Education

Parents Demand Youngkin Enact Policies Requiring Schools To Notify Families If Their Child Is Trans

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Virginia parents are calling on Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin to enact policies that would require school districts to notify parents if their child is transitioning genders, according to WTKR News 3.

In September, Youngkin’s administration proposed policies that would require students to use bathrooms on the basis of biological sex, rather than gender identity, according to WTKR. Parents, members of the Family Foundation, an organization focused on parental rights, and a Virginia Beach school board member rallied Tuesday with signs reading “protect every child” for the policies to be finalized after a local school board enacted an LGBTQ resolution that prohibits the discrimination on the basis of gender identity and sexual orientation.

“I’m calling on Gov. Youngkin to please have his administration release updated 2022 model policies this week,” Victoria Manning, Virginia Beach School Board member, told the outlet. “So the policies in place that put children in danger can be changed.”

On June 13, the Virginia Beach School Board voted 6-5 to adopt an LGBTQ resolution that prohibits the school district from discriminating against students on the basis of gender identity and sexual orientation, according to WAVY News. The resolution could be applied to non-athletic activities and other sex-segregated spaces within the school district such as bathrooms and locker rooms.

Students spoke at the June 13 Virginia Beach School Board meeting in favor of the resolution, saying it protects students who do not want to tell their parents about their gender identity or sexual orientation, WTKR reported.

“We are witnessing the progression of ideology that aim to remove rights and transparency that replace them with overreach and control,” a Virginia Beach parent said at the rally, according to WTKR.

Youngkin’s proposed policies would mandate that educators call students by the name on their official record and use pronouns that correspond with the sex on their official records, which can only be changed with parental consent.

Virginia students across the state walked out of class after the Youngkin administration announced the proposed transgender policies. The students protested the proposed policy saying that they believe their rights are being taken away at home and in school.

“The governor’s model policies protect a Virginia parent’s fundamental right to make decisions regarding their own child,” Macaulay Porter, Youngkin’s spokeswoman, told the Daily Caller News Foundation. “As outlined in the model policies, school divisions need to address children according to their official record unless a parent approves otherwise. The VDOE is completing the process of reviewing the over 70,000 public comments and is finalizing the model policy.”

This article has been updated with comment from the office of Gov. Glenn Youngkin.