Model Policies for the Treatment of Transgender Students in Virginia’s Public Schools

Dear Superintendent Balow:
This letter presents comments on the “Model Policies for the Treatment of Transgender Students in Virginia” as proposed changes to the Virginia Register. These proposed changes contain important protections for families and children and critical revisions that must replace existing state policy.
Existing Virginia policy exchanges biological sex for the ambiguous ideas of “gender” and “sexual orientation and gender identity,” and these policies reject the hard-earned rights of women in American law, culture, and education through the adoption of Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972.[1] Furthermore, equating the unscientific definition of “gender” with biological sex puts women’s physical safety at risk. With some adjustments that are provided at the end of this comment, the proposed model policies would strengthen parents’ consent concerning their children’s health care, without creating potential conflicts with federal laws.
The proposed model policy provides reference to the idea that lawmakers’ primary purpose in Title IX, which was to give women and girls equal opportunities in education. Records of the design and passage of Title IX clearly demonstrate that its intent was to remove barriers to education opportunity that women faced.[2] Title IX’s provisions state: “No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subject to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance.”[3] These amendments contain provisions for K–12 and postsecondary schools, not employment, which is the focus of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act.
The U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decision in Bostock v. Clayton County applies to Title VII, which protects Americans from employment discrimination.[4] Thus, the existing Virginia policy that confuses “sex” with “sexual orientation” and “gender identity” not only misrepresents the biological differences between men and women, but it is also not supported by the correct reading of the Court’s decision in Bostock. The Court’s opinion states that an employer cannot terminate an individual’s employment solely because the individual chooses to “assume” a “transgender” identity opposed to his or her biological sex.
Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote specifically in Bostock that Americans would be wrong to “worry that our decision will sweep beyond Title VII to other federal or state laws” because “none of these other laws are before us; we have not had the benefit of adversarial testing about the meaning of their terms, and we do not prejudge any such question today.”[5] Gorsuch went on to write: “The only question before us is whether an employer who fires someone simply for being homosexual or transgender has discharged or otherwise discriminated against that individual ‘because of such individual’s sex.’”
Thus, any application of the Court’s opinion in Bostock to other provisions in state or federal law, such as the existing Virginia guidance regarding “transgender” students, is without warrant.
Second, replacing “sex” with “gender” puts minors at risk. School officials who allow students who assume a different “gender” to use sex-segregated spaces of their choice are allowing biological males to use female facilities, including bathrooms and locker rooms. This is an invasion of girls’ privacy and threatens their safety. Responding to complaints from parents, doctors and politicians in the United Kingdom have urged schools not to allow boys to use girls’ bathrooms.[6] Media reports quote parents saying that their school-aged daughters are refusing to attend school for fear that boys will see them in the bathroom. Reports of minor-age girls stating publicly that they do not want to take their clothes off in front of boys in a bathroom surfaced in Illinois, after a school board adopted a policy that allows boys to use girls’ bathrooms.[7]
Furthermore, allowing individuals to use bathrooms of the opposite sex causes undue conflict between children. For example, boys (who did not report any gender confusion) in an Alaska school took advantage of the school’s policy that allows opposite-sex bathroom access and posted messages online saying they intended to use the girls’ bathrooms.[8] A group of boys then attempted to enter a girls’ bathroom, which resulted in a physical fight between a girl and a boy.[9] The girl did not want the boys in the girls’ bathroom, and the boys were abusing the bathroom-access policy.
In Vermont, two girls asked a biological male who said he was a transgender girl to leave their bathroom while they were changing clothes.[10] The girls told the media that the biological boy was watching them change their clothes. According to one parent, “The biological child was not changing and sat in the back and watched girls getting changed. That made girls feel uncomfortable, made girls feel violated and not protected.”The replacement of “sex” with the ambiguous idea of gender in state policies allows biological males to participate in female athletic competitions, which has resulted in injury to girls due to aggressive contact. In Guam, a boy assuming the opposite gender injured three girls in a rugby match. His participation was already a violation of the World Rugby Transgender Guidelines.[11] In other physical contests, men have severely injured women. In 2018, a male mixed-martial-arts fighter claiming to be a woman competed against a female fighter and broke her orbital bone (eye socket). The male fighter later posted on social media: “And just so you know, I enjoyed it.”[12]
Joanna Harper, a competitive runner, consultant for the International Olympic Committee, medical doctor, and a biological male who competes as a female, said that “allowing [boys to compete in girls’ athletics] with their serious testosterone-based advantage threatens the very fabric of women’s sport.”[13] World champion athletes who have supported LGBTQ rights, such as Martina Navratilova, have also argued that boys should not be allowed to compete in women’s sports.[14]
Third, using “gender” instead of “sex” weakens parents’ consent for critical health decisions made about their children. Some schools are already withholding information about children changing their pronouns, names, and “gender.”[15] In New Jersey, for example, school officials do not have to receive parental consent before encouraging students to assume a different gender or telling them to seek medical treatment for gender dysphoria.[16] In Kansas, Topeka Public Schools’ “Guidelines for Transgender Students at School” states: “School personnel should not disclose information that may reveal a student’s transgender status or gender nonconforming presentation to others, including parents…”[17] Chicago Public Schools’ “Supporting Gender Diversity Toolkit” states the school district takes a “gender-affirming approach,” and lists among its resources for students the Broadway Youth Center, which provides medical services including “gender-affirming hormone therapy.” The toolkit makes clear that parents are not a necessary partner in the process: “If a student and/or a student’s parent(s)/guardian(s) does not desire a Student Administrative Support Team or Gender Support Plan, the Support Coordinator will work with the student and/or student’s parent(s)/guardian(s) (if they are involved) to coordinate gender-affirming supports without the aforementioned tools.”[18] (Emphasis added.)
In 2019, Planned Parenthood announced it was opening 50 “Wellbeing Centers” in high schools across Los Angeles in partnership with the school district[19] to provide contraception, “reproductive health” services, and “social/emotional well-being” resources to students.[20] Students do not have to obtain parental consent to access such services in California. Planned Parenthood offices across the country offer “gender affirming care,”[21] though it is unclear whether such services are currently offered in Planned Parenthood’s school-based Wellbeing Centers. However, as one parent recounts, student communication with Planned Parenthood representatives provides easy access to such services. Students can text Planned Parenthood employees, who tell them how to make appointments for “gender-affirming care” and the nearest clinic for obtaining it.[22]
Moreover, although Planned Parenthood does not provide cross-sex hormones and therapy to children under the age of 16, the organization refers students of minor age to UCLA’s Gender Health Program.[23] That program instructs children that chest binders, medications to suppress menstruation, voice therapy to change voice pitch, and hair removal are options that are “appropriate at any age,” and that hormone therapy options are “typically pursued in the teenage years.” The type of social transition that some schools support while leaving parents in the dark—which would likely be encouraged under policies that interpret “sex” to mean “gender”—is the entry point to pharmacological gender transition, which can then be the gateway to surgical transition. The UCLA office goes on to explain that options “typically pursued later in adolescence or adulthood” include “surgery to change the appearance and function of the genitals” and “surgery to remove reproductive organs (ovaries, uterus, testicles)” among other procedures.[24] Notably, the existing drugs that doctors are giving people for medical transitions are experimental. There are no rigorous studies using randomized control trials to document the effects of using hormone therapies and puberty blockers on minors who struggle to understand their sex.[25] Doctors are using these treatments without reliable evidence on the outcomes of these interventions.
According to Emily Bazelon in The New York Times Magazine, which obtained access to the World Professional Association for Transgender Health’s (WPATH’s) latest guidelines before the guidelines were released to the public last summer, researchers expressed concern about the current medical interventions that doctors are using on minors who are confused about their sex. Bazelon writes:
The final version of [WPATH’s] chapter said that because of the limited long-term research, treatment without a comprehensive diagnostic assessment “has no empirical support and therefore carries the risk that the decision to start gender-affirming medical interventions may not be in the long-term best interest of the young person at that time.”[26]
Despite the lack of research, there is reason to believe that such interventions will become more common in K–12 school-based clinics, and that existing state policies that redefine “sex” as “gender” would widen the information gap between parents and their children. Advocates of cross-sex hormones and puberty blockers see a clear connection between access to “gender-affirming” medical treatments and President Joe Biden’s Administration’s proposed Title IX rewriting. As explained in the Harvard Law Review:
"[L]ack of access to gender-affirming care continues to mitigate trans youths’ access to sex-segregated school bathrooms and locker rooms. The Biden Administration is expected to reinstate the Obama Administration’s 2016 Title IX guidance that required schools to allow students to use facilities consistent with their gender identities. Even so, there are reasons to think access to gender-affirming medical care is still relevant to determining trans youths’ access to such facilities. First, trans youth may be less comfortable coming out as transgender to their peers and school officials if they have not started medical transition. Second, school districts and courts may be more willing to accept in practice a trans student’s use of facilities consistent with their [sic] identified gender if they [sic] have provided evidence of being diagnosed with dysphoria or undergoing gender-affirming medical treatment."[27]
In some cases, schools are putting children on this path without parental consent, cutting parents out of the decision-making process, so that by the time parents are involved in medical interventions it is too late to reverse course. By excluding parents from these essential conversations, schools are not acting as partners to parents.
Furthermore, new and more rigorous research than has previously been conducted finds that access to cross-sex hormones and puberty blockers increases teen suicide rates. A study by my Heritage Foundation colleague Jay Greene finds that easing minors’ access to cross-sex interventions is associated with a 14 percent increase in the adolescent suicide rate. [28]
Current state policies that reinterpret “sex” to mean “gender” would further erode parents’ decision-making authority about their children’s health while supporting policies that could do long-term harm to children.
Research finds that when parents are more involved in their child’s education, students will experience positive outcomes. A study of one of Florida’s private school scholarship programs, a program through which parents are engaged in choosing the child’s school, finds that 95 percent of parents report “kids now try their best, stay out of trouble, pay attention in class and are safe in the hallways of their schools of choice.”[29] In general, surveys find that parents who choose a school for their children are more satisfied with their students’ learning experience than parents who do not choose where and how their children learn.[30] Parents also report higher levels of school safety when they are empowered to choose a private school for their children.[31] For example, in Washington, D.C., parents and students participating in the nation’s only federally-funded private school scholarship program, the Opportunity Scholarship Program (DC OSP), reported higher levels of school safety after attending a new school using a K-12 private school voucher.[32]
For these reasons, the proposed Model Policies for the Treatment of Transgender Students in Virginia Public Schools is nothing short of an essential replacement for existing state policy.   The proposed model policy for Virginia could be strengthened with the following changes:

On page 16, item D.6., all school personnel should be allowed to use a student’s name instead of a pronoun.
On page 17, item G.2., no modifications to this policy exist in federal law, so the reference to such modifications should be removed.
On page 18, item H.1., no modifications to this policy exist in federal law, so the reference to such modifications should be removed.

There is no scientific, evidence-supported basis for using “gender” or “sexual orientation and gender identity” instead of “sex” in Virginia policy. Such usage misrepresents the U.S. Supreme Court’s opinion in Bostock and puts girls and women in danger of harm. Hormone treatments, such as puberty blockers, are experimental medical interventions. Research has not demonstrated the effects and long-term outcomes of these treatments, standard practice for other drugs. Virginia policymakers should abandon existing policy and replace it with the proposed model policy, along with the suggested changes listed here.
Sincerely,
Jonathan ButcherWill Skillman Fellow in EducationThe Heritage Foundation

[1] Susan Ware, Title IX: A Brief History with Documents (Long Grove, IL: Waveland Press, 2007), https://www.waveland.com/browse.php?t=645.

[2] See “Celebrating the 25th Anniversary of Title IX,” 143 Cong. Rec. 4218 (1997).

[3] Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, 20 U.S.C. § 1681 et seq., Public Law No. 92-318, as amended by section 3 of Public Law No. 93-568, 88 Stat. 1855.

[4] Bostock v. Clayton County, 140 S. Ct. 1731 (2020).

[5] Bostock v. Clayton Cty., 140 S.Ct. at 1737.

[6] Sanchez Manning, “Girls Are Skipping School to Avoid Sharing Gender Neutral Toilets with Boys after Being Left to Feel Unsafe and Ashamed,” Daily Mail, October 7, 2019, https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7542005/Girls-skipping-school-avoid-sharing-gender-neutral-toilets-boys.html.

[7] Mary Margaret Olohan, “High School Girl Chokes Up as Trans Student Rejoices Over Unrestricted Access to Bathrooms: ‘My Privacy Is Being Invaded,’” Daily Caller, November 20, 2019, https://dailycaller.com/2019/11/20/high-school-girl-trans-student-bathrooms/.

[8] Meagan Flynn, “Boys Stormed a Girls’ Bathroom to ‘Protest.’ A Girl Got Expelled for Fighting Back, Family Says,” The Washington Post, April 15, 2019, https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2019/04/15/boys-stormed-girls-bathroom-protest-girl-got-expelled-kneeing-one-them-crotch-family-says/, and Tasneem Nashrulla, “A High School Expelled a Girl for Kicking a Boy Who Entered the Girls’ Bathroom to ‘Protest’ Against a Trans Student,” BuzzFeedNews, April 15, 2019, https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/tasneemnashrulla/alaska-expelled-girl-kicking-boy-bathroom-transgender-protes.

[9] Fairbanks Star Borough School District, “UPDATED: North Pole High School Student Discipline,” April 15, 2019, https://web.archive.org/web/20190910091729/https://www.k12northstar.org/site/default.aspx?PageType=3&DomainID=4&ModuleInstanceID=3780&ViewID=6446EE88-D30C-497E-9316-3F8874B3E108&RenderLoc=0&FlexDataID=498044&PageID=1.

[10] Mary Margaret Olohan, “Vermont High School Under Fire as Girls, Parents Push Back Against Biologically Male Trans Student Using Female Locker Room,” The Daily Signal, October 2, 2022, https://www.dailysignal.com/2022/10/02/vermont-high-school-under-fire-as-girls-parents-push-back-against-biologically-male-trans-student-using-female-locker-room/.

[11] Luke Gentile, “Transgender Rugby Player Slams Female Athletes, Coach Says Three Injured,” The Washington Examiner, April 14, 2022, https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/watch-transgender-rugby-player-slams-female-athletes-coach-says-three-injured.

[12] Monique Curet, “Social Media Posts Mislead about Transgender MMA Fighter’s Injuries to Opponents,” PolitiFact, March 16, 2021, https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2021/mar/16/facebook-posts/social-media-posts-mislead-about-transgender-mma-f/, and Steven Rondina, “MMA Fighter Paints Her Opponent Red After Slashing Elbow, Violent Slam,” Bleacher Report, March 24, 2018, https://bleacherreport.com/articles/2766462-mma-fighter-paints-her-opponent-red-after-slashing-elbow-violent-slam.

[13] Doug Robinson, “In Search of a Level Playing Field. How Male-to-Female Transgender Athletes Are Impacting Women’s Sports,” Deseret News, July 29, 2021, https://www.deseret.com/2021/7/29/22584285/male-to-female-transgender-olympic-athletes-impact-womens-sports-president-biden-mike-lee-weigh-in.

[14] Rich McHugh, “Tennis Pro Martina Navratilova Weighs in on Trans Swimmer,” NewsNation, March 17, 2022, https://www.newsnationnow.com/us-news/sports/lia-thomas-upenn-transgender-swimmer-martina-navratilova/.

[15] Evan Gerstmann, “Court Enjoins School District from Withholding Information from Parents about Their Children’s Gender Identity,” Forbes, October 1, 2020, https://www.forbes.com/sites/evangerstmann/2020/10/01/court-enjoins-school-district-from-withholding-information-from-parents-about-their-childrens-gender-identity/?sh=5330337048e9.

[16] Jonathan Butcher, “New Jersey Schools Want to Talk to Kids About Sex–and Keep it a Secret,” Fox News, April 14, 2022, https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/new-jersey-schools-phil-murphy-sex-education-jonathan-butcher.

[17] Topeka Public Schools, “Guidelines for Transgender Students at School,” Regulation No, 8100-03, August 17, 2015, https://cdn5-ss11.sharpschool.com/UserFiles/Servers/Server_8252759/File/About%20Us/Policies%20and%20Regulations/8000%20-%20Students/Reg%208100-03%20-%20Guidelines%20for%20Transgender%20Students%20at%20School.pdf.

[18] Chicago Public Schools, “Supporting Gender Diversity Toolkit,” https://www.cps.edu/globalassets/cps-pages/services-and-supports/health-and-wellness/healthy-cps/healthy-environment/lgbtq-supportive-environments/supportinggenderdiversitytoolkit2.pdf.

[19] Ariana Eunjung Cha, “Planned Parenthood to Open Reproductive Health Centers at 50 Los Angeles High Schools,” The Washington Post, December 11, 2019, https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2019/12/11/planned-parenthood-open-reproductive-health-centers-los-angeles-high-schools/.

[20] Los Angeles Unified School District, “Student Health and Human Services,” https://achieve.lausd.net/Page/17773.

[21] Planned Parenthood of Metropolitan Washington, DC, https://www.plannedparenthood.org/planned-parenthood-metropolitan-washington-dc/patient-resources/gender-affirming-care.

[22] Brenda Lebsack, “Schools Conspire with Outside Groups Behind Parents’ Backs to Counsel Kids on Myriad Gender Choices,” The Daily Signal, February 2, 2022, https://www.dailysignal.com/2022/02/02/schools-conspire-with-outside-groups-behind-parents-backs-to-counsel-kids-on-myriad-gender-choices/.

[23] Planned Parenthood Mar Monte, “Gender Affirming Hormone Therapy,” https://www.plannedparenthood.org/planned-parenthood-mar-monte/patient-resources/gender-affirming-care.

[24] UCLA Gender Health Program, “Pubertal Blockers,” https://www.uclahealth.org/sites/default/files/documents/Pubertal_Blocker_Patient_Information.pdf.

[25] Jay P. Greene, “Puberty Blockers, Cross-Sex Hormones, and Youth Suicide,” Heritage Foundation Backgrounder No. 3712, June 13, 2022, https://www.heritage.org/gender/report/puberty-blockers-cross-sex-hormones-and-youth-suicide, and Michael Biggs, “Puberty Blockers and Suicidality in Adolescents Suffering from Gender Dysphoria,” Archives of Sexual Behavior, Vol. 49, No. 7 (October 2020), pp. 2227–2229, https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-020-01743-6.

[26] Emily Bazelon, “The Battle Over Gender Therapy,” The New York Times Magazine, June 15, 2022, https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/15/magazine/gender-therapy.html.

[27] “Outlawing Trans Youth: State Legislatures and the Battle over Gender-Affirming Healthcare for Minors,” Harvard Law Review, Vol. 134, No. 6 (April 2021), https://harvardlawreview.org/2021/04/outlawing-trans-youth-state-legislatures-and-the-battle-over-gender-affirming-healthcare-for-minors/.

[28] Greene, “Puberty Blockers, Cross-Sex Hormones, and Youth Suicide.”

[29] EdChoice, “EdChoice Study Guide: 2022 Edition,” p. 10, https://www.edchoice.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/EdChoice-Study-Guide.pdf.

[30] Ibid.

[31] Corey A. DeAngelis, “More Private School Choice Means More Student Safety,” Cato Institute, June 27, 2018, https://www.cato.org/commentary/more-private-school-choice-means-more-student-safety.

[32] Mark Dynarski, et al, “Evaluation of the DC Opportunity Scholarship Program: Impacts Two Years After Students Applied,” Institute for Education Sciences, May 2018, https://ies.ed.gov/ncee/pubs/20184010/pdf/20184010.pdf.

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Dear Superintendent Balow:

This letter presents comments on the “Model Policies for the Treatment of Transgender Students in Virginia” as proposed changes to the Virginia Register. These proposed changes contain important protections for families and children and critical revisions that must replace existing state policy.

Existing Virginia policy exchanges biological sex for the ambiguous ideas of “gender” and “sexual orientation and gender identity,” and these policies reject the hard-earned rights of women in American law, culture, and education through the adoption of Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972.[1] Furthermore, equating the unscientific definition of “gender” with biological sex puts women’s physical safety at risk. With some adjustments that are provided at the end of this comment, the proposed model policies would strengthen parents’ consent concerning their children’s health care, without creating potential conflicts with federal laws.

The proposed model policy provides reference to the idea that lawmakers’ primary purpose in Title IX, which was to give women and girls equal opportunities in education. Records of the design and passage of Title IX clearly demonstrate that its intent was to remove barriers to education opportunity that women faced.[2] Title IX’s provisions state: “No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subject to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance.”[3] These amendments contain provisions for K–12 and postsecondary schools, not employment, which is the focus of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act.

The U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decision in Bostock v. Clayton County applies to Title VII, which protects Americans from employment discrimination.[4] Thus, the existing Virginia policy that confuses “sex” with “sexual orientation” and “gender identity” not only misrepresents the biological differences between men and women, but it is also not supported by the correct reading of the Court’s decision in Bostock. The Court’s opinion states that an employer cannot terminate an individual’s employment solely because the individual chooses to “assume” a “transgender” identity opposed to his or her biological sex.

Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote specifically in Bostock that Americans would be wrong to “worry that our decision will sweep beyond Title VII to other federal or state laws” because “none of these other laws are before us; we have not had the benefit of adversarial testing about the meaning of their terms, and we do not prejudge any such question today.”[5] Gorsuch went on to write: “The only question before us is whether an employer who fires someone simply for being homosexual or transgender has discharged or otherwise discriminated against that individual ‘because of such individual’s sex.’”

Thus, any application of the Court’s opinion in Bostock to other provisions in state or federal law, such as the existing Virginia guidance regarding “transgender” students, is without warrant.

Second, replacing “sex” with “gender” puts minors at risk. School officials who allow students who assume a different “gender” to use sex-segregated spaces of their choice are allowing biological males to use female facilities, including bathrooms and locker rooms. This is an invasion of girls’ privacy and threatens their safety. Responding to complaints from parents, doctors and politicians in the United Kingdom have urged schools not to allow boys to use girls’ bathrooms.[6] Media reports quote parents saying that their school-aged daughters are refusing to attend school for fear that boys will see them in the bathroom. Reports of minor-age girls stating publicly that they do not want to take their clothes off in front of boys in a bathroom surfaced in Illinois, after a school board adopted a policy that allows boys to use girls’ bathrooms.[7]

Furthermore, allowing individuals to use bathrooms of the opposite sex causes undue conflict between children. For example, boys (who did not report any gender confusion) in an Alaska school took advantage of the school’s policy that allows opposite-sex bathroom access and posted messages online saying they intended to use the girls’ bathrooms.[8] A group of boys then attempted to enter a girls’ bathroom, which resulted in a physical fight between a girl and a boy.[9] The girl did not want the boys in the girls’ bathroom, and the boys were abusing the bathroom-access policy.

In Vermont, two girls asked a biological male who said he was a transgender girl to leave their bathroom while they were changing clothes.[10] The girls told the media that the biological boy was watching them change their clothes. According to one parent, “The biological child was not changing and sat in the back and watched girls getting changed. That made girls feel uncomfortable, made girls feel violated and not protected.”

The replacement of “sex” with the ambiguous idea of gender in state policies allows biological males to participate in female athletic competitions, which has resulted in injury to girls due to aggressive contact. In Guam, a boy assuming the opposite gender injured three girls in a rugby match. His participation was already a violation of the World Rugby Transgender Guidelines.[11] In other physical contests, men have severely injured women. In 2018, a male mixed-martial-arts fighter claiming to be a woman competed against a female fighter and broke her orbital bone (eye socket). The male fighter later posted on social media: “And just so you know, I enjoyed it.”[12]

Joanna Harper, a competitive runner, consultant for the International Olympic Committee, medical doctor, and a biological male who competes as a female, said that “allowing [boys to compete in girls’ athletics] with their serious testosterone-based advantage threatens the very fabric of women’s sport.”[13] World champion athletes who have supported LGBTQ rights, such as Martina Navratilova, have also argued that boys should not be allowed to compete in women’s sports.[14]

Third, using “gender” instead of “sex” weakens parents’ consent for critical health decisions made about their children. Some schools are already withholding information about children changing their pronouns, names, and “gender.”[15] In New Jersey, for example, school officials do not have to receive parental consent before encouraging students to assume a different gender or telling them to seek medical treatment for gender dysphoria.[16] In Kansas, Topeka Public Schools’ “Guidelines for Transgender Students at School” states: “School personnel should not disclose information that may reveal a student’s transgender status or gender nonconforming presentation to others, including parents…”[17] Chicago Public Schools’ “Supporting Gender Diversity Toolkit” states the school district takes a “gender-affirming approach,” and lists among its resources for students the Broadway Youth Center, which provides medical services including “gender-affirming hormone therapy.” The toolkit makes clear that parents are not a necessary partner in the process: “If a student and/or a student’s parent(s)/guardian(s) does not desire a Student Administrative Support Team or Gender Support Plan, the Support Coordinator will work with the student and/or student’s parent(s)/guardian(s) (if they are involved) to coordinate gender-affirming supports without the aforementioned tools.”[18] (Emphasis added.)

In 2019, Planned Parenthood announced it was opening 50 “Wellbeing Centers” in high schools across Los Angeles in partnership with the school district[19] to provide contraception, “reproductive health” services, and “social/emotional well-being” resources to students.[20] Students do not have to obtain parental consent to access such services in California. Planned Parenthood offices across the country offer “gender affirming care,”[21] though it is unclear whether such services are currently offered in Planned Parenthood’s school-based Wellbeing Centers. However, as one parent recounts, student communication with Planned Parenthood representatives provides easy access to such services. Students can text Planned Parenthood employees, who tell them how to make appointments for “gender-affirming care” and the nearest clinic for obtaining it.[22]

Moreover, although Planned Parenthood does not provide cross-sex hormones and therapy to children under the age of 16, the organization refers students of minor age to UCLA’s Gender Health Program.[23] That program instructs children that chest binders, medications to suppress menstruation, voice therapy to change voice pitch, and hair removal are options that are “appropriate at any age,” and that hormone therapy options are “typically pursued in the teenage years.” The type of social transition that some schools support while leaving parents in the dark—which would likely be encouraged under policies that interpret “sex” to mean “gender”—is the entry point to pharmacological gender transition, which can then be the gateway to surgical transition. The UCLA office goes on to explain that options “typically pursued later in adolescence or adulthood” include “surgery to change the appearance and function of the genitals” and “surgery to remove reproductive organs (ovaries, uterus, testicles)” among other procedures.[24] Notably, the existing drugs that doctors are giving people for medical transitions are experimental. There are no rigorous studies using randomized control trials to document the effects of using hormone therapies and puberty blockers on minors who struggle to understand their sex.[25] Doctors are using these treatments without reliable evidence on the outcomes of these interventions.

According to Emily Bazelon in The New York Times Magazine, which obtained access to the World Professional Association for Transgender Health’s (WPATH’s) latest guidelines before the guidelines were released to the public last summer, researchers expressed concern about the current medical interventions that doctors are using on minors who are confused about their sex. Bazelon writes:

The final version of [WPATH’s] chapter said that because of the limited long-term research, treatment without a comprehensive diagnostic assessment “has no empirical support and therefore carries the risk that the decision to start gender-affirming medical interventions may not be in the long-term best interest of the young person at that time.”[26]

Despite the lack of research, there is reason to believe that such interventions will become more common in K–12 school-based clinics, and that existing state policies that redefine “sex” as “gender” would widen the information gap between parents and their children. Advocates of cross-sex hormones and puberty blockers see a clear connection between access to “gender-affirming” medical treatments and President Joe Biden’s Administration’s proposed Title IX rewriting. As explained in the Harvard Law Review:

"[L]ack of access to gender-affirming care continues to mitigate trans youths’ access to sex-segregated school bathrooms and locker rooms. The Biden Administration is expected to reinstate the Obama Administration’s 2016 Title IX guidance that required schools to allow students to use facilities consistent with their gender identities. Even so, there are reasons to think access to gender-affirming medical care is still relevant to determining trans youths’ access to such facilities. First, trans youth may be less comfortable coming out as transgender to their peers and school officials if they have not started medical transition. Second, school districts and courts may be more willing to accept in practice a trans student’s use of facilities consistent with their [sic] identified gender if they [sic] have provided evidence of being diagnosed with dysphoria or undergoing gender-affirming medical treatment."[27]

In some cases, schools are putting children on this path without parental consent, cutting parents out of the decision-making process, so that by the time parents are involved in medical interventions it is too late to reverse course. By excluding parents from these essential conversations, schools are not acting as partners to parents.

Furthermore, new and more rigorous research than has previously been conducted finds that access to cross-sex hormones and puberty blockers increases teen suicide rates. A study by my Heritage Foundation colleague Jay Greene finds that easing minors’ access to cross-sex interventions is associated with a 14 percent increase in the adolescent suicide rate. [28]

Current state policies that reinterpret “sex” to mean “gender” would further erode parents’ decision-making authority about their children’s health while supporting policies that could do long-term harm to children.

Research finds that when parents are more involved in their child’s education, students will experience positive outcomes. A study of one of Florida’s private school scholarship programs, a program through which parents are engaged in choosing the child’s school, finds that 95 percent of parents report “kids now try their best, stay out of trouble, pay attention in class and are safe in the hallways of their schools of choice.”[29] In general, surveys find that parents who choose a school for their children are more satisfied with their students’ learning experience than parents who do not choose where and how their children learn.[30] Parents also report higher levels of school safety when they are empowered to choose a private school for their children.[31] For example, in Washington, D.C., parents and students participating in the nation’s only federally-funded private school scholarship program, the Opportunity Scholarship Program (DC OSP), reported higher levels of school safety after attending a new school using a K-12 private school voucher.[32]

For these reasons, the proposed Model Policies for the Treatment of Transgender Students in Virginia Public Schools is nothing short of an essential replacement for existing state policy.   The proposed model policy for Virginia could be strengthened with the following changes:

On page 16, item D.6., all school personnel should be allowed to use a student’s name instead of a pronoun.

On page 17, item G.2., no modifications to this policy exist in federal law, so the reference to such modifications should be removed.

On page 18, item H.1., no modifications to this policy exist in federal law, so the reference to such modifications should be removed.

There is no scientific, evidence-supported basis for using “gender” or “sexual orientation and gender identity” instead of “sex” in Virginia policy. Such usage misrepresents the U.S. Supreme Court’s opinion in Bostock and puts girls and women in danger of harm. Hormone treatments, such as puberty blockers, are experimental medical interventions. Research has not demonstrated the effects and long-term outcomes of these treatments, standard practice for other drugs. Virginia policymakers should abandon existing policy and replace it with the proposed model policy, along with the suggested changes listed here.

Sincerely,

Jonathan Butcher
Will Skillman Fellow in Education
The Heritage Foundation

[1] Susan Ware, Title IX: A Brief History with Documents (Long Grove, IL: Waveland Press, 2007), https://www.waveland.com/browse.php?t=645.

[2] See “Celebrating the 25th Anniversary of Title IX,” 143 Cong. Rec. 4218 (1997).

[3] Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, 20 U.S.C. § 1681 et seq., Public Law No. 92-318, as amended by section 3 of Public Law No. 93-568, 88 Stat. 1855.

[4] Bostock v. Clayton County, 140 S. Ct. 1731 (2020).

[5] Bostock v. Clayton Cty., 140 S.Ct. at 1737.

[6] Sanchez Manning, “Girls Are Skipping School to Avoid Sharing Gender Neutral Toilets with Boys after Being Left to Feel Unsafe and Ashamed,” Daily Mail, October 7, 2019, https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7542005/Girls-skipping-school-avoid-sharing-gender-neutral-toilets-boys.html.

[7] Mary Margaret Olohan, “High School Girl Chokes Up as Trans Student Rejoices Over Unrestricted Access to Bathrooms: ‘My Privacy Is Being Invaded,’” Daily Caller, November 20, 2019, https://dailycaller.com/2019/11/20/high-school-girl-trans-student-bathrooms/.

[8] Meagan Flynn, “Boys Stormed a Girls’ Bathroom to ‘Protest.’ A Girl Got Expelled for Fighting Back, Family Says,” The Washington Post, April 15, 2019, https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2019/04/15/boys-stormed-girls-bathroom-protest-girl-got-expelled-kneeing-one-them-crotch-family-says/, and Tasneem Nashrulla, “A High School Expelled a Girl for Kicking a Boy Who Entered the Girls’ Bathroom to ‘Protest’ Against a Trans Student,” BuzzFeedNews, April 15, 2019, https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/tasneemnashrulla/alaska-expelled-girl-kicking-boy-bathroom-transgender-protes.

[9] Fairbanks Star Borough School District, “UPDATED: North Pole High School Student Discipline,” April 15, 2019, https://web.archive.org/web/20190910091729/https://www.k12northstar.org/site/default.aspx?PageType=3&DomainID=4&ModuleInstanceID=3780&ViewID=6446EE88-D30C-497E-9316-3F8874B3E108&RenderLoc=0&FlexDataID=498044&PageID=1.

[10] Mary Margaret Olohan, “Vermont High School Under Fire as Girls, Parents Push Back Against Biologically Male Trans Student Using Female Locker Room,” The Daily Signal, October 2, 2022, https://www.dailysignal.com/2022/10/02/vermont-high-school-under-fire-as-girls-parents-push-back-against-biologically-male-trans-student-using-female-locker-room/.

[11] Luke Gentile, “Transgender Rugby Player Slams Female Athletes, Coach Says Three Injured,” The Washington Examiner, April 14, 2022, https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/watch-transgender-rugby-player-slams-female-athletes-coach-says-three-injured.

[12] Monique Curet, “Social Media Posts Mislead about Transgender MMA Fighter’s Injuries to Opponents,” PolitiFact, March 16, 2021, https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2021/mar/16/facebook-posts/social-media-posts-mislead-about-transgender-mma-f/, and Steven Rondina, “MMA Fighter Paints Her Opponent Red After Slashing Elbow, Violent Slam,” Bleacher Report, March 24, 2018, https://bleacherreport.com/articles/2766462-mma-fighter-paints-her-opponent-red-after-slashing-elbow-violent-slam.

[13] Doug Robinson, “In Search of a Level Playing Field. How Male-to-Female Transgender Athletes Are Impacting Women’s Sports,” Deseret News, July 29, 2021, https://www.deseret.com/2021/7/29/22584285/male-to-female-transgender-olympic-athletes-impact-womens-sports-president-biden-mike-lee-weigh-in.

[14] Rich McHugh, “Tennis Pro Martina Navratilova Weighs in on Trans Swimmer,” NewsNation, March 17, 2022, https://www.newsnationnow.com/us-news/sports/lia-thomas-upenn-transgender-swimmer-martina-navratilova/.

[15] Evan Gerstmann, “Court Enjoins School District from Withholding Information from Parents about Their Children’s Gender Identity,” Forbes, October 1, 2020, https://www.forbes.com/sites/evangerstmann/2020/10/01/court-enjoins-school-district-from-withholding-information-from-parents-about-their-childrens-gender-identity/?sh=5330337048e9.

[16] Jonathan Butcher, “New Jersey Schools Want to Talk to Kids About Sex–and Keep it a Secret,” Fox News, April 14, 2022, https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/new-jersey-schools-phil-murphy-sex-education-jonathan-butcher.

[17] Topeka Public Schools, “Guidelines for Transgender Students at School,” Regulation No, 8100-03, August 17, 2015, https://cdn5-ss11.sharpschool.com/UserFiles/Servers/Server_8252759/File/About%20Us/Policies%20and%20Regulations/8000%20-%20Students/Reg%208100-03%20-%20Guidelines%20for%20Transgender%20Students%20at%20School.pdf.

[18] Chicago Public Schools, “Supporting Gender Diversity Toolkit,” https://www.cps.edu/globalassets/cps-pages/services-and-supports/health-and-wellness/healthy-cps/healthy-environment/lgbtq-supportive-environments/supportinggenderdiversitytoolkit2.pdf.

[19] Ariana Eunjung Cha, “Planned Parenthood to Open Reproductive Health Centers at 50 Los Angeles High Schools,” The Washington Post, December 11, 2019, https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2019/12/11/planned-parenthood-open-reproductive-health-centers-los-angeles-high-schools/.

[20] Los Angeles Unified School District, “Student Health and Human Services,” https://achieve.lausd.net/Page/17773.

[21] Planned Parenthood of Metropolitan Washington, DC, https://www.plannedparenthood.org/planned-parenthood-metropolitan-washington-dc/patient-resources/gender-affirming-care.

[22] Brenda Lebsack, “Schools Conspire with Outside Groups Behind Parents’ Backs to Counsel Kids on Myriad Gender Choices,” The Daily Signal, February 2, 2022, https://www.dailysignal.com/2022/02/02/schools-conspire-with-outside-groups-behind-parents-backs-to-counsel-kids-on-myriad-gender-choices/.

[23] Planned Parenthood Mar Monte, “Gender Affirming Hormone Therapy,” https://www.plannedparenthood.org/planned-parenthood-mar-monte/patient-resources/gender-affirming-care.

[24] UCLA Gender Health Program, “Pubertal Blockers,” https://www.uclahealth.org/sites/default/files/documents/Pubertal_Blocker_Patient_Information.pdf.

[25] Jay P. Greene, “Puberty Blockers, Cross-Sex Hormones, and Youth Suicide,” Heritage Foundation Backgrounder No. 3712, June 13, 2022, https://www.heritage.org/gender/report/puberty-blockers-cross-sex-hormones-and-youth-suicide, and Michael Biggs, “Puberty Blockers and Suicidality in Adolescents Suffering from Gender Dysphoria,” Archives of Sexual Behavior, Vol. 49, No. 7 (October 2020), pp. 2227–2229, https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-020-01743-6.

[26] Emily Bazelon, “The Battle Over Gender Therapy,” The New York Times Magazine, June 15, 2022, https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/15/magazine/gender-therapy.html.

[27] “Outlawing Trans Youth: State Legislatures and the Battle over Gender-Affirming Healthcare for Minors,” Harvard Law Review, Vol. 134, No. 6 (April 2021), https://harvardlawreview.org/2021/04/outlawing-trans-youth-state-legislatures-and-the-battle-over-gender-affirming-healthcare-for-minors/.

[28] Greene, “Puberty Blockers, Cross-Sex Hormones, and Youth Suicide.”

[29] EdChoice, “EdChoice Study Guide: 2022 Edition,” p. 10, https://www.edchoice.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/EdChoice-Study-Guide.pdf.

[30] Ibid.

[31] Corey A. DeAngelis, “More Private School Choice Means More Student Safety,” Cato Institute, June 27, 2018, https://www.cato.org/commentary/more-private-school-choice-means-more-student-safety.

[32] Mark Dynarski, et al, “Evaluation of the DC Opportunity Scholarship Program: Impacts Two Years After Students Applied,” Institute for Education Sciences, May 2018, https://ies.ed.gov/ncee/pubs/20184010/pdf/20184010.pdf.


I strongly oppose this policy

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I strongly oppose this 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":"Trans and non-binary students should not be discriminated against in school settings. As a parent of a transgender student I know that having access to the bathrooms and locker rooms that aligned with their gender made the school day better. Without this access my student would have not gone to the bathroom during the school day which leads to many other physical health issues— one of which is dehydration since they would avoid consuming liquids during the day.All students deserve to be seen for who they are. We stand with all students."}'>Trans and non-binary students should not be discriminated against in school settings. As a parent of a transgender student I know that having access to the bathrooms and locker rooms that aligned with their gender made the school day better. Without this access my student would have not gone to the bathroom during the school day which leads to many other physical health issues— one of which is dehydration since they would avoid consuming liquids during the day.All students deserve to be seen for who they are. We stand with all students.


Parents deserve to know

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<p>As a FCPS parent I stand by parents and students when I say parents deserve to know if their child has decided to use different pronouns. My child cannot take an over the counter pain reliever or put on sunscreen without my permission. I cannot understand how hiding major changes would benefit a child who will not have the school present long term but will have the parent. Research on transitioning prior to the age of 18 is controversial and being looked at in Europe as perhaps detrimental. We saw what happened to Fairfax County students during the pandemic when the school board focused more on equity than keeping schools open. Half the kids in my child’s third grade class couldn’t read last year. Do you know what is best for equity? Literacy. Get back in your damn lane FCPS or give us school choice! </p>


Oppose

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Trans students deserve equal treatment in our state!


OPPOSE!

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Every person deserves the right to be respected and to live their life without obstacles and hate. I strongly oppose the proposed bill and EVERY human being should as well!


STOP TRYING TO CONTROL PEOPLE LIVES


Strongly oppose

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This policy represents a gross overreach of governmental power into the private lives of children and families. The notion that it is the role of the state and the governor to enforce a specific vision of identity and expression onto young students is absurd and Orwellian to the highest degree. This policy will utilize state and governmental power to mindlessly inflict needless harm on thousands of students. It represents a needless cruelty that exists only to soothe the sensibilities of a vocal minority. 100% opposed.


Support the GOV

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<p>I believe parents are responsible for their child until 18 years of age. Once 18, they are free to make their own decisions within the law. If any child has bills, medical or mental challenges, then the parent is the one recognized by law to take care of those needs with the support of the community. Why do we now live in a society that wants to leave the parents out of the major decisions for their own child?  If a trans student wants to go back to their biological self, who is there to pick up the pieces and offer support.  Our students are failing academically and the focus needs to be on academics. Reading the article recently on the trans student in the girls locker room, the girls said he was staring at them. Even if the student is trans, does that mean the student is prepared to be in a room full of naked girls for the 1st time. Does it mean that there is no sexual attraction? Does it mean that the trans student is emotionally and mentally prepared to be in that environment without making the biological girls feel vulnerable? Are the biological girls prepared emotionally and mentally for the trans student. The biological change in teenage boys make them stronger than female teenagers. The most recent example is during the vollyball game in NC when a biological female was seriously injured by a trans player. She was hurt so bad by a strong ball to the face that she had to be hospitalized. How many more biological girls will have to be hurt until the schools finds another way to deal with this issue. </p>
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Parental rights

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Don't you people have things to do such as teach.


Let kids be

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<span data-sheets-userformat='{"2":769,"3":{"1":0},"11":4,"12":0}' data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Keep the government out of private affairs. Trans people are not our enemies, they are people. As an educator, I have taught trans students for years. The fear mongering is so grossly out of proportion with reality. Cis girls have been playing football in highschools for years. I'm sure systems can figure out sports, it's not rocket science. Students have been asking teachers to call them by preferred names forever, preferred names is a shared cultural norm. Language is elastic and dynamic, gender neutral pronouns and their use in English predate America, for crying out loud, these students are not a threat to anyone and should be offered pathways to success like every other demographic in the state or local plan to close achievement gaps. People are complicated, trans kids are kids. Not issues."}">Keep the government out of private affairs. Trans people are not our enemies, they are people. As an educator, I have taught trans students for years. The fear mongering is so grossly out of proportion with reality. Cis girls have been playing football in highschools for years. I'm sure systems can figure out sports, it's not rocket science. Students have been asking teachers to call them by preferred names forever, preferred names is a shared cultural norm. Language is elastic and dynamic, gender neutral pronouns and their use in English predate America, for crying out loud, these students are not a threat to anyone and should be offered pathways to success like every other demographic in the state or local plan to close achievement gaps. People are complicated, trans kids are kids. Not issues.


I support! Follow the biology and keep sex out of classrooms especially young kids

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Education systems are confusing kids nowadays. This is why so many taxpayers are choosing private school. If public schools want to funding then stop being political.


All children deserve better

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<span data-sheets-userformat='{"2":769,"3":{"1":0},"11":4,"12":0}' data-sheets-value='{"1":2,"2":"COVID has brought children and schools plenty of challenges from educational delays, staffing shortages, lack of social skills, mental health issues. \nCreating policies that will target transgender students and create an unsafe environment will all increase these challenges and also cause additional mental health challenges. Transgender and LGBQT students already have to deal with the harsh realities of being accepted or disappointing those they love. Making them targets will only magnify these fears! Transgender children are still human beings and deserve to be tested as such. "}'>COVID has brought children and schools plenty of challenges from educational delays, staffing shortages, lack of social skills, mental health issues.
Creating policies that will target transgender students and create an unsafe environment will all increase these challenges and also cause additional mental health challenges. Transgender and LGBQT students already have to deal with the harsh realities of being accepted or disappointing those they love. Making them targets will only magnify these fears! Transgender children are still human beings and deserve to be tested as such.


I strongly support Governor Youngkin's policy.

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Parents have a fundamental right to raise their children and to know how their children are being educated in the classroom. It’s astonishing and downright incomprehensible to think that parents should have to petition their child’s teacher, school, and state to parent their own child. Education used to mean providing children with a learning environment reasonably free from any particular bias or ideology, and primarily teaching children fundamental tools such as reading, writing, and arithmetic. Instead, schools have shifted their focus from education to indoctrination, which is producing nothing but confused children and continued political polarization. The idea that Governor Youngkin’s proposed policies to simply have parental involvement in the lives of students is somehow a radical notion reflects how we have completely missed the mark to create a society that understands where responsibilities lie. Parents should parent their children. Schools should educate children. And they should truly educate them – in a way that is suitably understood to be beneficial for their general upbringing and development, not to wield them as tools of the latest ideological fad. Today’s radical gender ideology is untested, unproven, unscientific, and flies in the face of all principles of natural law and innate design. If you want to see distrust in the institutions, this is how you get distrust in the institutions. Children are not conveniently accessible blank slates for their teachers to shape and mold into their own images, contrary to popular belief. Children are, unequivocally and fundamentally, the creation of and responsibility of their own parents above all other community resources and institutions.

I support Governor Glenn Youngkin’s Model Policy provisions, and am proud of the nuanced and balanced approach he has presented for honoring the differences of students and their families, and protecting the parental rights of Virginians.


Bad Idea

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I can’t begin to think how awful this will be.


I oppose the 2022 model policies

These policies, if enacted, will hurt kids. These policies appear to be attacking an already marginalized group who already are misunderstood by so many; a group who suffers from higher rates of depression and self harm from constantly not being accepted. The policies also could out a student to unaccepting parents. Looking at some historical cases, this can lead to teen homelessness and/or abuse (physical, verbal, mental, etc).Please DO NOT pass these policies.

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<span data-sheets-userformat='{"2":769,"3":{"1":0},"11":4,"12":0}' data-sheets-value='{"1":2,"2":"These policies, if enacted, will hurt kids. These policies appear to be attacking an already marginalized group who already are misunderstood by so many; a group who suffers from higher rates of depression and self harm from constantly not being accepted. The policies also could out a student to unaccepting parents. Looking at some historical cases, this can lead to teen homelessness and/or abuse (physical, verbal, mental, etc).\n\nPlease DO NOT pass these policies."}'>These policies, if enacted, will hurt kids. These policies appear to be attacking an already marginalized group who already are misunderstood by so many; a group who suffers from higher rates of depression and self harm from constantly not being accepted. The policies also could out a student to unaccepting parents. Looking at some historical cases, this can lead to teen homelessness and/or abuse (physical, verbal, mental, etc).

Please DO NOT pass these policies.


Oppose

This policy is shameful and is simply a cheap move to gain favor with a select, population that is trans-phobic. This policy has zero roots in any kind of real child protection. There is nothing in our current, more accepting, policies within several school districts that jeopardizes a parent’s right with the treatment of their child in the school environment. Current policies do not push the child towards any one gender identity, they allow for our teachers and the school to make student’s feel accepted in their everyday life. If reality, this proposed policy will be severely harmful to our children. First and foremost, the proposed policy treats children who may have gender identity questions or are trans as something that is “wrong.” This will not just be a part of school policy, but the attitude the policy reflects will filter down to the student population if it is enforced. This will serve to project upon the student population that non-binary and trans students are not a respected part of society. Students will pick up on this and feel guilty about their own feelings or project the Anti-trans sentiment on their fellow students.My child now identifies as non-binary and has recently become an adult. Their last year of high school their school was accepting in their choice of pronouns and in their new nickname. They felt accepted at school when they came “out” at school with support by their school and their classmates. This helped a lot with the depression they were battling at the time. They didn’t feel comfortable to telling their parents till later on that year.I am extremely grateful to my child’s school and its environment for being supportive. My child has stressed to me that should this policy go into effect, we will likely lose children to severe depression and even suicide because they feel trapped and insecure in their daily life at school. School should be a safe space for students. Coming “out” at home is not always safe for some children. Why push for a policy that jeopardizes students in the one space that should be safe and accepting for them by inflicting the transphobic fear of some on the entire population. We should be better people in society today. For the last 30 years, gay and trans rights have been improving, what a rotten step backwards this policy would be.

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<span data-sheets-userformat='{"2":769,"3":{"1":0},"11":4,"12":0}' data-sheets-value='{"1":2,"2":"This policy is shameful and is simply a cheap move to gain favor with a select, population that is trans-phobic.  This policy has zero roots in any kind of real child protection.   There is nothing in our current, more accepting, policies within several school districts that jeopardizes a parent’s right with the treatment of their child in the school environment.  Current policies do not push the child towards any one gender identity, they allow for our teachers and the school to make student’s feel accepted in their everyday life.  \n\nIf reality, this proposed policy will be severely harmful to our children.  First and foremost, the proposed policy treats children who may have gender identity questions or are trans as something that is “wrong.”  This will not just be a part of school policy, but the attitude the policy reflects will filter down to the student population if it is enforced.  This will serve to project upon the student population that non-binary and trans students are not a respected part of society.  Students will pick up on this and feel guilty about their own feelings or project the Anti-trans sentiment on their fellow students.\n\nMy child now identifies as non-binary and has recently become an adult.  Their last year of high school their school was accepting in their choice of pronouns and in their new nickname.  They felt accepted at school when they came “out” at school with support by their school and their classmates.  This helped a lot with the depression they were battling at the time. They didn’t feel comfortable to telling their parents till later on that year.\n\nI am extremely grateful to my child’s school and its environment for being supportive.   My child has stressed to me that should this policy go into effect, we will likely lose children to severe depression and even suicide because they feel trapped and insecure in their daily life at school.  School should be a safe space for students.  Coming “out” at home is not always safe for some children.  Why push for a policy that jeopardizes students in the one space that should be safe and accepting for them by inflicting the transphobic fear of some on the entire population.  We should be better people in society today.  For the last 30 years, gay and trans rights have been improving, what a rotten step backwards this policy would be."}'>This policy is shameful and is simply a cheap move to gain favor with a select, population that is trans-phobic. This policy has zero roots in any kind of real child protection. There is nothing in our current, more accepting, policies within several school districts that jeopardizes a parent’s right with the treatment of their child in the school environment. Current policies do not push the child towards any one gender identity, they allow for our teachers and the school to make student’s feel accepted in their everyday life.

If reality, this proposed policy will be severely harmful to our children. First and foremost, the proposed policy treats children who may have gender identity questions or are trans as something that is “wrong.” This will not just be a part of school policy, but the attitude the policy reflects will filter down to the student population if it is enforced. This will serve to project upon the student population that non-binary and trans students are not a respected part of society. Students will pick up on this and feel guilty about their own feelings or project the Anti-trans sentiment on their fellow students.

My child now identifies as non-binary and has recently become an adult. Their last year of high school their school was accepting in their choice of pronouns and in their new nickname. They felt accepted at school when they came “out” at school with support by their school and their classmates. This helped a lot with the depression they were battling at the time. They didn’t feel comfortable to telling their parents till later on that year.

I am extremely grateful to my child’s school and its environment for being supportive. My child has stressed to me that should this policy go into effect, we will likely lose children to severe depression and even suicide because they feel trapped and insecure in their daily life at school. School should be a safe space for students. Coming “out” at home is not always safe for some children. Why push for a policy that jeopardizes students in the one space that should be safe and accepting for them by inflicting the transphobic fear of some on the entire population. We should be better people in society today. For the last 30 years, gay and trans rights have been improving, what a rotten step backwards this policy would be.


Oppose! Unless you want blood on your hands

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As a proud Fairfax County graduate, I oppose any measure that would lead to the cruel and inhumane suffering or violation of privacy of many students.

For my peers, school was often the only place they could get any recognition or dignity in becoming who they are meant to grow up to be. Many children will not have a chance to grow up if this policy of disclosure and tyranny is passed


STRONGLY OPPOSE

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My name is Lisa Boyd, PhD, and I am a sociologist (Penn State, 2016) and current graduate student in Counselor Education at Virginia Tech. I am writing to strongly oppose the 2022 Model Policies for the Treatment of Transgender Students in Virginia’s Public Schools as they are currently written.

The newly proposed Model Policies are, at their core, an attempt to disempower transgender people. Research clearly shows that misgendering, deadnaming, and outing transgender children and teens negatively impacts their mental and physical wellbeing. By requiring schools to out students to their parents, the 2022 Model Policies may expose transgender students to abuse, neglect, or rejection. Familial rejection is a significant predictor of suicidal ideation and poor mental health among transgender youth (e.g. Pariseau et al., 2019; Ryan et al., 2010), and only 27% of transgender youth report having very supportive families (Gender Spectrum and Human Rights Campaign, 2014). The Model Policies can therefore be expected to negatively impact a sizable proportion of transgender students in the Commonwealth.

In addition, by requiring students to use their legal name and sex assigned at birth, as well as forcing them to use bathrooms and join sports teams associated with their sex assigned at birth, this policy creates a hostile and degrading environment for transgender students. In a large-scale review of 44 peer-reviewed studies, several factors were found to be associated with better health outcomes among transgender children and adolescents: social support, school safety and belonging, and the ability to use one’s chosen name (Tankersley et al., 2021). Let me say that again: Being called by your chosen name as a transgender person directly impacts your health and wellbeing. Feeling safe and like you belong at school as a transgender person directly impacts your health and well-being. Policies like the proposed 2022 Model Policies contribute to school environments that result in 75% of transgender students feeling unsafe at school (GLSEN, 2016).

Although the stated aim of this policy is to center parental rights, it only does so for parents who are unsupportive of trans rights. For families who are supportive and affirming of their transgender children—those who recognize the fundamental importance of honoring their child’s gender identity—the impact of these policies will be overwhelmingly negative. Beliefs aside, families will see their children degraded and disrespected in school and their children’s mental health compromised. All families of transgender students will be at risk of feeling the fallout from increased rates of depression, social isolation, and suicidal ideation resulting from this policy.

As a future counselor, I also need to voice my concern about the ethical issues this policy presents for counselors working in public schools. A counselor’s priority is and has to be the well-being of their client—the student, in this case—and counselors are bound to act in accordance with the ethics of the counseling profession. The proposed policy would require school counselors to act against their Code of Ethics (ASCA, 2014), as well as mental health counselors more broadly to behave against their ethical code (ACA, 2014), by forcing them to breach confidentiality to discuss students’ counseling discussions with their parents. For the reasons presented above, this could have serious negative consequences for the student’s wellbeing. I also have concerns for teachers under the proposed policy, which have already been eloquently expressed by many teachers in this forum.

As an alternative to the proposed 2022 Model Policies, I would like to see state policies align more closely with the 2021 Model Policies, which centered student safety. Disenfranchising transgender students will not benefit anyone and will hurt many. Virginia’s focus should instead be on educating people and amplifying transgender voices so that all students receive the support they need in school and have the opportunity to learn in an environment where they feel safe and valued.


OPPOSE anti trans model policies    SUPPPORT student privacy

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<span data-sheets-userformat='{"2":769,"3":{"1":0},"11":4,"12":0}' data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"As a retired high school teacher, I STRONGLY OPPOSE Gov. Youngkin's proposed \"model policies\" that would interfere with a teacher's essential role of \"providing a safe learning environment\"  for all students. Teachers must not be pushed to intercede in student/parent relationships.  It is essential that they are permitted to continue to put all of their students' emotional safety needs ahead of all else while in the classroom.  I STRONGLY OPPOSE  Youngkin's recommendations that would restrict teachers' ability to respond, above all else, to students' privacy and emotional safety while in the classroom."}">As a retired high school teacher, I STRONGLY OPPOSE Gov. Youngkin's proposed "model policies" that would interfere with a teacher's essential role of "providing a safe learning environment" for all students. Teachers must not be pushed to intercede in student/parent relationships. It is essential that they are permitted to continue to put all of their students' emotional safety needs ahead of all else while in the classroom. I STRONGLY OPPOSE Youngkin's recommendations that would restrict teachers' ability to respond, above all else, to students' privacy and emotional safety while in the classroom.


Strongly oppose

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<p>Parents of transgender children also have rights and an expectation of safety for their children in the school setting. </p>


Oppose

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Trans kids are KIDS and they belong here!


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 oppose the guidance from Governor Youngkin about trans students in our public schools.  One of my grandchildren is trans, and it has been very hard for her to come out to her family and friends.  Being mistreaated in school just adds to her burden.  Forcing student to \"out\" to their parents, against their will, is not the job of VDOE.  Our schools need to be humane in their treatment of any students who don't fit the standard mold; that is unkind and unnecessary.  Please, let students decide for themselves who they are, and respect their decisions."}">I oppose the guidance from Governor Youngkin about trans students in our public schools. One of my grandchildren is trans, and it has been very hard for her to come out to her family and friends. Being mistreaated in school just adds to her burden. Forcing student to "out" to their parents, against their will, is not the job of VDOE. Our schools need to be humane in their treatment of any students who don't fit the standard mold; that is unkind and unnecessary. Please, let students decide for themselves who they are, and respect their decisions.


Protect the kids!


This will increase the rate of suicide of the students you “value” Support trans youth!!!

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<p>I do not support a school system that tries to silence valued human beings. This will do more harm than good. Listen to the youth of your school systems and our desires. Our parents don’t get to decide things for us. </p>


Support kids

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I support trans & non-binary & all LGBTQ+ kids & families. I oppose Youngkin’s policies that harm LGBTQ+ kids.


Support our youth by supporting this policy

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Supporting youth means supporting this policy! My daughter doesn’t want to be hurt by a boy in a skirt on her sports team.


Do Not Agree With the Proposed DOE policies

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<p>I whole heartedly do not agree with these blatantly anti-lgbtqia+ policies. Please do not enact these as they are harmful to those who are just trying to be themselves </p>


Oppose

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I strongly oppose the guidance.


Understand the need to care for our students

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<span data-sheets-userformat='{"2":769,"3":{"1":0},"11":4,"12":0}' data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"As an experienced educator who served as a high school guidance counselor for over 10 years, I know the challenging journey teenagers are presented with. They work hard to learn, to help family members, to help friends and classmates. We often ignore the stress they deal with or are unaware of it as we deal with our own challenges as parents, family members, neighbors and policy makers. But the reality is they each need support and respect for who they are. Creating a space that makes life more difficult because they have to fear the responses of hate for what they feel, think and know about themselves as human beings is wrong. We all know that, and as adults we have a responsibility to care for the children we have been blessed with, not harm them. Let's all work together to make changes that we know are the best path forward. I oppose the guidance proposed by the Virginia Department of Education."}">As an experienced educator who served as a high school guidance counselor for over 10 years, I know the challenging journey teenagers are presented with. They work hard to learn, to help family members, to help friends and classmates. We often ignore the stress they deal with or are unaware of it as we deal with our own challenges as parents, family members, neighbors and policy makers. But the reality is they each need support and respect for who they are. Creating a space that makes life more difficult because they have to fear the responses of hate for what they feel, think and know about themselves as human beings is wrong. We all know that, and as adults we have a responsibility to care for the children we have been blessed with, not harm them. Let's all work together to make changes that we know are the best path forward. I oppose the guidance proposed by the Virginia Department of Education.


This is a terrible policy decision.

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This is a terrible policy decision.


DOE Model Transgender policies

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Please do not sign the DOE Model Transgender policies. It is highly discriminatory and needlessly harms Virginians for being themselves.


Protect Transgender Youth

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Transgender and Non-Binary Youth should be protected from any and all attempts to demonize or promote misunderstandings of them. Being a child/teen is already hard enough. They don't need people who are treating them as if they are witches. Choose compassion and understanding, not fear and distrust of what you don't understand.


Oppose

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Oppressing trans kids can be a literal death sentence. Shame on you for using children as political props to win votes. You should lose your job.


Stop Investigating Childrens' Genitals

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I am disgusted by this administration's fixation on whether a child has a penis or a vagina, and how that should dictate how the child lives their life. Stop policing a child's genitals. It is gross. It is wrong. It is a private matter. Don't tread on me!


Strongly oppose

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Idiocracy at it’s finest


What have we learned

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<span data-sheets-userformat='{"2":769,"3":{"1":0},"11":4,"12":0}' data-sheets-value='{"1":2,"2":"As a lifelong educator I am saddened but not shocked by Gov. Youngkins backwards policies proposed for dealing with Trans and BI- students. We also used to discriminate against children with disabilities and shun them or bully them. Have we learned nothing in all these years? By now we can all name people we know who are trans/Bi as they are our friends, relatives, neighbors, and yes, even teachers. This policy is backwards, thoughtless, and discriminatory. Shame."}'>As a lifelong educator I am saddened but not shocked by Gov. Youngkins backwards policies proposed for dealing with Trans and BI- students. We also used to discriminate against children with disabilities and shun them or bully them. Have we learned nothing in all these years? By now we can all name people we know who are trans/Bi as they are our friends, relatives, neighbors, and yes, even teachers. This policy is backwards, thoughtless, and discriminatory. Shame.


I support the policy

Support new pro-parent policy  proposed by the Virginia Department of Education.

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Support new pro-parent policy  <wbr/>proposed by the Virginia Department of Education.


Not enough to do, eh Governor?

So you want to violate the first Amendment rights and compel speech from faculty and staff who might want to be supportive and NOT misgender or deadname a transgender student? Do you want to get sued? 'Cause that's a good way to get sued.You also haven't thought of second and third order effects, because you can be sued for discrimination about this as well. The first time a teacher gets away with calling a female cisgender student named Jennifer "Jenny" at her request, despite it not being on her birth certificate........yeah, that's unequal treatment.And "trust your parents"???? There are parents out there like Tracy Morgan, a comedian who said if his son were gay, he'd stab him. But you're going to force faculty or staff to out LBGTQ+ teens to their parents even when the parents aren't supportive... you KNOW your policy is going to get some kids kicked out of their homes...and the first time a so-called parent kills their gay kid, the blood will be on YOUR hands, Governor. Why are you so hateful?

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<span data-sheets-userformat='{"2":769,"3":{"1":0},"11":4,"12":0}' data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"So you want to violate the first Amendment rights and compel speech from faculty and staff who might want to be supportive and NOT misgender or deadname a transgender student?  Do you want to get sued?  'Cause that's a good way to get sued.\n\nYou also haven't thought of second and third order effects, because you can be sued for discrimination about this as well.  The first time a teacher gets away with calling a female cisgender student named Jennifer \"Jenny\" at her request, despite it not being on her birth certificate........yeah, that's unequal treatment.\n\nAnd \"trust your parents\"????   There are parents out there like Tracy Morgan, a comedian who said if his son were gay, he'd stab him.  But you're going to force faculty or staff to out LBGTQ+ teens to their parents even when the parents aren't supportive...   you KNOW your policy is going to get some kids kicked out of their homes...and the first time a so-called parent kills their gay kid, the blood will be on YOUR hands, Governor.  Why are you so hateful?"}">So you want to violate the first Amendment rights and compel speech from faculty and staff who might want to be supportive and NOT misgender or deadname a transgender student? Do you want to get sued? 'Cause that's a good way to get sued.

You also haven't thought of second and third order effects, because you can be sued for discrimination about this as well. The first time a teacher gets away with calling a female cisgender student named Jennifer "Jenny" at her request, despite it not being on her birth certificate........yeah, that's unequal treatment.

And "trust your parents"???? There are parents out there like Tracy Morgan, a comedian who said if his son were gay, he'd stab him. But you're going to force faculty or staff to out LBGTQ+ teens to their parents even when the parents aren't supportive... you KNOW your policy is going to get some kids kicked out of their homes...and the first time a so-called parent kills their gay kid, the blood will be on YOUR hands, Governor. Why are you so hateful?


Horrified and strongly opposed

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<p>I very, very strongly oppose this guidance document. I am horrified that in the current modern society there would be any guidance or laws or regulations to prevent freedom of expression and freedom of SELF-expression. Children are finding out who they are as individual, nothing should stop that process. Just learning that their government proposed this guidance, even if it never is enacted, can damage the self-image and confidence of the children, and affect their emotional development and mental health. </p>


Support with every fiber of my being

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Even leading medical institutions in Spain are speaking out against this phase. Let kids be kids, not sexual beings. Let parents remain involved, that’s the only change from previous policy. Chill out “social justice” fanatics. How about justice for my kids not to be told secrets from parents is ok?!


I OPPOSE the guidance

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gender identity is personal. we need to listen to trans youth about THEIR experience.


Opposition to Model Policy

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I believe that this policy will ultimately be harmful towards students who have gone through enough already. Transphobia and homophobia have no place in educational institutions, and ultimately prevents our students from thriving in academic environments.

Warmly,

Gordon Baer


Trans Students are Students

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It just takes one. Meet a trans child, and see they’re not the monsters you make them out to be. They just want to be happy, and themselves, and it’s so hard to see them be forced away from that path.


To Tighten Up the Language to Conform to Intent (Transgender Student Policies)

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I have two comments to point out potential inconsistencies or ambiguities:

                1.            In part II.B of the Guiding Principles, you state that schools should attempt to accommodate “any student with a persistent and sincere belief that his or her gender differs from his or her sex.”  This differs from the definition of “transgender student” in that the identification requires no parental involvement.  If that is merely to deal with those situations that invoke this as a “disability” (the student says so), fine, but II.B is not so limited, and it is the only proscriptive policy that actually deals with this. (To be precise, the principle should apply to either of two situations—the student has claimed a disability or is (as defined) a “transgender student.”)

                The provision two sentences later implies that school staff can deal with the needs of a self-identified transgendered student without parental involvement—staff “should collaborate with parents” necessarily implies that they might not. Why not make collaboration mandatory, as in the case of an as-defined transgender student?

                2.            The model policy (App. D.6) excludes from the operation of some of the provisions the exercise of constitutional rights.  I suggest that it should be broader, such as “notwithstanding any other provision of this Policy” so as to encompass, for example, the “bullying” provisions of App. III.B.

                As we have seen from many recent examples of school disciplinary charges, “bullying” charges can easily be, and often are, used to punish students for the exercise of their constitutionally protected rights—such as religiously-based refusal to identify a person by other than his or her sex.  The express inclusion of the constitutional exception only to App. D.2 & 4 seems to imply that the constitutional exception does not apply if a teacher, for example, disciplines a student for “bullying” (App. III.B) by reason of his or her exercise of constitutionally protected speech or conduct.

                (“Bullying” is far from the only example that requires universal exception for constitutionally protected speech or conduct, but it is easily seen.)


STRONGLY OPPOSED - WHAT HAPPENED TO EDUCATION FIRST?

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<p>Children & Teens deserve basic respect, for what reason? For being HUMAN. You people don't see us as HUMAN, we don't matter to you. We are beaten, killed, and bullied for existing, and you still don't see us as HUMAN. We matter, our lives matter, your political agenda shouldn't have an impact on us. VIRGINIANS DON'T WANT THIS TO BE PASSED. LEAVE US ALONE. Focus on the teenagers sleeping in class because your school opens too early for their biological clock to adapt to. NOT HUMAN RIGHTS. TRANS LIVES MATTER. YOU SHOULD BE ASHAMED. </p>


I OPPOSE Vdoe

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my entire life i have been ostracized and berated for my gender identity and appearance. to this day. i have lost friends and family to suicide due to hate and bigotry. passing this act will kill children. you will have their blood on your hands. we're all human, so act like it. your values do not represent compassion and decency.


LGBTQ+ Persecution

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Stop persecuting the LGBTQ+ Community. They just want to live free like the rest of us. You should have more important things to work on than this.


Voicing my Support for Transgender Youth and Against Youngkin's recommendations

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<span data-sheets-userformat='{"2":769,"3":{"1":0},"11":4,"12":0}' data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"My son and daughter -- both cisgender -- have been supported and nurtured throughout their years as students in the Virginia Public School system.  I have been grateful for the excellent educators and administrators who have provided guidance, patience and affection to them as they have navigated the challenging times of growing up, especially in these divisive and complicated times.  Our transgender youth deserve no less guidance, patience and love as they also navigate the challenges of growing up, figuring themselves out, and going through the many developmental changes of life across the K-12 lifespan.  They deserve dignity and respect.  They deserve to be recognized for who they are, just like my kids deserve that.  I stand deeply opposed to the erosion of their privacy and rights under Youngkin's leadership.  Trans rights are human rights and anything less than that is unacceptable.  I support the trans youth in our schools.  I support their wellness and mental health.  I support their choices.  I support their identities.  These kids are tougher than they should have to be.  No one should fight to be themselves!"}">My son and daughter -- both cisgender -- have been supported and nurtured throughout their years as students in the Virginia Public School system. I have been grateful for the excellent educators and administrators who have provided guidance, patience and affection to them as they have navigated the challenging times of growing up, especially in these divisive and complicated times. Our transgender youth deserve no less guidance, patience and love as they also navigate the challenges of growing up, figuring themselves out, and going through the many developmental changes of life across the K-12 lifespan. They deserve dignity and respect. They deserve to be recognized for who they are, just like my kids deserve that. I stand deeply opposed to the erosion of their privacy and rights under Youngkin's leadership. Trans rights are human rights and anything less than that is unacceptable. I support the trans youth in our schools. I support their wellness and mental health. I support their choices. I support their identities. These kids are tougher than they should have to be. No one should fight to be themselves!


Oppose

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As someone who works in the school system, I see the importance of validating trans students. This is backed up by data. Trans students who are able to use names and pronouns that align with the gender they identify with are more able to make friends, explore their interests, and avoid harmful behavior including suicide. I am in support of protecting trans students rights.


Support our LGBTQ Youth

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Youngkin's proposed regulations are an attack on the personal freedoms he supposedly supports.  This is a step backwards for society and the equal treatment the LGBTQ+ community has been fighting for.


Protect the Future of trans-students

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To the Education Board of Virginia, this blatant attack on the rights of transgender children will result in a loss lives. Our names and Identity mean everything to us, and some of us live in environments where if our parents found out about our Identity, it could be fatal. I grew up in that sort of environment, and suffered for it. Now you are turning back the page to a time when children, teens and young adults alike will have to hide themselves or come out in way that they hadn't planned on just yet.

Too many think being Trans is a choice. It isn't, and never will be. No one wakes up and says I think I am Trans. No, it is many little things adding up to the point where you enter the stages of denial, and it can take weeks to months to accept the fact. Some know early, others know later. But in the end every single Trans person to ever live has gone through that. I know I did.

What you are proposing and planning on doing is going to force many students to close themselves off to the world just as they were coming into their own. Some may chose to runaway from home, others may delve into harmful habits, such as cutting and drugs, and others still may end up taking their own lives by various means. Either way this new policy basically is telling these children, "YOU DON'T MATTER". Which is a devastating thing for a child or teen to think.

Whether it is the intent of these policy changes or not, reversing course on this after several years of being on the old policy is dangerous and harmful. Not to mention illegal as the case of Gavin Grimm a few years ago proved. If it is the intent of this board to force a Supreme Court case in order to remove trans rights nationwide. Then it is in the wrong, and all of you should be ashamed for doing so.

Sincerely

MS. ETERNIA


Oppose

As a concerned community member as well as the parent of a K-12 public school student, I oppose the 2022 proposed model policy regarding the treatment of transgender and non-binary youth in Virginia schools.Trans-affirming school policy matters to me because all youth are entitled to a safe and inclusive school environment. Trans and non-binary youth should not be at risk of bulllying, harassment, and discrimination at the hands of their peers, teachers, and school staff and administrators.Therefore, I urge the VDOE to reject the 2022 draft policies.

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As a concerned community member as well as the parent of a K-12 public school student, I oppose the 2022 proposed model policy regarding the treatment of transgender and non-binary youth in Virginia schools.

Trans-affirming school policy matters to me because all youth are entitled to a safe and inclusive school environment. Trans and non-binary youth should not be at risk of bulllying, harassment, and discrimination at the hands of their peers, teachers, and school staff and administrators.

Therefore, I urge the VDOE to reject the 2022 draft policies.


Support the new policy

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<p>Our children can’t read. They can’t make change. They can’t read an analog clock. They can’t read or write in cursive. They don’t know history. The basic common sense tools they need have been forfeited to teach transgenderism and how to hate your country and countrymen. Two years of no learning and Northam ripped the children away from their parents by hiding their preferred name and identity from their parents!  The class schedule should be so full of actual learning that there is no time to wonder if they are the wrong sex. Girls are sometimes Tomboyish and boys sometimes play with dolls. It’s just a passing interest or phase. Parents parent and teach values to the children. Schools teach knowledge. Transgenderism is a mental illness. It can be treated without upsetting families and especially the child who is just going through a phase. If they really thought they were an animal or some other being they would be given counseling. No different with transgenderism. Just teach the facts that they can all learn and communicate  for the rest of their lives. It’s that simple. </p>


Support the revised guidance that affirms parental authority for children's education and healthcare

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We support the Commonwealth's revised guidance that, as stated in the guidance, upholds and conforms to the Constitutional rights of parents to determine educational and medical decisions for their children.  The previous guidance permitted political subdivisions to interfere in family decisions on education and medical choices by parents.  It permitted governmental employees to interfere in family decisions based on unsubstantiated assertions about the psychological and medical condition of a child and to contravene parental decisions.  It also permitted governmental action to interfere in family decisions on grounds not established in the Virginia Code and without due process to parents concerning such action.  The updated guidance removes this improper authority to interfere in parental decision making while also upholding the existing requirements under the Virginia Code for school officials when a demonstrated risk to the health and wellbeing of a child is substantiated.  The new guidance is well thought out and consistent with the Constitution, Virginia Code and sound education policy that has long recognized the importance of parental responsibility for children's health and education. Thank you.