STRONGLY OPPOSED

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<p>This proposed modification is clearly harmful and discriminates against transgender, gender nonbinary, and questioning youth. This simply cannot go forward. This modification would literally result in more depression, anxiety, suicidal thoughts. Your job is to protect children from harm and to create safety for them to focus on academic work. DO NOT IMPLEMENT THIS CHANGE! </p>


Fully endorse!!!  Thank you Governor Youngkin!

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Please.  Those people are wrong.  Thank you so much, Governor Youngkin!


Stop politicizing care for children- reject this change

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I love my kids' schools and teachers. I trust them to gracefully handle access needs under the guidance currently available. This new guidance isn't driven by a majority of parents. It's driven by an agenda that needed to create a bogeyman to scare people into voting Republican, and which chose trans kids.

Trans kids aren't harming anyone. They're minding their own business, trying to figure out who they are. We need to support them, not torment them with rules specifically designed to oppress them.

My kids are not harmed by sharing space with trans kids. They're completely fine about it. So don't ignore the needs and wishes of real children for a political agenda.


Model policy on privacy, dignity and respect for VA students

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I fully support and thank Governor Youngkin for his proposed policies.  ALL students in VA public schools have a right to a supportive and safe learning environment.  Unfortunately events in our district of Loudoun County Public schools have shown administrators are willing to ignore the needs of some students in favor of others and in doing so attempt to cover up a crime.  They cannot keep all of our children safe and this is unacceptable.  The current policy put in place by the previous administration leaves the door open for this to happen again.  In addition I support the belief that young women who compete in sports have the right to FAIR competition and have the same opportunities that those in my generation did.  Lastly in no way shape or form should a school district be able to over ride a or deceive parents about their child’s health.   Parents must care for and support their children for their entire lives.  They will be the ones to deal with the physical, financial and emotional consequences of decisions made by children whose executive function skills have not fully developed.  If a school system cannot give your child a Tylenol or implement an IEP program without a signed form by a parent, they should NOT be able to hide a child’s gender confusion from their parent.


Strongly oppose!

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The proposed 2022 model education policies regarding trans youth will have a devastating impact on not only trans youth, but their teachers and families as well.  Our schools should be welcoming to all who attend and definitely should not deliberately put certain youth in danger.  The proposed policy has nothing to do with with enhancing our students lives but serves as a political ploy for certain politicians to attract conservative votes.


This proposal is bad and you should feel bad

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As a life-long Virginian, this proposal pushes Virginia backwards and will do irreparable damage to children and young people.

You write this under the guise of “parental rights” while actually taking away the rights from the two most groups this affects the most: Students and the teachers who care for them. Many LGBT kids who might not feel safe or accepted at home often hope that school will be a place they can be themselves. I had teachers who knew I was a lesbian before my parents did, and that enabled me to come out on my own time and express myself on my own terms, while being supported by peers and teachers. This new policy will place an exorbitant burden on trans kids to out themselves to parents when they might not be ready, and place them in a harmful situation. And that harmful situation will not be the fault of the children, it will be the fault of the Board of Education. It also punish teachers who want to respect their students’ identities and will punish students for advocating for themselves.

Trans students are among the most likely groups to experience depression, and self-harm, and isolation, and these new policies will only reinforce that.

I heavily oppose this new law and I hope some you think about the consequences of telling an already vulnerable group of kids that their school has no obligation to protect them.


Support All Students; Oppose New Proposed Policy

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<p>This proposed new policy would harm real students a great deal. I’m opposed. </p>


Protect vulnerable trans kids - Strongly Oppose this policy

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Trans kids aren’t the ones to be afraid of here. The bullies, tormentors, and objectors are the ones causing all the harm. It’s ok not to understand or even relate. It’s not ok to discriminate, punish, or hate kids for being themselves.

No trans kid, or parent of a trans kid, would choose a life of danger and persecution. They are human beings who deserve better. Please find some kindness in your heart.


There is room for everyone. God gives every human a self that's unique & may not fit neatly in a box


God doesn’t make mistakes

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If we believe God made us, we can agree God doesn’t make mistakes. If I’m transgender then it’s all in God’s plan.

the real question them is why my existence is such a threat to other people? I’m not hurting you, WHY do you want to hurt me??


Love means telling children the truth:  XY=male XX=female

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Lying to impressionable children is NOT love.  Teach them how to read, write, add, subtract not  how to dance on a pole


I strongly oppose this policy

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I strongly oppose this policy. We need to continue to grow and learn how to support young people. The only way to go is forward, not backwards to hateful and bigoted policies of our history. Lives are at stake, and let’s not pretend otherwise. If this policy is not yet 100% successful in schools, I need to find out how we can improve upon it so that all kids can continue to feel that schools are a safe space, especially when they feel that their home is not safe.


Oppose Gov. Younkin’s Discriminatory Policy

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Gov. Younkin’s anti-trans and non-binary policy supports discriminatory behavior and will be harmful all those it affects.

STRONGLY OPPOSE!


Support Girls: Boys should not compete in Girls sports or be in their bathrooms or lockerrooms!

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https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/uknews/vermont-girls-high-school-volleyball-team-are-barred-from-own-locker-room-due-to-transgender-student/ar-AA12tW8Q?ocid=mailsignout&pc=U591&cvid=4e4698541ee84c02be580a9f05ca23e4

We cannot allow this to happen in Va!


Let's Love Not Hate

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As a parent and former classroom teacher, I support that all students, including those who identify as trans, be treated with dignity, respect, support, and inclusion.

I play anti-bullying videos for my homeroom class year after year. How can our students follow this policy of calling out bullies and not being a bully themselves when we have adults in leadership (aka our current VA governor, Youngkin) making laws to bully our trans children?

This is hypocrisy of the first order.

Please promote laws that protect and love ALL OUR CHILDREN. This shouldn't even be a plea but this state I live in voted for a hateful and close-minded person to be in power.

Everybody VOTE. Voting matters. Vote with your conscience.


Gov Youngkin’s proposed policy for public schools LGBTQ Students

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STRONGLY OPPOSE Gov Younkin’s proposed policy!!!


Denied

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<p>Literally the dumbest argument out there.... it is so simple, you never had your behind spanked. Male is male and female is female, If you have a different opinion you probably need mental help, and should probably be in an institution, it's a mental illness. </p>


Denied


Strongly oppose!

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I strongly oppose this policy - how cruel and unfeeling to attack the most vulnerable among us.  These are children!  They often find comfort at school as a safe space when there is no safe place at  home.  Now you plan to take that away.  Shame on you!


Institutionalizing Gender-based harrassment

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<p>I just completed state mandated training on sexual harassment, and it became very clear to me that this proposed policy violates student rights to learn in an environment free from gender-based (sexual) harassment.  This proposed policy institutionalizes such harassment because it creates a hostile learning environment for transgendered students by taking away their rights to be called by their preferred names and pronouns.  This policy allows the state of Virginia or their designee (school districts) to discriminate against students by forcing them to use bathrooms and locker rooms where they do not feel comfortable and where they may be subject to attacks from other students.  It is the job of public schools to provide a safe and effective learning environment for ALL students.  That means that I will call a student by the name and pronouns they ask me to use, whether I understand their thinking or not.  I will fight for their right to be respected.  I don’t think this policy will stand up in court after the courts already heard the case of Gavin Grimm, and I don’t think this policy is good for any of our students.  The new language is the same that the State of Florida imposed on their schools.  Why would our governor and secretary of education (who do not educate their own children in public schools) think that Virginia needs to change our policies to match Florida’s?  Because it’s a culture wars issue and Youngkin is going to run for president (or Vice President).  Virginia says NO to using our children as pawns in your political games!  </p>


Strongly Oppose

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<p>This guidance is just another example of the inaccurate interpetation that the First Amendment gives individuals the right to silence voices of the minority. Freedom of speech is not equivalent to  creating an environment that is not inclusive of all. Youngkin must be stopped in achieving his white supremacist Christian values. I too am a practicing Christian and my faith leads me to work towards a world where all can co-exist. </p>


Strongly oppose changes

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<p>Youngkin says he supports parental rights but that is only true if those rights align with his beliefs. My parental rights to have a safe space for my transgender child to attend school are being threatened.  I know transphobia is popular politically and Youngkin wants to be president. Please do not allow a manipulative man’s ambition to threaten vulnerable children. Do not allow these abhorrent changes to move forward. </p>


Hateful policy

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<p>This is taking away Americans freedom. Americans should have the right to be who they are and not have to hide their identity. We are all supposed to be equal under our cons. This will do irreparable harm. Shame on you! </p>


COMPETELY support 2022 Policy

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The Virginia Department of Education's 2022 new draft policy is logical, orderly and respects parents rights through commonsense boundaries. The 2021 old policy, in contrast, divides families by allowing potentially serious, life-changing and irreversible decisions to be hidden from students’ families. As a parent, with God-given authority and complete legal authority, your job is to uphold those rights and vote FOR me to have a say in the complete upbringing of my child(ren). I absolutely support this new policy to enforce my own rights, already bestowed upon me.


Agree

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As a professor of family medicine and practicing doc of 15 years in the commonwealth, I'm surprised at how often commentators cite the scientific evidence for supporting youth transgender "rights" without parental consent.  The conclusive evidence is just not there.  Medicine has a lot of observational studies that show the correlation of harm, but not the causation of harm.  I've had to reverse my treatment decisions a number of times over the years (e.g. estrogen for postmenopausal cardiovascular protection) because of "conclusions" made with observational data.  I also have treated a number of transgender individuals over the years, and almost all have a concurrent mental illness.  It is hard to tease out which came first (the mental illness or their belief that they are transexual), but we do know a large number of individuals who make a decision to change their sex in childhood, reverse, or regret, the decision as adults (see David Epstein's the 'Sport's Gene' if you don't want to read research literature).   The bottom line, respecting a parent's responsibility to help their child make important life decisions is reasonable and should be encouraged- not infringed upon by the school system.  It just makes rational sense.


FULL SUPPORT!!!

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<p>We have to protect our kids at all cost. These liberal minded ideologies are poisoning our youth. </p>


OPPOSE the draft policy - Request VDOE to REJECT

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I urge the VA Department of Eduction to REJECT the draft policies proposed by Gov Youngkin. As the daughter and granddaughter of educators this places an undue burden on teachers and education administrators and is diametrically opposed to the caring and safe place that school should be for ALL children. I OPPOSE THE DRAFT POLICY AND REQUEST VDOE TO REJECT ALL POLICIES THAT:

Are rooted in transphobia and seeks to further harm trans and nonbinary kids who need our love and understanding

Prohibits teachers and school staff from supporting trans & nonbinary studentS

Creates a hostile & potentially dangerous school environment.

Patricia Jann Schultz


Doubling down on Hate -- STRONGLY OPPOSE

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Parents should love and support their kids. But that is not the reality for all kids. Queer kids are particularly at risk of parental abuse and violence. REJECT THESE RULES.


Strongly Oppose this Cruel policy

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At three years old, my son, whose sex was assigned female at birth, told me he wanted to use the boys bathroom at his preschool. I thought he was just confused, but over time her started to dress more and more like a boy and tell me that he hated being a girl. I tried to talk him out of it, I thought it was just an anti-girl phase. I told him you can do or be anything you want to be, as a girl.

 But what he was feeling was something I'd never experienced as a cisgender person. We later came to understand that he felt like he was trapped in the wrong body, he said his "brain felt like a boy, but he had a girl body." By first grade, he begged for a haircut "like Daddy" and asked his teacher if she could use he/him pronouns in class. She asked us what to do and we said don't change anything yet, we don't know what to do with this. That spring, he got invited to a class party but he refused to go. It was a sprinkler party and his bathing suit from last year was too girly. We all tried to convince him he could wear something else, the teacher begged him to join. It's unlike him to not want to go to a party. He looked miserable and I asked him what's wrong and he said "I want to be a boy but I'm not."

I sensed that my son was struggling, so I started to learn more about what it means to be transgender. I spoke with our pediatrician, friends who have transgender children, read books by child psychologists, listened to podcasts by gender experts. As a cisgender woman, I don't know what it feels like for my gender identity to be incongruent with my sex. But thanks to everyone I spoke with, as well as beautiful children's book we got from our school library, what I came to understand is that being transgender is biological. My son's brain is hardwired to express himself as a boy, just like my brain is hardwired to express myself like a woman. Once I understood that he can't help feeling the way he does, I realized that I needed to accept him--and soon, to lift the strain in his mental health.

That summer, he went to a summer camp and the counselors thought he was a boy and put him in the group of boys. I picked him up at the end of the day and asked him how it was. He told me excitedly, I got to use the boys bathroom! Which is something he's wanted to do since he was three years old. I asked him how it made him feel, and he said GREAT! And from then on, we decided to change his pronouns, and later his name to a boy name we picked together.

Before school started that fall, I met with with the principal and explained that he's changed his gender identity and name. The principal was very understanding and updated his name in school records. We talked about how to keep him safe at school, and who his trusted adults are, where he can use the bathroom. We were very nervous, because we didn't know how kids are going to take his switch. But everyone at the school was so supportive, they may not understand what it's like to be transgender, but they saw a child that needed support, and that's what they needed to do.

I also explained the switch to his friends' parents, family, his sports coach, and all were very supportive as well. I could tell no one truly understood what my son was going through, but they saw how much happier he was now that he was presenting as male. His friends didn't really seem to mind that he switched genders. His friendships kept on without missing a beat.

As school started, the kids didn't seem to be bothered by his switch. Everything seemed to go great and we were so relieved. And then in October, two months into second grade and at seven years old, my son came to me and told me he wished he were dead. He thought there would be lots of other kids who were transgender, too. "There are boys and there are girls, and I'm nether." He said. He didn't have the confidence to feel like a true boy. So he told me he "might as well kill himself." My heart broke. What deeply saddened him was the feeling of being alone, and different. No one had even had the chance to bully him, or express hate towards him yet! A transgender child is THE MOST VULNERABLE person on the planet. We got him a therapist, we spoke with the psychologists at the gender clinic in DC, his pediatrician, we found him a transgender mentor, playdates with other transgender kids, all in an attempt to support him. The rest of the school year was better, thanks to the many, many supportive people in his life.

My son's life will never be easy. What he doesn't need are bigoted people in government telling him that it's wrong for him to be who his. He knows who he his. He knows how he feels. No one else can know that. No one has the right to tell him that he's fundamentally wrong. If he had to go back to being the sex he was assigned at birth, if the teachers were forced to use his old name and old pronouns, if he had to go back to the old bathroom, he would MOST CERTAINLY KILL HIMSELF. Transgender children need support, not condemnation. I get that their situation is hard for cisgender people to understand, it was hard for me too at first. But just because you don't understand something doesn't make it wrong. The model policies are cruel punishment to a small sector of our most amazing and fragile child population. Why are you punishing them for your political gain? You should be ashamed of yourself. In the middle of a child mental health crisis, if you truly cared about children, you'd be trying to find ways to support them, not challenging their right to live as their true authentic selves.

I'm ashamed of my state government.


Oppose transgenderism

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If someone sees a chicken laying an egg, they know that it is a hen. A hen is a hen, and a rooster is a rooster. In the same way, a man is a man, and a woman is a woman. This is God's design, because this is how he created us. To go against God's created order brings devistating consequences. Nevertheless, for those who have been deceived and confused, turn to Christ, and find forgiveness through what he has done for you.


Strongly OPPOSE- Protect Trans Kids

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I strongly OPPOSE this policy. It is extremely harmful to trans and non-binary kids and sends the message that they are not valued, and not worthy of protection. Stop cloaking hateful policies as “parental rights”. Our tans and non-binary kids have just as much of a right to live, be loved, and valued as any other person on this planet. The harm such policies cause, even just by being proposed, is unconscionable.

“May you have the courage to choose love over hate.”


Approve of Gov. Actions

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Parents over child, not the other way around.  Children are not state property.


Dear supporters...

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Children do not feel safe talking to their parents, many parents abuse and excommunicate their kids. These policies make it more dangerous for children. Parental abuse is the primary reason for all of the negative outcomes of our trans kids.

Please understand your beliefs and rights are costing children their lives.


Protect normal children

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Fully support Younkin. The monsters that perpetuate LGB+ nonsense need better educations and stay out of K-12 schools.


Strongly Oppose VA's Proposed 2022 Model Policies Re: Trans Students

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As a native and current resident of Virginia, I strongly oppose the reversal of the 2021 Model Policies that protected transgender children (to a certain extent) in our education systems. I think it's fairly self-evident that the Youngkin Administration's proposed policies (including mandatory outing, deadnaming, and policing of gender expression and appearance) would make life unspeakably dangerous for the trans children in my community--but additionally, I also want to highlight the violence that such policies would inflict upon all Virginia K-12 employees, both trans and cis, who would be forced into complicity in Youngkin's fascistic transphobic regime, compelled to knowingly inflict harm upon the kids they're supposed to nurture and protect. Furthermore, as a cis woman educated within the Virginia public school system, I can guarantee that this legislation would seriously psychologically damage all the cis children as well. Youngkin's policies are designed to fundamentally ingrain a sense of hatred and fear into any self-analysis of the body or mind, preventing cis kids as well as trans kids from thinking about their personhood in a positive or even neutral way during the most crucial developmental stage of their lives. This satanically evil change to our legislation has no place whatsoever in our schools or anywhere else.


Protect Trans Kids


Strongly oppose

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The scientific and medical communities agree that non-binary, intersex, and trans are all legitimate and particularly vulnerable groups. Please show me data where these new policies will protect *anyone* at all. Indeed, in your effort to "protect" your cis students, you are making the others more at risk. Strongly opposed scientist, small business owner, and parent in Virginia.


Parental consent

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I support parental consent


Who is responsible for the child?

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I’m writing to commend the Office of the Superintendent for the proposed “2022 Model Policies for the Treatment of Transgender Students in Virginia’s Public Schools.” I commend the office for recognizing, in accordance with Supreme Court precedent and more importantly the foundational structure of western society for thousands of years, that even if the state serves as in loco parentis, it is ultimately parents who have the natural responsibility for their children and are tasked with foundationally guiding and nurturing them into adulthood.

I further laud the proposed regulations for protecting the free speech rights of teachers to live and operate their classrooms and lives in reality instead of being forced to partake in delusion.


Strongly oppose

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<p>Youngkin should be removed from office. </p>


Support the New Policies

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<p>I support the Governor's proposed policies. </p>


Strongly Oppose New Policy

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<p>If this policy is implemented, the Governor and all those who support it will have blood on their hands.  Stripping these kids of their rights puts them at risk in their homes, both  physically and emotionally. Is there also a plan to follow up with counseling and support for the kids after they're outed?  </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>


Transgender Legislation

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I support the policies' new language that encouraged school officials that essentially deceived parents when their children are making life altering decisions regarding their gender identity in school settings. Thank you for updating these policies to restore protections for basic parental rights and ensuring that parents are no longer cut out of the process - especially when it concerns how gender and sexuality issues are handled concerning our children while at school.


Be Kind and Respectful: Rescind Youngkin's Cruel Guidance

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Please rescind the Youngkin administration's policy on LGBTQ+ students. In addition to being disrespectful and cruel to students, it requires teachers and school administration to become complicit in exposing already vulnerable children to physical and emotional abuse from peers and parents unwilling to support the children's search for identity.

Some estimates put the percentage of homeless youths who identify as LGBTQ+ as high as 40 percent. Those kids wind up on the street either because parents kicked them out or because they felt running away was the only way to save their lives. And too many LGBTQ+ teens don't live. Rates of suicides and homicides among these children far exceed those for their cis-gendered peers.

Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin and Secretary of Education Aimme Rogstad know these truths. They simply do not care. They would rather harm children than admit the world is a far more interesting and, potentially loving and accepting, place than their warped "Christian" faith allows.

So they cloak their push to make everyone abide by their harmful, hateful dogma in the language of parental rights. Taking their bait, do caring, supportive parents of LGBTQ+ children have rights? Do allies? Youngkin and Rogstad consistently answer no.

I suppose the true ask here is to quit pretending Youngkin and Rogstad have any policy goals beyond making public schools so threatening to children and so unpleasant for teachers that nonreligious public schools cease to exist. We must also quit pretending that rightwingers mean anything other than mean anything other than "imposing Christian nationalist theocracy" when they  deploy the term "protecting parental rights." Sacrificing students, educators, and secular education as means to those ends cannot be allowed.


Strongly Opposed to new policies

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These new proposed policies are going to put the lives of transgender and queer students in jeopardy. These policies are exclusionary and will make it so not all students will have the same rights. As governor you should be thinking about the rights and lives of all the citizens of Virginia. These policies will directly harm students. Please do not pass these harmful policies.


Strongly oppose

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As a person of faith, I am strongly opposed to the proposed policy to minimize the rights of transgender students and parents who support them. Jesus teaches us to love our neighbors as ourselves, and thus policy would do the opposite - making it both legally dubious on civil rights grounds and morally outrageous. Transgender children and youth face higher rates of bullying and a host of other poor outcomes related to a lack of support from societal systems around them, and to exacerbate that with school policies is cruel and shows a lack of love for these children and their very identities. Removing bathroom access is petty; requiring access to the bathrooms in which these students feel most comfortable is  a small issue for cisgender individuals but incredibly important to trans students. Moreover, this policy doesn’t consider parents who support their non-binary or trans children, or parents is cisgender children like me who want to teach their children to love everyone equally, minimize stigma and bias, and promote justice and a loving, living faith. While I don’t believe that, constitutionally, it is legal to make faith-based public policy, it is clear that  proponents of this policy are trying to take the faith I make central to my life and use a corrupted, hateful interpretation as a basis for this proposed policy.


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

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I am strongly opposed to the governor's changes. He continues to misrepresent the situation and victimize vulnerable students. Students who have been historically ridiculed, bullied and alienated for simply being a little different from others. The characteristics that they represent are not new, children like this have always existed and always will. This change in policy is codifying the ugliest human tendencies toward bullying and dehumanizing people. It represents bigotry at the cost of human dignity. Parents have always had the lion's share of input in public schools in Virginia and will continue to do so, but the struggle that this particular policy puts in focus is one that saves lives of our children. Reversing protections of children who need our support the most is backward and cruel.


Strongly oppose the new policy. It is deeply un-American to regulate a personal decision.


Rescind this policy

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<p>This policy will cause trans and nonbinary children to suffer abuse and homelessness and make them more likely to die by suicide. </p>


Oppose the governor's model policies and question their legality

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The governor's proposed requirements come in direct violation of the Virginia Human Rights Act, as well as Title IX, the federal law that prohibits discrimination based on sex and gender in schools in order to provide an equitable learning environment for students.


strongly support


STRONG OPPOSITION to the proposed policies from Germany

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My name is June Drechsel and I am writing to you from Germany in regards to the proposed policies. We Germans are horrified at the current rise of transphobic legislation around the United States - a strong partner to Germany in trade, security and global governance. As you are undoubtedly aware, the aforementioned policy you propose would require schools in your state to misgender transgender students as well as force them to refer to the students by their "deadname" as long as parents do not consent - even against the child's own will. This is a breach of privacy and the right to personal identity. It is both concerning and regretful to see Virginia fall in line with this hateful and discriminatory conduct towards its own citizens. No child should be subject to their parents' whims alone, especially if they bring harm to the child. That is why I ask you reconsider this policy in favour of a policy that regards children as individual and free people, able to voice their own opinions, express themselves and live life how they see fit and according to the principles your country was founded on. I hope this proposition as well as the prayers of myself and many others around the United States and the world will not go unnoticed and will be considered by you. I remain hopeful you do the right thing by standing against hate and discrimination and will be following developments on this matter with great interest.


Strongly support the new policy

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Strongly support the new policy.


Strongly support the new policy


Strongly Opposed

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<p>These policies are dangerous for the LGBTQ+ students in VA. </p>


Strongly oppose


Opposed

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We don’t need more bureaucracy or politics taking up the time of educators, nor do we need to be encouraging ignorance about transgender people in our schools. Please withdraw these model policies and let schools and parents focus on growing our young people into thriving adults.


I strongly oppose this proposed policy.

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Every day, thousands of transgender students across Virginia are bullied, discriminated against, and harassed by their peers or teachers due to their gender expression or gender identity. The current proposal will make this bullying so much worse. Forcing a feminine student to use the men's bathroom not only makes the other students uncomfortable, but puts them at risk. Likewise, forcing a masculine student to use the women's bathroom does the same. Not allowing a student to change their name without written confirmation from their parents can lead to severe and permanent psychological damage to the student, especially if they are in an abusive household or a household in which their parents would not accept any gender identity other than the one they were assigned at birth. Many students currently see their school as a safe haven from such an abusive household, where they can act as the gender they believe they are and not have to repress their own expression. If these model policies were to become a reality, each and every one of these students will be stripped of the only place they feel they can truly be themselves. Each and every one of these students will be stuck with a terrible choice; They will have to risk being outed to their parents or they will have to silently suffer for the rest of their adolescent life. Many of those who will choose to talk to their potentially transphobic parents risk being thrown out of their homes, abused both physically and psychologically, or other similar tortures. Many of those who choose not to do anything will suffer severe and permanent psychological damage from their last glimmer of hope being snuffed out. Reconsider this proposal, for the sake of each and every one of these students. These kids are not hypothetical. They are currently living and going to school in the state of Virginia. But if this proposal is rejected, the torment they face can remain hypothetical.


Girls should have a RIGHT to sex-based safe private spaces; VT high school privileging male

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“I feel like for stating my opinion -- that I don’t want a biological man changing with me -- that I should not have harassment charges or bullying charges. They should all be dropped.”

Allen says that the dispute started when the trans student made an inappropriate comment while members of the volleyball team were getting changed. She says her issue is not with having the trans student on the team or at school, but specifically in the locker room. “There are biological boys that go into the girl’s bathroom but never a locker room,” Allen said.

She says that fellow team members and parents have also raised similar concerns and have approached the school with them. They were told that under state law, the transgender student could use whatever locker room they identified with.

In an email to families, school officials wrote that the school has “plenty of space where students who feel uncomfortable with the laws may change in privacy.”

“They want all the girls who feel uncomfortable -- so pretty much 10 girls -- to get changed in a single stall bathroom, which would take over 30 minutes. Where if one person got changed separately, it would take a minute, like no extra time,” Allen said.

https://www.wcax.com/2022/09/28/randolph-high-school-investigating-gender-locker-room-dispute/?fbclid=IwAR0V6Kuvnf_tjJ3G9HMzNS0W4yKLIPKxUifjymsmtwF_gXeX_DZ4UB2gAcg&fs=e&s=cl#l8qvj86f0itbhnp4gb4


Strongly oppose

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As a life long resident of Virginia, an educator, and mother, I strongly oppose this. We should be about tolerance and acceptance. We should not do this. Please stop targeting transgender worth. Policies like this put young lives at risk. Just don't .


Strongly Oppose the 2022 policy

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I strongly oppose the 2022 Model Policies on the Privacy, Dignity, and Respect for All Students and Parents in Virginia’s Public Schools. A teacher’s or administrator’s personal beliefs do not carry greater importance than a students’ first amendment right to express their identity, including the right to express their gender. Gender dysphoria is NOT an ideological belief.  29 medical organizations recognize gender dysphoria as a medical fact, including the American Medical Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics, and the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. In August, the American Academy of Pediatrics stated: “There is strong consensus among the most prominent medical organizations worldwide that evidence-based, gender-affirming care for transgender children and adolescents is medically necessary and appropriate. It can even be lifesaving.” It is a violation of Title IX to allow teachers and administrators to discriminate and harass transgender youth by intentionally using children’s non-preferred names and misgendering them. Implementation of this policy WILL result in harm to trans youth as it condones harassment and disrespect by teachers and other school personnel. As a parent, I raised my children to know that respect and care means using the names and identifiers by which people want to be called.


Oppose These Proposed Guidelines

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It is with great sadness and trepidation that I see the government attempting to impose a particular religious doctrine upon the education of children in public schools.  The specific proposed guidelines to which I refer concern the treatment of LGBTQ kids.

I reviewed the proposed guidelines and am at a loss for why anyone would take it upon themselves to rat out kids to parents who may be openly hostile to their kid’s sexuality.  It’s appalling that schools will be required to become sex cops.

Then there is the whole bathroom issue that everyone is making such a fuss about.  It can be easily solved by removing urinals and making them all unisex, just like home.

The entire, getting all up in other people’s privates appears to be an unhealthy obsession mostly shared by the Republican party and those who vote for them and hopefully, the upcoming election will remedy that situation.


Support the new policy

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<p> The new policy on transgender students is just plain common sense.  It puts parents in charge of their children and assures fairness in girls' sporting events, among other things.  It should be supported overwhelmingly.</p>


STRONGLY Support School Policy Proposals

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<p>I still find it difficult to believe that is a need to have such (very reasonable) policies in place and there are some who oppose this.  It demonstrates how far our country has drifted away from God and doing what is morally correct. </p>


Strongly opposed to new policy

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<p>Requiring parents' permission to recognize a transgender student’s chosen gender and pronouns will greatly increase the risk of suicide or other harm to the student.  This new policy is ludicrous and unnecessary. I firmly oppose this new policy. </p>


FULL SUPPORT

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<p>Let's get back to educating our children instead of indoctrinating them. What the liberals want today will come back to bite them later. When today's indoctrinated students have children and want to be involved with their education, the government will be the one telling them that they have no rights. So consider carefully the slippery road some want to lead us down. Save our future. Save our rights. Save our children! </p>


I agree with the Policy Proposal

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<p>These are commonsense proposals.  We do not want our children to be sexualized by Public School Boards and Teachers. </p>


The majority of Virginians spoke in SUPPORT of common sense last Nov.

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Follow through on your promises to Virginia parents, Governor.  Put us back in charge of our children and protect them from this harmful ideology.  Thank you.


Strongly OPPOSE

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<p>Trans students are human beings and deserve rights and respect. </p>


I support the revised school policies

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I support the revised education policies. It protects teachers, administrators and other students by not forcing them to recognize pronouns other than the students birth pronouns. These policies protect all students better.

They keep parents in charge of their child's health, and will no longer foster secrecy between teachers and parents. I find it despicable that teachers would advocate not telling parents about requests to use new pronouns, etc.  It destroys trust between us.

If I were still a substitute teacher, I would want to work under the revised policies because it's best for the students future.


SUPPORT


Teacher OPPOSED to new proposal

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<p> MAGA hate will not be able to silence the truth. We will do what we think is right for students, regardless of the hateful policies you try to enact.  </p>


This policy simply puts parents back in control of raising their children!  Thanks Gov

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<p>This policy simply supports parents. </p>


Strongly support

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As a heterosexual male who loves his daughters, I strongly support


Strongly Oppose

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As a heterosexual cis woman from upstate New York and an ally of the LGBTQ+, queer, and trans communities, I strongly oppose Governor Youngkin's discriminatory attacks on transgender and nonbinary students. Banning students from using their correct name or pronouns without outing them to potentially hostile parents or guardians puts them in danger.


Strongly Oppose


Strongly support! No boys in girls bathrooms, locker-rooms, or sports!

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SCIENCE:

XY= male

XX=female

Any teacher or school official who doesn't understand that should be fired. (That goes for Supreme Court Justices too)


Support


I oppose the Youngkin admin's proposed model policy

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Thank you for providing both the current and proposed policies for comparison. It's striking how the current model policy is filled with not only compassion but background and research, and the names of subject matter experts who contributed. Whereas the proposed policy cuts out everything but "we see you, we just don't care" and places students, parents, and school staff in the position to be victimized by having to accommodate a very marginalized community.

It's important to meet the needs of students. Reading why people are against supporting a transgender student's chosen identity has been alarming. By framing issues of having to comply with meeting needs as being a burden, a threat, or an infraction of the non-marginalized individual is gross.

This is an incredible teaching moment on questioning why someone would feel like acknowledging someone's humanity, accepting them as who they are, is considered a threat. People should not have to ask to be treated well. Students, especially, deserve to be safe at school while receiving a quality education, and it's unfair to frame transgender students as having anything to do with why those goals can't be met. There are undoubtably real issues that the administration can deal with other than targeting specific groups of people. You cannot policy a community out of existence. Trans and nonbinary people exist no matter how you feel about them.


Support

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The new guidelines are needed to put sanity back into schools. The idea that teachers must lie to parents who ask questions about their own children is disturbing. Yet that was what the previous guidelines said. No child should feel unsafe but that is how many girls feel, when boys are allowed in their locker rooms. Their feelings matter. Stop prioritizing some kids feelings over others. It is time to stand up to radical progressives and say no more. These are our kids and we say no more.


Strongly support


I Strongly Oppose Transphobic Discrimination

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As a heterosexual cis woman from the neighboring state of Maryland and an ally of the LGBTQ+, queer, and trans communities, I strongly oppose Governor Youngkin's discriminatory attacks on transgender and nonbinary students. Banning students from using their correct name or pronouns without outing them to potentially hostile parents or guardians puts them in danger.


Strongly oppose

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<p>This policy is so outrageous that it is a surreal concept in our legal system. Please, in the name of humanity, do not pass this legislation. </p>


STRONGLY OPPOSE!

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Let trans students be!!! We need to be supporting them, not making school even more hostile and unsafe. This is something parents decided to make an issue out of, not even something most students were concerned about.

Do not adopt these policies!


OPPOSE AS BOTH EDUCATOR & PARENT

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<p>For any child that already feels shamed, admonished, or ostracized from their family/parents for their gender/sexuality/identity, this policy will take away their voice and the only opportunity they may have of acceptance and reprieve.  This will be a death sentence (by suicide) for some and a pathway to depression, drug use, and angst for many. </p>


Support

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<p>Teachers and schools come and go, but family is forever. When a kid hits 18, schools are completely out of the picture yet the family remains. There is never a good reason to lie to parents unless the goal is to separate children from their support system. This bill is necessary and I support it 100%. </p>


Strongly Opposed Because New Policies Do Not Protect Trans Kids

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My name is Maia Jenckes.  I am a 21-year-old college student studying to be an engineer.  I have two part-time jobs working with kids from-- I am a rock climbing coach and a horseback riding instructor.  I graduated from high school only 3 years ago, and in both middle and high school I had several transgender classmates, teammates, and friends.

The 2022 Model Policies define far fewer terms regarding gender identity than the 2021 Model Policies. The 2021 Model Policies defined eleven scientifically-backed and LGBTQ+-inclusive terms surrounding gender identity. The 2022 Model Policies define only two terms regarding gender identity: “sex” and “transgender student.”

Neither of these definitions meet the evidence-based best practices as is required in Va. Code § 22.1-23.3(A). Sex is defined as “biological sex” in the 2022 Model Policies. The 2022 Model Policies also define “transgender student” as “a public school student whose parent has requested in writing, due to their child’s persistent and sincere belief that his or her gender differs with his or her sex, that their child be so identified while at school.” Both these definitions use outdated and scientifically incorrect terminology in defining the trans identity. The 2022 Model Policies’ definitions and terminology cannot meet the evidence-based best practices requirement.

Notably, the 2022 Model Policies define being trans as depending on parents’ recognition instead of the student’s self-identification. They further call being trans the student’s “belief” which reinforces the false narrative that being trans is a choice as opposed to a deeply held knowledge and realization of one’s identity. It further operates on a male/female binary by using the term “his or her” that is demonstrably and scientifically false as it erases the existence of intersex and nonbinary people. This shift in definitions completely strips trans children of the self-determination of their identity in Virginia’s public schools.

My trans best friend taught me what the word “transgender” meant before he knew it applied to him.  We were eleven years old in my mom’s car.  Two years later I began to avoid using his deadname and old pronouns even before he told me, because I noticed him flinch almost imperceptibly every time they came up.  I would maneuver group conversations so that I only mentioned him in the second person; instead of saying to the group “Remember when [deadname] …” I would turn to him and say loudly enough for the group to hear, “Remember when you...” and that way the conversation could continue without the flicker of hurt across his face that I didn’t yet know the reason for.

I saw that hurt or its aftermath way too many times.  Sometimes the damage was unintentional, often it was deliberate–cruel or insensitive comments from classmates and also from teachers, the stress of trying to change his name on the certificate for our 8th grade graduation ceremony.  Whispers from classmates when his “nickname” was read at that 8th grade graduation ceremony.  When teachers made some insensitive comment regarding gender or trans people in general.

No one should have to suffer like that at school.  Kids deserve to have their identities recognized and respected.  My friend was (and still is) a brilliant artist, a good student, and a loyal and kind person who looked out for his friends, even as a middle-schooler.  And he was a child, who should have been protected by the adults in power.

I work with children now.  I am a sports coach and these kids come to practice with their feelings rubbed raw by school-related and social stressors.  I see firsthand the emotional impact of how kids are treated at school.  These new policies completely fail to protect children who need it the most.

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


In support of the Governor, Students and Parents

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<p>Clearly, the Youngkin Administration has written guidelines that respect the inherent dignity of students and parents. Rational adults are back in charge in Richmond, rather than political opportunists who are paid to advance a harmful political agenda that does not respect the  inherent dignity of every child and his/her parents. Thank you, Governor Youngkin, for protecting our most vulnerable population — children. </p>


I Support this Policy

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I don’t expect this opinion to be popular, or thought well of. I fully support Governor Youngkin’s transgender education policy. We ought to have the utmost compassion for people (especially the young, and teens) who suffer from gender dysphoria. This is an enormous and unique burden for them that parents, family members, friends, and educators should be prepared to help them carry, with sensitivity to their suffering, and with love. But it is not loving to suppress the truth from someone – it is, in fact, radically unjust, especially because it impacts those who are vulnerable.

The transgender issue of today is so challenging, because it is not so much a political one as it is, more deeply, a philosophical and a spiritual one – is there an objective truth, or is there no truth but what I say and determine for myself, such that I take myself to be the source of truth?

I firmly believe many (though not all) who endorse transgender procedures and policies do so out of compassion, in that they believe it would most affirm and dignify those who feel marginalized, and because of the strong inclinations they may have to help the vulnerable. But this is misguided compassion. We cannot take away someone’s suffering by affirming something that isn’t true, and we cannot make something untrue be true by willing it ourselves, suppressing what we know to be true, or re-framing the language around it so as to affirm falsehood.  And if this is for adults, how much more for children, who have not even gone through puberty?

The Commonwealth of Virginia has an obligation – it is not a matter of opinion but of simple justice – to preserve and honor the rights of parents and caretakers over their children. Teachers are hired to teach children according to proper curriculum, ensure their safety,  and care for their general wellbeing while at school. It is NOT their place, or their role to take such a sensitive, impactful issue out of the hands of a parent as a separate, secret "confidante" – this is a gross abuse of their job. I understand that there are thousands of complexities to scenarios at stake here with family situations and students who turn to teachers for counsel, and am not denouncing teachers who advise and support students within the appropriate limits of their orbit. But never, ever should a teacher be permitted by the State to usurp the rights of a parent or primary caretaker by telling them it's OK to be a different gender than they are, when they are not.

We need to affirm those suffering from gender dysphoria as the beloved children that they are - not because of their gender, or decisions they may wish to make about it; not because they are marginalized; not because they are "bold" or unashamed of their difference from others; not because they represent "progress" or "breaking barriers" but simply because they are worthy, as they are, of receiving the love we want to give them. And the love they deserve is the truth.

I write this as someone who once suffered from gender dysphoria myself, have lived with same-sex attraction all of my life, and have lived an extraordinarily happy life of a chaste, single person in Virginia now for 3 years.


Strongly Oppose

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<p>I strongly oppose any legislation that would make Virginia a hostile environment for transgender children. This legislation is just that, and not only would it severely limit the safety of the state and its schools for transgender students, but it would also have a crippling effect on their mental, physical, and emotional well-being. This is a horrifying setback for the state at large. </p>


strongly support - protect vulnerable children

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protect children from predatory school teachers, psychologists and politicians that want to mutilate children for sexual, financial, or political gain


Disagree with Youngkin’s policy

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<p>I strongly oppose the Governor's policy that is rooted in transphobia and seeks to further harm trans and nonbinary kids. Why should we adapt a policy that singles out and causes mental/psychological/social and possibly physical harm to our children?? We need to support all of our children, no matter how they identify themselves. </p>


I support parental rights

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I support our governor's position in respecting parental rights to direct the upbringing of their children.  Schools should teach the "three R's" and excel at that.  That would be a novelty.


strongly support

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children are not capable of making such decisions, that's why they need parents. Many former trans people testified that they were manipulated to believe they were trans while in reality, they had some emotional difficulties. now they regret their decision and started de-trans, but the harm has been done, physically and emotionally


strongly support


Oppose!

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I do not support this policy! Stop pandering to the far right. Modernize a govt that works for all the people. The policy is all about you.


I support parents and Gov younkin

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Our schools have no right to make desicions for or in place of parents.  Children are the responcibility of thier parents.  Schools need to stick to teaching and keeping disipline.  Teachers and counselers must always give parents the job of counceling and advising students.  Boys by birth need to stay out of girls bathrooms and changing areas.


Big Government posing as parental rights

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<p>Trans children are vulnerable to suicide attempts, bullying, and other issues. Can we please let them be and not allow big government to intervene in their lives? Freedom to be who we are is a cornerstone of democracy. </p>


strongly oppose - protect vulnerable children

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I am a parent of a 9th grader in Fairfax County public schools. I strongly oppose this new policy. I have read reports in the Washington Post that 35% of children who identify as transgender have attempted suicide at least once. Other scholarly articles that I have read said 45% have attempted suicide. Whatever the true number, it seems clear that these children are vulnerable and at risk.

This policy put vulnerable children at risk. I want to ask Secretary Guidera and Governor Youngkin—what will you do if children commit suicide over this new policy? Have you considered the mental health of children?

I am truly concerned, and I hope that you will take more time to study the real possibility that this policy could result in harm to children.

Respectfully submitted


100% agree


Let the kids be themselves -- do not be regressive, Governor!NX

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Be compassionate and open your minds. Evolve. The welfare of transgender children depends on it. Accepting them as who they are does not hurt anyone else.


Model Policy on Trans Students

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 I write to oppose the Governor's Model Policy on Transgender students. The policy is discrimination, pure and simple. It is also harmful to the health of trans students, their friends and the school community.  My child has a sweet friend. I first met her five years ago. She was a lovely middle schooler. Now he is a funny, smart and sweet high schooler. He goes to school every day and like many high schoolers, including my own, he has good and bad days. I imagine that his struggles are different from other students but he deserves the same encouragement and support from the school community, the county and the state of Virginia. Isn't our job as parents  to foster an atmosphere of inclusion and acceptance?

The model policy proposed by the Governor to take effect later this month does none of that. It erects walls within the community. It makes vulnerable children even more vulnerable. The Governor is using his power to punch down on those who deserve to be supported. I fail to understand what public policy is being served by this policy. He says it is supportive of parents rights. I have to ask - which parents and which rights?

Requiring a child to use a bathroom that corresponds to the gender at birth?  Didn't we already go through these ridiculous and time wasting bathroom wars. Didn't the courts already speak to this matter? Why are we raising this issue yet again. It is divisive and wastes public resources.

Requiring parents to submit legal documents and a formal request to the school before the student could adopt a name or gender that is different from the birth certificate? What type of legal documents are you interested in Governor?  it is my experience that each parent registers the student for school and confirms all pertinent information at the beginning of each school year. There should be no more  required of parents of trans students. Do you envision the school board or the principal of each school blessing this paperwork. What standards will be used?  What requirements must they meet?  What type of formal documents? I think school officials have more important things to do.

And lastly, the one that makes no sense at all is requiring schools to notify parents if students request that teachers use a different name or gender at school. I believe the Governor thinks this proposal supports parents rights.  To this I must question the relationships within the home if a school has to intervene to provide such information. If this information is not known to the parent you have to wonder whether there are reasons for this.  Again, this provision has the potential and likely result of putting vulnerable children in more vulnerable situations.

This is not good public policy. It is an exercise of power of the state used to harm the innocent. We want our children to succeed. For that to happen there must be support within the home and within the community. Policies such as these do nothing to make that path easier. Shouldn't supporting our children's futures  be the goal for all parents and all schools and all politicians? This Model Policy does nothing to make that future a reality.


Stop the madness. Parents are boss.

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<p>Thank you Governor Youngkin for your principled, honorable, stance to keep our children's rights in parents hands, where they belong. These leftist unGodly miscreants need to crawl back in their holes and be prosecuted for their mistreatment of babies, kids, preteens and teens. </p>


We Support Gov. Youngkin!

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Our family supports Gov. Youngkin's initiative. Parents must be the primary educators of their children.  We should never abdicate our God-given responsibility for our children; we should never cede our responsibility to the state/county school system.

Stand up for your children, parents!  Don't let the school or any other authorities assume your responsibility for your children.


I support the Governor

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I support the Governor.


Strongly Oppose

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I strongly oppose this proposed policy.  This proposal would create a hostile and potentially dangerous school environment for our VA transgender and nonbinary youth, requiring teachers and staff to forcibly “out” students, prohibit staff from supporting trans and nonbinary students such as using a students affirming name and pronouns, and prohibit access or participation in activities consistent with their gender identity.  All our students deserve a supportive and affirming school environment, especially our vulnerable and marginalized populations like our transgender and nonbinary youth.


Thank you Governor Youngkin for supporting parental rights & science

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 Parents are THE primary teachers and caregivers for their children. It is the duty of educators and health care providers to be supportive of them in this duty rather than undermining them.

As a pediatrician, I have witnessed first-hand the harm that the indoctrination of this gender ideology has done to children and families. The same people who love to tout "science" are the ones rejecting the actual science of biology and genetics to push this harmful ideology:https://acpeds.org/topics/sexuality-issues-of-youth/gender-confusion-and-transgender-identity/deconstructing-transgender-pediatrics Furthermore, the talking point of suicidal risk they use to fearmonger is false https://acpeds.org/assets/SUICIDE-MYTH-HANDOUT-1592593440.pdf

I strongly urge the VDOE to enact this common-sense policy for the benefit of children and their parents and for those entities that fail to comply to be punished https://wtop.com/alexandria/2022/09/alexandria-notifies-virginia-leaders-it-wont-follow-governor-youngkins-proposed-new-model-policies-impacting-transgender-youth/


Agree with this policy

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Schools should teach academics and leave students personal care to the oarents


100% support


Parents Decide

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<p>Parents have the rights to know what’s going on in schools and with their students </p>


Do your jobs as educators and stop the sexualization of children! Stay strong, Gov. Youngkin.

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Why are we even debating transgenderism policies in education?! Anyone who pushes this perverse, deviant agenda is unstable. Not so long ago, children would pretend to be or "identify" as super heroes, fire fighters, princesses, teachers, etc. because their minds were still developing and this play was a way to express themselves and explore. Adolescents are so desperate to fit in and to be accepted, they are willing to practice any reckless behavior like drinking alcohol, taking drugs, having sex, and watching/reading porn. But now, radical and cowardly people exploit these vulnerable stages, confuse and manipulate the students, and separate them from their families. This is absolutely child abuse and endangerment of children, and anyone who participates in this toxic campaign of control should be prosecuted under the law as guilty as such. All explicit material should be removed from schools, and parents have every right to review educational materials.

The citizens of this Commonwealth and nation need to be strong and denounce and reverse this poisonous wave of decadence. How can this end well if we don't protect our children?


Thank You Governor

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I support this policy ??!! Common sense in this crazy witld


This Isn’t Safe

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This “parental approval “ mandate is dangerous.  I completely understand parents wanting to know about their children, but the unfortunate reality is that some parents are harsh, abusive even.  As a future educator, I’m required to protect my students first, and yes, that includes reporting child abuse, but it shouldn’t have to come to that.  We should just protect human beings.  I know that if this law is passed, I might leave the state, and so will others, causing a greater teacher shortage than we already have.  It is against our beliefs to harm students in any way, and their identity is not a personal attack.  Let’s mind our business and keep them safe.


I support the new guidance policy document

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1 October 2022

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

Dear Sir or Madam:

As the grandparent of 7 children residing in the states of Virginia, California and Florida, I am writing in support of the new guidance document of the Department of Education “Model Policies for the Treatment of Transgender Students in Virginia’s Public Schools" now being considered.

- I support my children’s parental rights to know important aspects of their children’s lives that should not be hidden by schools from their parents.

- The new guidance document protects our grandchildren’s health allowing parents to be involved in the counseling and medical treatment of their children.

- The guidance document would protect our granddaughters’ privacy / safety / sport’s and academic opportunities as was the original intention of the Title IX law.

- The guidance document would protect our grandchildren’s Freedom of Speech by allowing them to refer to other people without being forced to use “required” pronouns.

            The guidance document will help to protect the rights of our children and grandchildren, their religious liberties, our grandchildren’s well-being, our grandchildren’s First Amendment rights and our three granddaughters’ privacy, safety, and sports opportunities.  This I strongly recommend that that the document be adopted.

Theodore B. Witmer


Totally agree with Gov. Youngkin's policies

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<p>Parents have the right to know everthing that goes on in schools regarding their children. Parent's rights supercede any and all teachers and administrators. There is no way teachers/administrators could possibly know what is best for each child. In addition, allowing a child to withhold information from their parents is psychologically damaging to the child in the long term, and is certainly not healthy for family relationships. It just sows discord. I support Gov. Youngkin's polices in this regard. </p>
<p> </p>


Oppose


Another Teacher Weighs In

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Being a teacher is tough. Being a teacher in Virginia is even tougher. I am a Middle School teacher in Virginia, and aside from the required curriculum, issues of gender and sexual orientation are foremost on my mind. I was told at the beginning of this year that I cannot call a student by their preferred pronouns and name without parental permission. We are now in the business of outing our students to parents who may not be receptive to the LGBTQIA+ community. I am a part of the community myself, as a bisexual woman, and I believe that every human deserves to identify as the gender they want, and be attracted to the gender they want. When a student tells me they are trans, I have to get approval from their parents and guidance to accept them. This is unfair. They know enough to tell me who they are, so who are we to doubt that? If God says the meek shall inherit the Earth, why are we in the business of hurting the meek? It is unfair to make our students out themselves in order to be accepted at school, and put themselves in danger at home in order to feel safe at school. I know a lot of you think transgenderism is the devil. But I will say, God doesn’t make mistakes. If He puts in the mind of a young person that they were born in the wrong body, then He meant for them to be trans. Being trans is just another life journey, and who are we to deny them that?


A small group shouldn’t affect everyone’s safety.  Thank you, Governor Youngkin!

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This is the right thing to do - protect our daughters!


My Experience with LGBTQ+ Youth in VA Schools

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In 8th grade, we took a tour of Falls Church High. As we stared at all the cool high schoolers, an openly gay boy walked by on his way to cheerleading practice; I had seen him before at football games. I remember him wearing leggings and lip gloss.

As he passed I froze up, and, turning to a friend I'd known through Catholic Sunday School, asked, "What would you DO if you met a gay person?" She was equally bewildered and speechless.

Before that, in elementary school, I remember latching onto the few opportunities I felt I had to punch down, specifically teasing boys who presented as "too effeminate" and girls who presented as "too masculine."

This was at a time, in the 90's and early aughts, when there simply weren't a lot of words to discuss being queer, or resources to even ask questions about it. I would later learn it was students like that cheerleader who had to endure slurs scrawled on their lockers, looks, jeers, and worse--simply for existing joyfully, or at all. Through high school, I made friends who showed me the scars from unsuccessful suicide attempts because they felt like failures for not being straight; who hid their identities from their families, for fear of being disowned and financially cut off; and some who even hid from themselves, not realizing their identities until well into adulthood.

Even in NoVA, it is not new for LGBTQ+ youth to deal with the fear of being surveilled, outed, and harassed by bigoted adults and peers.

What is new, in this policy, is codifying that hate.

What is new is the state shamelessly offering its services to extend indoctrinations started at home to within the school system.

What is new is the open disregard for not only failing to separate church and state, but also failing to offer any accountability for the young lives that will be ruined, and lost, because of this policy.

What is new is the state outright saying that it simply doesn't think queer young people have the right to exist.

I can't take back the mistakes I made, or the hurt I perpetuated. But I can imagine a better future, where going to school can offer students the opportunities to learn and grow without fear. This policy is a horrifying and deadly step in the opposite direction.

This comment is dedicated to the bright and beautiful light of Brian Picone. Your memory is a blessing that only grows with time.


Youngkin’s policy is appalling

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<p>I’m enraged and appalled (but not surprised) by this conservative push to stifle self-expression among our kids. Children have the right to be who they are, and no one can decide that for them, not even their parents. I pray that my son grows up in a world that respects him for who he truly is in his heart and never forces him to conform to someone else’s fear-lingering, hateful small-mindedness. I intend to do all I can to fight back against politicians like Youngkin who would attempt to legislate the harm, hurt, and cruelty caused by this type of oppressive ideology. If you agree with policies that will actively cause children shame and increase their likelihood of suicide and self-harm, look deep in your heart and ask yourself why you continue to put dogma ahead of dignity. Treat others, especially children, the way you want to be treated. </p>


Oppose - Treat all students with dignity and respect

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<p>I oppose this new policy and feel that all students should have the freedom to identify as they wish.  I do not have any concerns about my daughters sharing the bathroom with another student that identifies as female or non-binary.  I also think it can be a cause for depression or other mental illnesses to require students to get their parents' permission to use different pronouns or names if their parents are not supportive.  </p>


Oppose

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While the 2022 Model Policy tries to restore rights to parents, it misses the mark in protecting in putting children first. Parents are not always the best advocates for their children and this policy lacks a way for transgender students to have an adult advocate who is guaranteed to put their needs first.

Furthermore, I disagree with the requirement that restrooms and locker rooms be assigned by sex at the suggestion that gender neutral restrooms be made available in common areas. Considering the state has more than its fair share of schools that are lacking basic, modern, and necessary updates it seems unlikely that restrooms will be added or reconfigured to accommodate this part of the policy and, again, not meeting the needs of students.


Parental rights

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<p>I strongly support Governor Younkin’s common sense policy. </p>


We strongly support Governor Youngkin’s Model 2022.

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<p>As parents we must protect our children.  </p>


Females should not have to share bathrooms with males! No way! Support!!!

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<p>No sharing bathroom!  Also, females cannot complete with males in most sports!!!!  </p>


Proposed Rule Harmful to Children

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I am opposed to and strongly against this proposed policy as a sophomore in high school who is 15 years old.

This policy is absolutely devastating for transgender children, nonbinary children, and anyone who wants to question their gender identity. The policy Younkin proposes is actively looking to seek out and harm transgender youth by not letting them use the bathroom which can lead to a urinary tract infection. This policy also states that teachers will be forced to deadname students and use their wrong pronouns unless a note is provided from a parent. which puts trans and nonbinary children in a difficult position that no child should ever be forced to deal with.

There is a reason that statistics show a disproportionate amount of homeless LGBTQ+ youth it's because parents kick them out of the house simply because of sexuality or gender identities. The fact that policy like the one our Virginia governor has proposed may put transgender kids on the street while putting on a facade that they protect all children only shows the hypocrisy of the policy itself. This policy is simply looking to degrade and belittle children for the act of seeking approval to appeal to voters to be elected to a higher office.

This proposed rule is inconsistent with the law that authorized it.


Agree,. To force ideological/religious belief on people is a human rights violation

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The belief that one can be "born in the wrong body" or that a subjective, internal view of oneself/"gender identity" overdoses biological reality, or is even real, is an ideological belief, a very religious one at that. I won't believe things for which there is not evidence, like religion, or gender identity , and I won't say I believe in something I don't, that would be amoral, and it is amoral to try and forcwe me to say/believe in an ideology which I don't

Parents have a right to parent. Parents have a right to try and stop their physically healthy kids from becoming lifelong pharmaceutical patients


parental rights are God-given

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The new guidelines, restoring the rights of parents to know what is going on in the schools in regard to their children are absolutely necessary.  Sending a child to school is not signing him or her over.  It is entrusting their precious children to those whom they should be able to trust.  How can a parent trust a teacher or school official(s) who keep secrets from the parents regarding such a thing as gender confusion?  What other things are these children being taught, in the guise of education?  I am a grandmother, and I remember when teachers were respected for their integrity.

As for the so-called rights of boys who say they feel like girls to use girls bathrooms or locker rooms, or compete against girls in sports,  the mere mention of something like this would have been laughable.

Please restore sanity to the issue of girls being girls and boys being boys, and education being the reason they are in school.

Thank you.


Support parental rights

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<p>Support parental rights!  </p>


Support Governor Youngkin's 2022 Model Policies

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Dear Board Members,

Thank you for considering our comments.

I urge you to support Governor Youngkin’s proposed 2022 Model Policies. Unfortunately, we have reached a state of being where inevitably someone will be traumatized—either those who do not identify with their biological sex or those who would be forced to treat certain people as if they are not their biological sex. For instance, if we tell a biological male that s/he may not use the girl’s locker room, even though s/he identifies as a girl, s/he will feel traumatized. But if we insist that everyone regard him/her as a girl, then some people—especially some girls who have to use the same locker room—will feel traumatized.

Therefore, people must be free to appeal to the most present and obvious reality, the human body. Lia Thomas, the transwoman college swimmer who set an Ivy League record, still has male genitalia and dates women. Lia wishes to be regarded as a woman, but s/he has the body of a man, despite taking female hormones. If gender is that fluid and hard to determine or agree on, then freedom must be respected. That is, those who wish to discriminate between male and female according to the body must be free to do so. If someone wishes to say that s/he does not identify with his/her body, s/he is free to do so. However, that declaration cannot be forcibly imposed on the rest of society.

Discriminating between boys and girls according to the body follows nature and reason. The tiny minority of the population that feels uncomfortable with the body they were born with should treated with respect, but the feelings of others must be respected also. Setting universal policy based on a disorder (my feelings don’t match my body) that afflicts a small minority would be absurd and possibly dangerous. I hope you will approve the governor’s Model Polices.

Thank you for your consideration,

Ted Ku


Strongly oppose this policy

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This policy is absolutely unacceptable. This will endanger trans kids across Virginia. This isn’t protecting anyone, it is only to hurt the trans community. Not only will it make trans kids uncomfortable in school, it could possibly put them in unsafe circumstances if their family is homophobic. You will not silence the trans and LGBTQ community, and we will not stand for this. This is a policy built on the foundation of hate and there shouldn’t even be a thought about putting it in place.


Why do you care about how people express themselves?? Strongly oppose

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Trans people are humans and therefore deserve basic human rights. Do others get to dictate how other people live their lives? NO! People changing their name or pronouns does not effect anyone and there is no rational reasoning for trying to restrict a group of beautiful, lovely people. Don’t let this law pass! It will hurt so many trans people and equally threaten their safety if they are outed to their disapproving parents.

So lastly I say: screw the people who say “it’s against my religion.” The right to take away peoples freedom has never been in anyone’s religion, they just decided it is and then use it against people to spread their hatred.

Do not let this law pass.


Strongly Support

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<p>I strongly support the proposal to require that parents have knowledge of and approve of all school involvement with with their children. particularly in this sensitive area.  </p>


100% support

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parents are responsible for bringing up their kid's, not government entiries


1000% support

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parents are responsible for their kid's well-being, not school!


strongly support

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parents are responsible for their kid's welfare


100% Support

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I would never want to send my child into an environment where the school system has a right to over-ride my parental rights without my permission. When parents divorce, it is even stated in the decree that one parent cannot keep any information from the other parent. To allow a school to hide information about my own child from me is a dangerous situation. Parents, PLEASE stand up for your rights! Don't give the government permission to make parental decisions in your place- without your permission, and without telling you! How can any parent who loves their child be ok with allowing that to happen?

No matter how you feel about the trans agenda, this is a bigger issue about us giving up our rights to our own children. I support this document, and I feel that it is in the best interest of every family.


strongly support

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stop mutilating our children behind the parents' backs. stop using our children as the sacrificial lamb for transhumanism propaganda


Strongly Oppose

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Working for the full education of every child demands that we protect the most vulnerable while leading with love towards a better tomorrow.  Please DO NOT implement the proposed 2022 Model Policies which will harm the mental health of our most vulnerable students while setting an example of hateful intolerance.  Parents who want their child(ren) to have a restrictive, intolerant, and prejudiced education are welcome to homeschool or elect to have their child(ren) attend a private school.  However, the PUBLIC education system is supposed to ensure the best education possible for every single child.  Every single one.  Regardless of their sex at birth, regardless of their sexual orientation, regardless of their sexual expression.

From your own website where these comments are housed: "The Virginia Department of Education (the “Department”) recognizes that each child is a unique individual with distinctive abilities and characteristics that should be valued and respected. All students have the right to attend school in an environment free from discrimination, harassment, or bullying."


Parents have no right to know about their children's private lives.

Especially when those parents are fundamentalist bigots who will torture and excommunicate them for being gay or trans, or try to send them to doctors or camps run by even more fundamentalist bigots.If a child does not feel safe or secure enough to come out to their parents, the school should not force them to. It is total ignorance to say otherwise, those people have likely never experienced what it means to be a marginalized and persecuted group of persons.

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Especially when those parents are fundamentalist bigots who will torture and excommunicate them for being gay or trans, or try to send them to doctors or camps run by even more fundamentalist bigots.

If a child does not feel safe or secure enough to come out to their parents, the school should not force them to. It is total ignorance to say otherwise, those people have likely never experienced what it means to be a marginalized and persecuted group of persons.


Strongly Oppose!!!

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I strongly oppose this policy!!!


do not try to erase us.

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Transphobic policies are disgusting.


OPPOSE.

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<p>Oppose this policy which falsely claims to "Maintain a safe and supportive learning environment free from discrimination and harassment for all students..." This policy will do the opposite, it is harmful. Students cannot learn if they feel unsafe. Policies like this will only send kid's back into the closet (which is clearly, exactly, what the GOP wants) and worsen the already high rates of self harm and suicide in LGBTQ+ youth. All to fuel a culture war at the expense of children. </p>


Strongly SUPPORT!

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Thank you for updating these policies to restore protections for basic parental rights and ensuring that parents are no longer cut out of the process—especially when it concerns how gender and sexuality issues are handled with our kids at school.  Please finalize these updated 2022 model policies as written without removing any of the key protections to restore parental involvement in the process and protect children’s privacy and safety rights.


“Prolife”? Your killing kids

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<p>Maybe, instead of worrying about fetuses, worry about the children who are actually here right now. who are actually thinking,feeling,crying, laughing, smiling and frowning. Who are Fighting EVERYDAY just to be able to be treated with common human decency. </p>


Strongly Oppose!

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<p>Strongly oppose </p>


At the end of the day...

Children will die because of this policy. I 100% respect our freedom of speech and others' religious belief. However, we must protect our children. Deadnaming a trans child is as bad as any racial slur. The suicide rate for trans kids is in the thousands of percentage points higher than average.If you are pro-life, please support trans lives and the most vulnerable of which are our children. Politics are battles fought amongst adults, leave our children out of it.

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Children will die because of this policy. I 100% respect our freedom of speech and others' religious belief. However, we must protect our children. Deadnaming a trans child is as bad as any racial slur. The suicide rate for trans kids is in the thousands of percentage points higher than average.

If you are pro-life, please support trans lives and the most vulnerable of which are our children. Politics are battles fought amongst adults, leave our children out of it.


Stop trying to erase us

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Transgender students deserve to feel safe in their environment.


Strongly opposed to the governor’s repressive policy

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Strongly oppose the governor’s repressive policy


Strongly oppose

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<p>Please, please, please listen to the non-binary and trans students of Virginia. They deserve to be welcome and learn in a safe environment. I strongly oppose these measures being introduced. As an elementary public school teacher in Virginia this would be devastating to these children and teens. Please consider their needs- Public School Teacher </p>


This is awful

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This is clearly designed to take away the protections trans and gender fluid students in VA currently have. We know that there are trans and gender fluid students whose parents do not accept who they are. For many of these students, school is a refuge; a place where they have affirmation they do not get at home.

This is an evil policy, born out of a belief that there is something wrong with trans and gender fluid students. There isn't. This is a horrible policy.


Opposed

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I vehemently oppose this transphobic legislation.


Strongly oppose. Trans rights.

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Not everyone had supporting parents or gardians, outing students in those situations could and will, put them in danger. Putting students in harms way should not be what your goal is.
Student’s only safety concern is not just with adults, it could also be with themselves. “Suicide is the second leading cause of death among young people, with LGBTQ youth being four times more likely to seriously consider suicide, to make a plan for suicide, and to attempt suicide versus their peers.” - The Trevor Project. I highly doubt this is what you want to encourage with students. The lasting effects on not only families, but other students.

“The Trevor Project estimates that at least one LGBTQ youth between the ages of 13–24 attempts suicide every 45 seconds in the U.S.“ - The Trevor Project


Thank you, Governor!

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<p>I strongly agree with and support Governor Youngkin's policy.  Parents are accountable for their children's education and moral foundation.  Opportunity for others to undermine their authority and lead their children astray should be firmly squelched!  We must do everything we can to protect our children from those who desire to pervert them!  GOD is watching all, and we must not forget it.  </p>


STRONGLY SUPPORT

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Strongly support Gov Youngkin's proposal.


Disagree strongly with this policy

Parent of Fairfax County Public School students

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<p>This misguided policy will negatively impact the mental health of transgender students. Because of this, I strongly ask that this policy be rescinded. </p>


Strongly Oppose

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I strongly oppose this policy.  LBGTQ children need a space to feel safe and not endangered, and in some cases their home is not one of these spaces. By enforcing parental involvement and potentially outing their children to them, we are endangering the children this policy claims falsely to protect.  As an educator, I am often the only adult these children feel safe talking to.This policy will only serve to set back the rights of children in our Commonwealth.


Science and Psychology

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As someone with a Bachelor's and a Master's degrees, I am very used to the facts. As someone who has been involved in counseling for over 40 years, I am very used to emotions and abuse of all sorts. As someone who has been involved in medical education for 40 years, I am very familiar with biology. From all of those factors, I know that gender is on the cellular level, and feelings, surgeries, and hormone treatments can't change that. For example, a symptom that women, but not men, often have of a heart attack is sudden nausea. That symptom wasn't taught until recently, because all the studies were done on men. I'm very thankful that I had read the research report less than two months before my wife had a heart attack, and I got her to the hospital immediately because of her sudden nausea, with no other symptoms. All of that is to say that the whole "transgender" business is a sad, often tragic, fraud and deception. Coddling people who think they were "born into the wrong body" does them no favors. "Gender-affirming therapy" is anything but! People with such ideation need help, certainly, but it needs to be in accepting who and what they were born to be, settled from the moment of conception. The current proposals in Virginia give me some hope that common sense, not to mention genuine science, may eventually prevail.


Strongly Oppose

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I strongly oppose this model policy. Transgender children need a space to feel safe and not endangered, and in some cases the home is not one of these spaces. By enforcing parental involvement and potentially outing their children to them, we are endangering the children this policy claims falsely to protect. It is the job of a parent to guide their children, not control them and force them to be someone they are not. This policy will only serve to set back the rights of children in our Commonwealth.


The policy

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Cruel , makes the teacher a judge who interferes with the parent and child on serious life issues. Km


Oppose!

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The new bill proposed by our governor that claims to allow parents to be "included" in their children's education is quite false. Thing such as name, pronouns, and gender identity are not only a human right but nothing to do with any actual learning processes. The outcome of this bill being passed would be many trans youth dealing with immense mental and physical health problems, both from abuse and gender dysphoria. School is a safe place for many kids, and it should stay that way. Parents shouldn't decide what all children in the entire school learn about anyways; if parents oppose certain aspects of school, they have the option to transfer to a school that better fits the curriculum they seek such as private or homeschooling. There is an entire department of education made for educational requirements. Nowhere does it state they get to dictate discrimination based on gender identity.


I strongly oppose this policy

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This policy is dangerous for trans and non-binary students. Let's protect our most vulnerable population, not put them in danger.


Transgender in schools

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First and foremost, God created the children and he doesn’t make mistakes. Please don’t push things on the children they have a hard enough life learning what they are required to have . Sex and transgenderism should not be a part of the teaching. Makes my blood boil when I think my taxes are being used for something other than history math reading etc.leave the children alone !


I oppose this policy!!!

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I just as Equality Virginia does OPPOSE the 2022 proposed model policy!!!


OPPOSE Gov. Youngkin and VDOE retrogressive proposed 'model' policy

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As a parent, aunt, cousin, and Board-Certified Clinical Child & Adolescent Psychologist, I oppose in the strongest terms the proposed policy put forth by Gov. Youngkin regarding LGBTQ youth in Virginia schools.  This is retrogressive and contrary to the science and recommendations from all major mental and public health organizations with something to say about the welfare and wellbeing of youth and their families.  In my personal family life and in my professional life, I see EVERY DAY the harm, including to the point of suicide, that attitudes and policies such as this cause.  We already have a public health emergency; you will be escalating that to a horrific degree.  This has NOTHING to do with 'supporting VA parents and giving them more control over their children's education'.  The question is WHICH parents?  This is about forcing your beliefs on others to the detriment of their/our civil rights, wellbeing, and safety.  Do not further inflame the the cruel, small-minded, and most base attitudes of the MINORITY of people who continue to think in this way.


Strongly oppose

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Myself being a student at Albemarle High School I feel that I should have the right to have people call me what I want tp be called no matter if my parents or guardians fill out paper work saying it is okay to call be by what I want. I feel that I am not safe if I am not able to be called what I want and not be able to use the pronouns I would like to use. I really don’t understand why we can be so grateful that we are such a diverse school but yet I can’t go by the name and pronouns I wish to be called? That doesn’t seem fair.
I feel like the school should do everything in its power to protect us, and I don’t think that if a teacher chooses to call us by our preferred  way they shouldn’t get fired and shouldn’t get in trouble when all they are doing is trying to make us feel comfortable and excepted.


Support safe bathrooms, showers, and locker rooms in schools

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Thankfully some common sense from our government. Our kids thank you Governor Youngkin.


Restrictions on transgender children


Oppose these cruel guidelines.

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These guidelines are cruel and are a step backwards for Virginia. Voters do not want this. Courts will not uphold this. Let trans and non binary kids be kids. Stop politicizing children. Gender dysphoria is medically recognized. Why does the governor think he knows better than medical professionals?


Strongly Oppose

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<p>As a long time Virginia educator who supports all students and their right to feel safe and respected at school,  I strongly oppose the proposed policy and want VDOE to reject it. As a mother of two children that represent equality of genders, I can't imagine the harm this policy will do. </p>


Strongly Oppose!

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This does not help protect trans youth. Oppose!


Strongly Oppose

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As a tax paying resident of the Commonwealth of Virginia, I strongly oppose changing the current system that protect trans youth. If enacted I have zero doubt young transgender students will die. You are not protecting them. By enacting these proposed changes you would be signing their death warrants. For shame. For a group that claims to "protect life" it seems you only want to protect that life when its straight gender conforming. Any step out of line in your eyes is seen as abhorrent. Those promoting these change are plainly hypocrites and bigots. And will be seen in history as such. Do not change rules that are protecting the lives of children.


Oppose. Support, not restrict, trans youth.

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I oppose these policies because they are harmful to trans youth, who are already a vulnerable population, including being subjected to much higher rates of abuse, murder, and suicide. To avoid these tragic outcomes that sadly so many trans people go through, trans kids need SUPPORT. Support that looks like being believed- not needing anyone else's permission to be who they are. Support looks like treating them as any other student- including something as simple of a human need as going to the bathroom, and playing sports if they wish. Support includes loving them for who they are.

To folks who support these policies, I feel sad. Sad that they don't see trans children as human beings. Sad that they feel so threatened by gender expressions they don't understand. Sad that they want to restrict the rights of people who simply just want to exist. Not harm anyone, they just want to EXIST. I don't expect everyone to know what it's like to be trans. But I expect everyone to respect people who are different than you.

Don't we want to teach kids how to advocate for themselves? Don't we want to teach them that who they are is beautiful? Don't we want our children to SURVIVE? Trans youth are much more likely to DIE when their existence is restricted and denied. That is just the sad fact.

Not all kid's homes are supportive. Which means it can be dangerous for a teacher to "out" trans kids to their parents/ guardians. Therefore it is extra important that school should be a safe space for trans kids to be out and thrive.

I wish supporters of this bill would understand that gender non-conforming people are not out to get cis-gendered people. We simply. Want. To. Exist.

Thank you,

M.H.


support Younkin education guidelines returning parental rights

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I don't have a kid but I pay for the schools. Education is job 1. period. I dont care what sex they are or aren't if they can't friggin read - you failed. VA schools have done a lot of failing by shutting out parents and not calling the cops on criminals and most of their budget going to the administrators instead of the teachers.