Virginia Governor Plans To Force Teachers To Out Students
The Republican governor of Virginia, Glenn Youngkin, is moving along with his policy of “parental rights.”
As LGBTQ Nation writes, in July, Youngkin appointed five new members to the State Board of Education, giving the governor a conservative majority. They set the statewide curriculum and high school graduation requirements, and establish testing and assessment programs.
Now with the Board’s support assured, Youngkin announced on Tuesday his most explicit endorsement of a policy that trans rights campaigners in Virginia have long feared – informing parents of their child’s sexual orientation and/or gender identity without the student’s permission.
“With regards to informing parents with most important decisions about their children,” Youngkin told WJLA News, “I think everybody knows where I stand: parents matter. Parents should be at the forefront of all of these discussions. And I firmly believe that teachers and schools have an obligation to make sure that parents are well informed about what’s happening in their kids’ lives.”
Local school board policy on the question of whether to out trans kids to their parents varies by county. In Loudoun County, for example, regulations state: “A student’s gender identity or transgender status should not be shared without the student’s consent.”
Similarly, In Fairfax County, “Regulation 2603 protects the relationship between parent/guardians and children or youth by preventing teachers from putting themselves in the middle, willy-nilly,” said LGBTQ+ advocate Robert Rigby. “No one should take this crucial discussion of ‘coming out’ away from the students and parents by ‘outing’ someone. It feels and is really intrusive and can be damaging to the parent/child relationship, sometimes permanently.”
Youngkin has already signed into law two pieces of legislation that "give parents a greater say in their children’s education.” HB 938 directs the Board of Education to make recommendations to the General Assembly for increased “transparency” in the state’s curriculum, among other policy measures. SB656 requires the Department of Education to develop “policies for ensuring parental notification of any instructional material that includes sexually explicit content.”
In January, after taking office, Youngkin set up a “tip line” for Virginia parents to report “divisive practices” in schools, which includes materials that parents may object to. In March, a letter from the Virginia Association of School Superintendents expressed disapproval of the Governor’s education agenda and asked Youngkin to eliminate this.
That same month, more than a dozen news organizations accused Youngkin, in a lawsuit filed in Richmond Circuit Court, of violating the state’s public records law by refusing to turn over the “tip line” emails.
Read related myGwork articles here:
Virginia House Passes First Bill To Roll Back LGBTQ+ Rights After Republicans Won It Back
Republicans Are Hoping To Make Virginia The Next State To Ban Trans Youth From Sports
Virginia Enacts Landmark Bill Banning LGBT+ “Panic” Defence
Out Lawmaker & Marriage Activist Mark Levine Is Running For Virginia Lieutenant Governor
Keep up to date with the latest myGnews
