone exploring their gender identity. It is not as though transgender minors are receiving hormones or surgeries (that requires them to be 18 or older) they are simply just trying to feel comfortable with who they are and dress themselves accordingly to how they feel. If this policy passes, you will be endangering children and possibly exposing them to people who have such a hateful view on trangender people that they will mentally and physically harm that child. Just allow kids to be themselves. Do you know what someone does when they’re in the restroom? That’s right, they use the restroom—transgender people are not any different. It is revolting how you are prioritizing minors’ genitalia over their well-being here, that is disgusting and highly discriminatory. If this policy passes, you will only be creating more problems. Let kids be themselves, whoever they are. Do legitimate research on what being transgender is on credible sites such as the Mayo Clinic, and focus on education instead of limiting people. \n\nP.S. Transgender people are human too."}'>To Governor Glenn Youngkin and the VDOE— I ask you to reconsider your proposal to force transgender children to use their assigned gender at birth (agab) restroom, out children to their parents and prevent trans kids from participating in sports. I encourage you to research that being transgender is not a choice, and there is nothing wrong with someone exploring their gender identity. It is not as though transgender minors are receiving hormones or surgeries (that requires them to be 18 or older) they are simply just trying to feel comfortable with who they are and dress themselves accordingly to how they feel. If this policy passes, you will be endangering children and possibly exposing them to people who have such a hateful view on trangender people that they will mentally and physically harm that child. Just allow kids to be themselves. Do you know what someone does when they’re in the restroom? That’s right, they use the restroom—transgender people are not any different. It is revolting how you are prioritizing minors’ genitalia over their well-being here, that is disgusting and highly discriminatory. If this policy passes, you will only be creating more problems. Let kids be themselves, whoever they are. Do legitimate research on what being transgender is on credible sites such as the Mayo Clinic, and focus on education instead of limiting people.

P.S. Transgender people are human too.


Policies for treatment of Transgender Students

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<p>The entire premise of our educational system is to educate. Any social issue, no matter how deserving (or not) outside of education is disruptive and time consuming. Schools and teachers should educate period. We are failing our children should we focus on anything else. How will they be able to compete in the world without proper teaching of math, science, language et.al. For example China has more honor students than we have students. Sociology is not a well recognized science – but social systems fall under complex systems theory and sociologists look for the “strange attractor” – which can warp a system in an unpredicted direction. </p>
<p> </p>


OPPOSE

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I am an educator and I OPPOSE this policy. Leave trans kids alone!