Gov. Youngkin’s New Policies Will Hurt Transgender Students in Virginia Schools

On Friday, September 16, 2022, the Virginia Department of Education released the model for 2022 policies online. The new policies shown and proposed by the current republican governor of Virginia Glenn Youngkin, are undoing the change made by the previous Democratic governor Ralph Northam. The policy has created stricter rules on bathrooms, locker rooms, and sports assignments. Youngkin has made it to where students must use their biological sex to coordinate how they go about their school day rather than their gender.

He has also made it where the parents are the ones who determine “(a) what names, nicknames, and/or pronouns if any, shall be used for their child by teachers and school staff while their child is at school, (b) whether their child engages in any counseling or social transition at school that encourages a gender that differs from their child’s sex, or (c) whether their child expresses a gender that differs with their child’s sex while at school” (2022 Model Policies, 2022).

This means that if parents don’t approve or aren’t supportive of their child’s gender that they could force teachers to use incorrect pronouns and name-making to where the child feels they have no safe space even outside of the home. The record also states that teachers must refer to the child with the pronouns and name that aligns with their biological sex unless parents file the correct paperwork. And even so, the teacher can disregard this information if they believe it interferes with their rights or beliefs. Later in the month, the public will be able to comment on the draft on the Virginia Regulatory Town Hall website.