Virginia Replaces Democrats’ Mandatory Transgender Policy With Parents’ Rights ManifestoDaily Wire, Sep 16, 2022
Hours after an LGBT rights group called Equality Virginia began pressuring school districts who have not yet adopted a transgender policy created in 2020 by Democrats, noting that “All local school boards were required to adopt the policy as a baseline,” the administration of Republican Governor Glenn Youngkin swapped out the policy referred to by the law with a new one based on parents’ rights.
In 2020, shortly after Democrats took control of the state legislature, they passed a law requiring that school districts adopt policies consistent with a state document called Model Policies for the Treatment of Transgender Students in Public Elementary and Secondary Schools. The administration of then-Gov. Ralph Northam created that document. Now, the law itself remains in effect, but the policies it refers to have been replaced by very different ones.
[...]
The new draft policy — which will go into effect at the end of October — is far different, citing the U.S. Constitution as evidence. “The First Amendment forbids government actors to require individuals to adhere to or adopt any particular ideological beliefs,” it said. “The U.S. Constitution, the Virginia Constitution, federal law, state law, and relevant case law place beyond debate the rights of parents to be informed about their children and the limitations of government to usurp parents’ rightful role. Additionally, decades of research conducted worldwide has consistently concluded that parental involvement in a child’s education and development is paramount.”
It said a student can only change his or her name with the permission of a parent, and that the “phrase ‘transgender student’ shall mean a public school student whose parent has requested in writing, due to their child’s persistent and sincere belief that his or her gender differs from his or her sex, that their child be identified while at school.”
“[School Division] personnel shall refer to each student using only (i) the name that appears in the student’s official record, or (ii) if the student prefers, using any nickname commonly associated with the name that appears in the student’s official record,” it said.
It bans teachers from using pronouns or names which are not in the student’s official record, and teachers and other students cannot be compelled to “address or refer to students in any manner that would violate their constitutionally protected rights.” And “No policy, guidance, training, or other written material issued by the [School Division] may encourage or instruct teachers to conceal material information about a student from the student’s parent.”
“Overnight travel accommodations, locker rooms, and other intimate spaces used for school-related activities and events shall be determined by sex.”
By law, school districts are required to adopt policies similar to the state model policy, but in the past, some school districts in Democrat-leaning northern Virginia have simply refused to follow the Republican governor’s orders. Even when under the prior governor, they cited state obligations as justification for policies like school closures.
More:
https://www.dailywire.com/news/virginia-replaces-democrats-mandatory-transgender-policy-with-parents-rights-manifesto
