disgusting.

(copy/pasted from my email to the governor. tw// suicide, cw// abortion, religion, & transphobia mentions.)
Did you know that 40% of all transgender individuals attempt suicide in their lifetimes?
As of 2022, about 1.5 million Americans identify as transgender--that's 640,000 lives on the line.The CDC reports that in 2019, 629,898 people had abortions.By these data, the transgender suicide rate nationwide is overall higher than the abortion rate.I don't understand how you can look the other way as 640,000 innocent people end their lives over something they cannot control, but fight to keep the number of abortions at 0.
I am asking you to keep reading. This is a difficult pill to swallow, but ignoring this email is the difference between life and death for some trans people. Are you willing to risk their lives?
The lives of children?
According to the National Library of Medicine, "The present study examines the influence of intervenable risk factors [...] and protective factors: school belonging, family support, and peer support on both lifetime suicide attempts and past 6-month suicidality in a sample of transgender youth (n = 372)." This sentence explains that one of the major variables NLM studied was the impact of school belonging on transgender youth, indicating that it has a significant effect on them. It's not possible to determine the individual specific cause of suicide for every transgender person, of course, but we can deduce that school belonging has a large impact on transgender lives.
Beyond the statistics, I have had personal experiences with suicide and suicidal thoughts.
When I first suspected I may be transgender, I prayed to God every chance I could to take the thoughts away.
He did not.
On a personal note, I've considered killing myself because of my gender identity before. I have been given a suicide action plan. Your laws will only condemn me and hundreds of thousands of other transgender youth to pain at school and an increased risk of committing suicide.
Here are the links to my sources, should you care to check them yourself: https://www.cdc.gov/reproductivehealth/data_stats/index.htm, https://williamsinstitute.law.ucla.edu/publications/trans-adults-united-states/, and https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32345113/

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(copy/pasted from my email to the governor. tw// suicide, cw// abortion, religion, & transphobia mentions.)

Did you know that 40% of all transgender individuals attempt suicide in their lifetimes?

As of 2022, about 1.5 million Americans identify as transgender--that's 640,000 lives on the line.
The CDC reports that in 2019, 629,898 people had abortions.
By these data, the transgender suicide rate nationwide is overall higher than the abortion rate.
I don't understand how you can look the other way as 640,000 innocent people end their lives over something they cannot control, but fight to keep the number of abortions at 0.

I am asking you to keep reading. This is a difficult pill to swallow, but ignoring this email is the difference between life and death for some trans people. Are you willing to risk their lives?

The lives of children?

According to the National Library of Medicine, "The present study examines the influence of intervenable risk factors [...] and protective factors: school belonging, family support, and peer support on both lifetime suicide attempts and past 6-month suicidality in a sample of transgender youth (n = 372)." This sentence explains that one of the major variables NLM studied was the impact of school belonging on transgender youth, indicating that it has a significant effect on them. It's not possible to determine the individual specific cause of suicide for every transgender person, of course, but we can deduce that school belonging has a large impact on transgender lives.

Beyond the statistics, I have had personal experiences with suicide and suicidal thoughts.

When I first suspected I may be transgender, I prayed to God every chance I could to take the thoughts away.

He did not.

On a personal note, I've considered killing myself because of my gender identity before. I have been given a suicide action plan. Your laws will only condemn me and hundreds of thousands of other transgender youth to pain at school and an increased risk of committing suicide.

Here are the links to my sources, should you care to check them yourself: https://www.cdc.gov/reproductivehealth/data_stats/index.htm, https://williamsinstitute.law.ucla.edu/publications/trans-adults-united-states/, and https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32345113/


Fully support

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I support the new policies, this is a welcome change.


Oppose

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<p>Strongly oppose, grew up and just graduated from a high school in VA. Do not do this to kids who need support. School is the only place some can get it. </p>


Strongly Oppose

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Bullying at-risk and marginalized students is cruel and inhumane. This policy is a harmful waste of time and resources - please focus efforts on useful endeavors like teacher recruitment and retention.


Strongly opposed!

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I am strongly opposed to this new guidance. It will lead to increased harm for an already vulnerable community. We should be helping children, not harming them. Suicide rates for trans students are already too high and this guidance will only make it worse. It is harmful and mean. Please reject this.


Disgusted. I strongly oppose the proposed new rules for transgender children (or adults) in VA

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<p>There is no place for this hatred and disrespect, I do not support these rules. </p>


Inhumane and wrong

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<p>I am strongly opposed. This is horrific and wrong and I can tell you first hand having worked with students from pre-K through college, this language is absolutely not in the best interests of our youth. Invalidating something as fundamental as identity will cost the lives of kids already struggling to find themselves. As a teacher, I will ALWAYS respect my students’ chosen names and pronouns. The governor should be focused far less on the biological sex organs of minors that aren’t his own children and stop interfering and undermining the work teachers are doing. STAY IN YOUR LANE YOUNGKIN. We are the ones supporting and shaping young minds, we lead with love, respect and understanding. We value bodily autonomy and the right to be and explore your authentic self. Trans and non-binary kids deserve the same opportunity and freedom as other children to be who they are. We will not sit by quietly and allow the government to keep policing OUR bodies and OUR lives. </p>


STRONGLY OPPOSED

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I strongly oppose any and all attempts to harm trans children and their peers through these inhumane and unconscionable measures. Stop trying to codify hatred and bigotry. It is shameful, harmful, and inhumane. Stop now. I do not and will not approve of these disgusting efforts.


Model proposal pertaining to parental rights

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I oppose this cruel proposal that appeases and panders to the sensitivities of some parents while infringing on the rights of children empirically determined to be subjected to higher rates of bullying and physical harm as well as having higher rates of suicide than others their age.  If implemented, this proposal will worsen these problems.  The statutory authority for this proposal is also unclear.  What an odd proposal for someone who professes to be a Christian and a unifier.


Unacceptable attack on vulnerable children

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LGBTQ youth are more than four times as likely to attempt suicide than their peers. LGBTQ youth are not inherently prone to suicide risk because of their sexual orientation or gender identity but rather placed at higher risk because of how they are mistreated and stigmatized in society. It's horrific that any elected leader would seek to place these children's lives at even greater risk to further a hateful culture war. Stop trying to drive our children to kill themselves! ????


Strongly Oppose

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Laws like these are inhumane, unnecessary, and are harmful to youth.


Protect Trans Kids

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It is absurd, the level to which the state is trying to control the bodies of trans youth. As an educator, I oppose this motion of hate and bigotry.


Strongly Oppose

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I am an educator and the parent of a transgender person and I strongly oppose the guidance.  It is rooted in transphobia and seeks to further harm trans and non-binary kids.  I urge the VDOE to reject the draft policy.


Strongly oppose this policy

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This policy is wrong and dangerous to trans children.


Strongly oppose

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<p>It's an awful and restrictive piece of legislation based in no tangible evidence or backing </p>


Protect trans kids!

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<p>It is disgraceful that this is even being considered. Virginia schools should be a safe space for all kids, including trans kids, to be themselves in a welcoming environment. Shame on you Glen Youngkin. </p>


Cruelty

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<p>This new proposed policy is anti-science, anti-medicine and simply, unambiguously cruel. The next thing these Republican theocrats will be doing is making people wear pink triangles. </p>


Respect children fully as people

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<p>Re: "Model Policies for the Treatment of Transgender Students in Virginia’s Public Schools" I fully support children having the rights to live in a way that makes sense for them. I expect adults around them to respect their wishes in the way any adult would expect to be respected. I reject Youngkin's policies related to transgender students, which contribute to the extremely high rates of depression and suicide among transgender youth and young adults. Rights for transgender youth is suicide prevention and help them thrive as productive adults in society. Youngkin's policies have no place in the 21st century. </p>


Totally Opposed to VDOE and Governor's new policy

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<p>I am totally opposed to the new VDOE and Governor's policy concerning registration for the student and parents and bathroom policy. </p>


I totally oppose this cruelty.

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Why are Republicans so cruel? There is absolutely no reason to do this. Trans kids who are so vulnerable deserve support and treatment. Yet Virginia’s governor seems to spend all his time trying to find ways to hurt the most vulnerable instead of standing up for them, why?


Strongly Oppose the role back of transgender kids’ rights

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<p>I am sickened at the thought of changing the rights of transgender children. I strongly oppose the role back of transgender kids’ rights in Virginia.  </p>


People’s Rights

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<p>I don’t understand why people cannot leave other people alone!  Do there republicans think they are going to get into heaven.  This is a free country with free expression.  Don’t tread on others rights </p>


OPPOSE

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<p>I strongly opposed this guidance document. It harms trans kids, creates an unsafe atmosphere in schools, and is a step backwards for society and Virginia. </p>


Support Trans Students

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Students need to be supported, not vilified. Let them continue to use bathrooms of their choice and not force them to be outed.


Virginia is for Lovers - act like it. Support your trans kids and neighbors. Stop the oppression.

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<p>Glenn Youngkin should be impeached for proposing supporting teen suicide. </p>


Strongly oppose

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This rollback directly threatens student both student safety and academic achievement by outing students against their will (opening them up to potential harassment and abuse) and denying them access to restrooms. The latter has been clearly linked with both health issues and negative educational outcomes: Herman (2013) found that 10% of surveyed trans students who attended school in DC had their education negatively affected by lack of access to restrooms and 54% reported health issues direct related to lack of restroom access. Trans students, like all students, deserve both privacy and safety.


Strongly oppose this call for discrimination

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There is no evidence that the trans population poses a significant risk to women, or anyone for that matter. As for their own sake, it is far more dangerous to suppress a child’s gender identity than it is to allow them to explore and find who they really are. Bills like this one don’t prevent trans people from existing; all they do is force children into a life they don’t want or need, and drive them to a state of confusion and anguish. They will still be here, and they will still be trans. The only difference will be that you made them suffer, and this is why 41% of trans people attempt suicide. Allowing students to socially transition will save lives.


Do not roll back rights

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<p>Irreparable harm will be done to children if you do not support the right for children and their parents to choose the right path forward for them. Do not bring politics into the world of medicine and gender affirmation. When did the Republican party become the party that tramples on our rights? When did the Republican party become the party that believes in government intervention into our right to choose what is best for our children and to allow others the right to their choice? This policy shift will harm children and open them to discrimination that could be prevented by protecting them and their right to choose. This policy is shameful and misdirected. As the parent of a transgender child I do not agree with this and will work every day to make sure this policy is never implemented and that those responsible for these dictatorial, intrusive ideas about government intervention are never elected again. </p>


Strongly Oppose, this is child abuse!

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This is cruel and disgusting. Children need supportive people in their lives and schools should be a part of that support. It's abusive to ban children from expressing themselves and outing transgender children can and will result in parents physically abusing those children.


What happened to freedom of choice you republicans use to say your rights are under attack?


Agree with new model policy - support kids and families

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Thank you for listening to parents in the Commonwealth.  No one loves students more than their parents and families.  Schools should not overstep their bounds.  Their primary job is to teach math, reading, writing, science, social studies.  Leave everything else to parents.  Respect parents.  Respect kids.

Thank you, Governor Youngkin.


This policy is illegal and will be struck down, support Trans Kids

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I vehemotly oppose this new guidance. Younkin and his ilk are playing an idiotic political game with REAL peoples' lives. This policy is not only wrong, it's against the law.

Recent federal court decisions have upheld protections for transgender people, including a 2020 U.S. Supreme Court decision, written by Trump appointee Neil M. Gorsuch, that determined that civil rights law barring sex discrimination covers transgender people.

Virginia also has a Human Rights Act that bars discrimination in schools based on gender identity.

Ya'll talk all this crap about protecting kids then literally attack everyone not white, cis, and christian while screaming freedom and small government. Maybe look in the mirror and deal with your own hatred instead of taking it out on kids just trying to survive and be themselves.


I am absolutely opposed to this policy

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I’m someone who figured out they were trans in high school. I had no resources and felt like I could not be open. I couldn’t use the right bathroom, and no one used my name or terms.

That was 4 years ago, things have changed, they shouldn’t still be this way.


Strongly oppose

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This policy would be nothing more than government mandated bullying of one of the most marginalized and already attacked groups in schools. The end goal of all of this is to turn public schools into pseudo-private schools where authoritarian teachers and politicians who have never been around children in their lives to exert their weird fantasies on a group that is mandated to spend 7 hours each day under their control. This policy protects no one but politician's paychecks coming in from charter schools.


Incredibly against this regulation

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<p>I do not know why people feel the need to target and victimize a group of people already suffering from more pressure and fear than regulators could possibly understand. It is incomprehensible to purposely enact rules that will lead to more harm, more mental anguish, and perhaps inevitably more suicides. Rules like this that claim to support parents in full ignorance of their children reduce these kids to mere automatons and deny them of any agency in their own lives. That is simply not how it works. Were you just perfect little angels void of any character until suddenly you were a person at 18? I hardly think so. This is such a grossly unthought out policy with the sole goal of making sure people who can't possibly defend themselves suffer the most for your homophobia. It is disgusting, it is reprehensible, and it leaves bad mark on the state I have had the fortune to grow up in.    </p>


Strongly opposed

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<p>Let's try helping kids, rather than hurting them. </p>


Strongly OPPOSE the 2022 guidance document

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The 2022 draft policies will erase trans and non-binary youth from the classroom and create a hostile and even dangerous school environment. They restrict restroom access and sports participation for transgender and nonbinary students, require faculty and staff to “out” trans and nonbinary students to their parents, and prohibit teachers and staff from supporting trans students in a range of ways, including blocking them from using a student’s affirming name and pronouns. Further, to require such parental notification even for the student's choice of a nickname is absurd.

Of course, all parents should be confident that our laws will ensure their children’s safety, protection, and freedom. But the Virginia Department of Education proposes to reject those values and to advance a policy that would target trans and non-binary kids for bullying and mistreatment just because of who they are. It is well-known and understood that some, if not many parents will abuse or even reject children who are "outed" by their teachers, school counselors or administrators.

I implore you to reject this proposal and either retain the previous version or revise the proposed draft to protect our trans youth from possible harm.


I am in opposition to this.

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<p>Introducing a law that could potentially put trans children in danger is absolute horseradish. This is ridiculous. There are probably only 14 trans kids going into this school, and making it so that they have to be outed to their families who may not support them only puts these kids in danger. The 2021 model policy seemed just perfectly fine. It offered guidance on how to handle trans kids and it gave them the agency to handle their identity in the best way. This new policy is only going to open the door up for further harassment. There are homes out there that would be especially cruel and hostile to trans kids, and those kids need a place where they can feel safe and comfortable. They are going to school for an education, not to feel that they are in danger or that they’re in some big war zone. The schools need to be the safest possible environment possible for those kids, so that they can focus on getting a good education. These kids don’t need the schools or the government to go sticking their dirty fingers into their private lives because some misguided politicians think that they know best. This is ridiculous. It’s ghoulish. The teachers are there to teach not act like the trans snopes, out to nark on random kids. Keep your hands out of these kids privacy and let them make the best decisions for their own safety. Got that? </p>


Protect trans kids

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I support trans kids. I implore you not to enact this abusive policy that bullies trans kids.


STRONGLY  OPPOSE. Ludicrous!

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<p>STRONGLY OPPOSE. This is ludicrous. </p>


Strongly Oppose Younkin's Policy on Trans Youth

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<p>We all have a right to be who we are, to choose our life.  Young people are no exception.  They need the freedom to develop a true, healthy identity, not coercion to conform to a harmful political agenda put forth by an absentee governor concerned more with his bid to become the presidential nominee of an extreme MAGA party than in his stewardship of the Commonwealth of Virginia and all of its people.  This is another regressive example of Republicans attempting to take away our freedoms in their quest to gain control and power while harming a segment of our population that needs affirmation, not condemnation, of who they are. This policy is very harmful in its unintended consequences for trans youth and their families.  Don't be fooled by Republican rhetoric, lies, distractions, and manipulation.  </p>


Strongly oppose- Protect the mental health of trans and non-binary youth

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<p>As a mental health provider I find the rollback on supportive policies for trans and non-binary youth abhorrent.  We are in the midst of a youth mental health crisis and yet our current governor is supporting a policy that is dangerous and will likely cause significant mental health challenges for trans and non-binary young people.  In studies examining mental health challenges for these kids we see over and over again that factors that promote resiliency and show a positive mental health impact are parent connectedness, social support, school safety and belonging, and the ability to use one’s chosen name.  This is a policy that will cause significant harm and which benefits no one.  </p>


Don't Bully Trans Students

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Under Purpose of the proposed policy it states "All Students have the right to attend school in an environment free from discrimination, harassment, or bullying. Yet after feeling safe in school after implementation of the 2021 Model Policies the new GOP administration seeks to fix something that is not broken due to its own ideology that being transgender is wrong. This new policy will in no uncertain terms make trans students feel, in fact they will be, discriminated against, harassed, and bullied by classmates and teachers as authorized by the State of Virginia. This policy if allowed in public schools will make the life of trans students much, much worse and will likely lead to increased suicidal ideation in transgender students. Do not implement this proposed policy.


Strongly oppose

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Strongly oppose. Abuse of trans children belongs nowhere, especially not in our schools.


STRONGLY OPPOSE

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Support trans children and keep them safe. Don't out children and put them in potentially dangerous situations!


100% opposed to this policy

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Governor Youngkin, I understand that you and I will see eye-to-eye on almost nothing, but I am going to give you credit for some level of humanity. Ask yourself: if this policy were written about middle-aged white men, limiting their rights and implying that they are second-class citizens, would you have proposed it? Treat others as you wish to be treated, and withdraw this policy immediately.


I STRONGLY OPPOSE THE GUIDANCE

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As a licensed professional counselor and counselor educator with a large public institution in the state, I STRONGLY OPPOSE the guidance being suggested by Gov. Youngkin. A recent study by the Trevor Project found that 45% of LGBTQIA+ youth have strongly considered attempting suicide in the past year, with BIPOC youth reporting even higher numbers. Students who report having a safe and affirming school environment report lower rates of suicide than their peers who report having hostile ones. Furthermore, less than 1 out of 3 transgender and non-binary students report having a safe and affirming home environment - which makes having a safe school environment imperative to their wellbeing. The policies suggested by Gov. Youngkin will put all LGBTQIA+ youth at continued risk for mental health issues like depression, anxiety, and suicide. Mandating these new policies will harm trans youth. VA should be supporting all students, especially trans students. Schools have an obligation to protect all students.


Oppose policy-- this is step backwards

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Allowing parents and the school board to make the decision is like the states rights to slavery or states rights during segregation: very few will do it without it being a state or national thing, and many people will be hurt because of the lack of action to make schools teach and accept trans and nonbinary children.  This new policy will kill kids and traumatized many more.

This is a bodily autonomy issue

This is a gender presentation issue.

This will not protect kids.


Oppose: this is hateful discrimination against basic human expression

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Despite any concern for children on may bring up in support of this policy, it’s been clear for years that this opens up hatred, bullying, and discrimination against any child who may not fit with what society says is Heterosexual at the time. We have proven that these practices only cause HARM and any potential benefit it has is overshadowed by immediate damage caused by isolation and discrimination. Trans kids need more aid not punishment out of paranoid unfounded fears. This witch hunt against trans people is an assault on US citizens. “A lack of policies and practices that affirm and support LGBT youth—and a failure to implement protections that do exist—means that LGBT students nationwide continue to face bullying, exclusion, and discrimination in school, putting them at physical and psychological risk and limiting their education.

In 2001, Human Rights Watch published Hatred in the Hallways: Violence and Discrimination against Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Students in US Schools. The report documented rampant bullying and discrimination against LGBT students in schools across the country, and urged policymakers and school officials to take concrete steps to respect and protect the rights of LGBT youth.” © 2016 Mariam Dwedar for Human Rights Watch


Strongly opposed these changes

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<p>These changes mitigate the development of all students. It only serves to compromise the lives of all young people and create greater social division in the future. </p>


Will lead to deaths and hate -oppose

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<p>Such laws can lead to hatred and violence that is covered up and legally okay. If you want a word where violence isn’t the answer, maybe don’t allow for violence to become the normal. Ignoring this community does not make them any less real. </p>


Strongly OPPOSE

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OPPOSE- THROW IT OUT.

This is literally laughable- this policy actively works against every current mental health and medical guideline (supported by actual research) about how to build policy related to trans kids/the treatment of trans kids.

Though I guess that's apparent when the policy defines sex and not gender or even transgender, just "a transgender student," and actively misgenders a transgender person in the additional laws section- making the bias of the policy writer pretty clear.

It's interesting how much this policy talks about protecting "parent's rights," as if they would somehow be undermined by a more reasonable policy that would actually protect transgender children- I cannot fathom how a basic acknowledgment that transgender people exist at all and can be treated with the absolute most basic, ground floor level of human decency and passing respect- even if you don't like them- would somehow take away parents role as the primary people raising their child. Should we also stop teaching kids to ask before trying to grab something out of another person's hand, to not hit each other, or other basic social skills?? After all- that might not be how it's done in their house!

Under the "Maintenance of a safe and supportive learning environment free from discrimination and harassment for all students" section, this policy seeks to state:

The [School Division] prohibits all discrimination, harassment, and bullying based on actual national origin, race, religion, sex, disability, political beliefs, or any other characteristic protected by law.

Honestly incredible, to specifically include political beliefs (not protected by law!) and NOT expand that sex also includes gender identity and sexuality (protected by law!)

Also, for a policy that mentions bullying so many times, the plan to prevent harassment and bullying could not be more vague

Overall- this is possibly the worst policy I have seen, and I would never allow any child of mine to be in any school that applied it, and if it is not scrapped or completely redone, I feel honestly heartbroken for any kids in a school that does apply it.


Model policy

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<p>Please do not put trans youth in danger for political points </p>


Strongly Oppose-support and protect trans youth

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Religious persecution of queer youth, particularly trans youth, is disgusting and we won't stand for it.


??????Protect Transgender Children ??????

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I am strongly opposed. This is NOT what I want from my state government. Children are dependent on the adults in their life for protection and that includes transgender children as well.


Strongly OPPOSE - how will this help our schools at all?

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How will this address teacher burnout? How will this help school funding? How will this address any loss of learning due to covid? How will this make kids feel safer in school? How will this promote acceptance? How will this solve teacher shortages across the state? How will this solve long bus rides and bus driver shortages? How will this promote inclusion?

This doesn’t address actual school issues, it’s just political pandering.


Strongly oppose

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I strongly oppose the implementation of this guidance document. As a mental health professional, I have worked with a number of transgender youth and children, and I can unequivocally say that those who did not have the support of their parents, friends, and school communities experienced more severe mental illness symptoms, up to and including suicidal thoughts and attempts. Parents do not always support their trans children, nor do they always act in their child’s best interests. Even one supportive adult can make a big difference in a child’s life, but if teachers and school personnel are prevented by the state government from providing that support, the outlook for numerous children will be bleak indeed.


Disagree, leave these kids the hell alone.

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<p>Just leave these kids alone, the gov is just using them as an other to score political points. They are humans just like everyone else. Stop the hysteria and focus on the issues that actually have a serious effect on citizens of not only Virginia but the US as a whole. </p>


Protect Trans Kids

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The state of Virginia cannot be allowed to set this precedent. Protect trans kids.


STRONGLY OPPOSE

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<p>this is a bigoted policy that will only result in harming more children than helping. </p>


Support New Regs That Respect ALL Students

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<p>Thank you for the proposed regulations which provide care and attention to children with sex confusion/dysphoria while respecting all students' mental and physical health and the important role of parents.  Parents are the people who know and love their children best, and should be involved in all decisions and actions taken at school regarding their children. The prior regulations shut parents out. The proposed regulations correct this, to the benefit of all children! Thank you Governor Youngkin and the Education team! </p>


STRONGLY OPPOSE

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As a parent of a student in the Arlington Public School system, I strongly oppose this policy. All students have the right to learn in an environment that is free from harassment and discrimination, that includes discrimination based upon sex. This policy is it discriminatory and has no place in Virginia or Virginia’s schools. The very nature of this policy will not only have a chilling effect on students but will have a severe negative effect on LGBTQIA+ students who are already an extremely vulnerable community. Virginia’s children should be protected not persecuted.


Virginia is the WORST state, be ashamed of yourself Glenn Youngkin

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This state will lose so much money if you enact the policy. People will move away and it’ll be all your fault. Have fun going down in history as the worst state governor we’ve had yet, which is a pretty hard task to accomplish considering our former governor literally did blackface. You’re a sick individual for even suggesting this. Please seek your own mental health counseling to unlearn transphobic beliefs. You will feel better emotional from seeing a trans-affirming mental healthcare professional, lol. Red is dying, Republicans are losers.


Leave our kids alone

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Being a kid is hard. It's already difficult to navigate changing bodies, peer pressure, school work, extracurricular activities, and just figuring out who you are and what you stand for. But kids who feel that who they are isn't reflected in their physical sex have it so much harder, especially when state-sanctioned discrimination tells them that the way they feel is not valid, and therefore WHO THEY ARE is not valid. Our society should be one of love and understanding and inclusion, not one of fear and bullying. Tell our kids that being different is okay as long as you're true to yourself. Anything else leads to self hatred and self harm, and our kids deserve better.


Strongly opposed

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<p>This seems cruel and unnecessary </p>


Strongly oppose

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All children deserve to be safe in their homes. We must trust kids to determine who are the unsafe people in their lives. The schools must protect children by respecting the wishes of students in respect to who they don’t feel are the safe adults in their lives.

My first memories in life are of my insides not matching the body parts I was born with. In the 1980s there were no books or TV shows “making” me feel this way. I didn’t even have the words to describe what I was understanding about myself as a toddler. I just knew that they way I was inside didn’t match what people saw outside.

I often hear that God doesn’t make mistakes. He didn’t make a mistake with me. He made my insides not quite match my outside. To interfere with that is to go against God.

But it necessary for schools and the government to protect children who are like me. We need to be protected from family and friends who would injure us for God’s choice to make us non-binary or transgender. We are very capable of understanding who is a danger to us for being non-binary or transgender. Schools most trust our instincts about the evil people around us. We don’t all have loving and supportive parents. Some of us have parents to squash our spirits and steal our childhoods.

Call kids what they want to be called. If it isn’t an issue to call William by the name “Bill”, then there is no reason to object to calling me Blake or Susan or Sissy or Bubba. Names are just a word we respond to.


Thank you, Gov. Youngkin!

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As a parent I FULLY SUPPORT this new Guidance Document. Thank you for making parents and families the priority of the state's education system and not these narrow special interests which seek to destroy families. Keep up the good work!


Strongly opposed - Kids need supportive environments, not hateful othering

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This policy will be hell on students, trans and non-trans alike. Why waste school resources trying to interrogate and police student's identities? All it would do is create an atmosphere of fear and persecution, make both school and home life living hell for Trans kids still in the closet, and lead to even more bullying and teen suicides as a result.

Being trans is not a choice and it's not a fad - trans kids are kids, and just like everyone else they need a safe environment to learn, socialize, and experience life free from fear of being ostracized or persecuted.


New Guidelines

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Strongly opposed to new guidelines proposed by Youngkin. It is a cruel inhumane political stunt that will adversely impact young people who are already dealing with enormous pressures in their lives. Focus should be on ensuring young people are safe at school which also includes not being shot while they are there.


Strongly OPPOSE. Support trans youth!

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<p>This guidance document directly violates the protections from discrimination against gender identities codified in the Virginia Values Act. Not only is it would be illegal for schools to adopt such a policy in direct violation of it, but it would also cause a endanger our youth and educators in the LGBT community by putting their privacy and freedom of speech and expression at risk, as well as encourage the abuse of LGBT children in abusive households and in our institutions. It is my strong recommendation that this guidance document should be opposed and discarded. </p>


Please Oppose This

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What will happen by having trans people be outted & banning them from self-expression is that you are going to make harassment easier for them & thus it will lead to attempted suicides across your state. If you don't want that on your conscious or your hands, then don't pass this law


Pointless cruelty

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Stop obsessing about children's genitals and leave these people alone you weirdo.


Inhumane

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<p>Rarely has so much hate been visited on so few. Let trans people live their lives without harassment. Every trans adult was once a trans child. Do not hold us hostage to political gamesmanship. </p>


Strongly oppose

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First of all, discrimination against transgender individuals is illegal discrimination on the basis of sex.

Secondly, restricting the rights of transgender students is morally repugnant. It will do harm to these students who the schools should be helping protect and nurture so that they may grow into their best selves. Their gender/name/pronoun choices are not hurting anyone else. They should be supported and loved. Not all parents support their children's choices, and the consequences can be catastrophic. Why would we want to create a policy that may cause children to be kicked out of their homes or even worse? This Pollyanna idea that everyone has perfect parents who will love them no matter what is ridiculous and unrealistic. If children are not out to their parents, it just may be for a very good reason. Not all homes are safe havens. But our schools should be for ALL students.

The idea that teachers can ignore pronoun preferences etc based on their own beliefs is unbelievable and certainly sides with right-wing religious extremists. If a teacher doesn't believe a woman should have a career, can they then choose to not respect the girls in their class and only teach them cooking and cleaning? Should the biology teacher get to choose to teach creationism because that's what their church tells them? I don't care what a teacher's "beliefs" are. Respect every child in the class. Period. Protect every child in the class. Period.

I believe this policy singles out one small segment of the population and makes it OK to discriminate against them based on a phony problem. There is no evidence that trans students are causing any kinds of problems in schools. And hiding our students from real world complexities, which include gender, is not educating them. It's indoctrinating them to one ideology.

I keep hearing about "parents rights." Children should have rights, too. And feeling safe and supported at school should be foremost among them.


This is cruel

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This is extremely cruel and indecent, literally a lesser genocide.


Strongly opposed

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<p>As a former teacher, I am appalled and disappointed by this notion. Trans and non-binary youth suicide and depression rates are very high, and this motion will cause that number to increase in Virginia. Being trans or non-binary is not a choice, it is that individuals true identity. People close to trans and non-binary youth should be able to affirm their gender without consequence. </p>


Stop Useless Posturing on LGBTQ Issues When Schools Need Real Help

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This is a deliberate distraction, proving Youngkin isn't interested in doing his job, isn't interested in Public Service or governance.  We need to address the most basic school issues:  teacher pay and availability, overcrowded schools, better supplies so teachers don't have to pay out of pocket to run their classes, and the need to help kids who are less well off with decent school lunches and social support services.

Youngkin instead appears to be chasing around the country trying to promote his own political career, and his latest tactic is attacking the most vulnerable kids in Virginia, a tiny percentage of the school population. Meanwhile, the tiny percentage of MAGA Republican parents who enthusiastically support this cruelty are literally burning books and complaining about CRT--a racist dog whistle, if there ever was one. What a bloody waste of our time.

This is an attempt to force our Public Schools into serving a tiny minority's narrow view of the world, a view formed by a single religion, which our Constitution clearly states has no place in government--and by extension our public schools. All religions are welcome in our country because our founders saw the consequences of forcing one religion on others.

Neutrality and equity in treatment of kids--all kids--is absolutely required in our public schools. Focus on the basics.  Are they healthy, are they learning basic skills, are they prepared to contribute to our society? Anything else is political pandering.


TransGender


STRONGLY OPPOSE

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Targeting any population of kids and singling them out is cruel. Our job as adults and parents is to protect every kid in our community. If Youngkin wants to listen to parents, how about listening to the parents of this vulnerable population of trans kids. No parent wants their child to feel ostracized, harrased and alienated.


STRONGLY OPPOSE

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This will do nothing but hurt young kids.


This Law Shames Virginia and Kills Kids

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Trans kids need support from the adults in their lives and in their government. Every bit of research shows that supporting trans kids prevents suicides. They are biologically trans and deserve to be recognized for who they are. The future is LGBTQ supportive and the present is strong enough to fight bills like this. These kids will continue to be their authentic selves and deserve legal protection from hatred, bigotry, and actions that otherwise cause suicide.