Youngkin Emulates DeSantis and Continues War on Transgender Virginians

Despite Ron DeSantis' floundering campaign, Virginia's far right governor, Glenn Younkin continues to signal that he wants to be DeSantis' "mini me" and that his goal is to turn Virginia into a mirror image of the bigotry, discrimination and embrace of ignorance rampant in Florida under DeSantis' neo-fascist regime. This will surely happen in Virginia if Republicans manage to take control of the Virginia General Assembly in the November, 2023, elections  which would usher in a 2024 legislative session that would pass restrictions on abortion, gut non-discrimination laws and grant Christian extremist a license to discriminate under the smoke screen of "religious belief."  Under Youngkin's disturbing vision children are the chattel possessions of their parents and the safety and rights of non-heterosexual school children are subordinate to the bigotry and extremism of potentially abusive parents.  Forty percent (40%) of homeless youth nationwide are LGBT and under the Youngkin regime's new public school policies the number of homeless LGBT Virginia youth could well increase. A piece in the Virginian Pilot looks at Youngkin's anti-transgender and anti-LGBT jihad.  Here are excerpts:

Just a day after the state released its finalized model policies on the treatment of transgender students, it remains unclear how local school divisions will respond — but it is clear the document will be the latest catalyst for a debate that has gone on for months.

The Virginia Department of Education announced the new policies — named the “Model Policies on Ensuring Privacy, Dignity, and Respect for All Students and Parents in Virginia’s Public Schools” — in a press release Tuesday. . . . Superintendent of Public Instruction Lisa Coons said. “We are elevating parents and giving them a seat at the table.”

The model policies replace those released in 2021 under Democratic Gov. Ralph Northam’s administration, in response to 2020 legislation that called for the drafting of guidelines on how transgender students should be treated. The document directs local school boards to adopt policies that are consistent with the model policies.

[C]ritics say the policies ignore the majority of the 70,000 comments that were submitted about the 2022 proposal.

“We are horrified that VDOE opted to move forward with proposed model policies that at best invite – and at worst, require – discrimination, that violate state and federal law, and that have no place in Virginia schools,” said Breanna Diaz, ACLU of Virginia Policy and Legislative Counsel. “This action ignores the voices of a clear majority of Virginians who submitted comments opposing the model policies when the department first proposed them.”

The Pride Liberation Project, a student group that organized statewide student walkouts in protest of the draft policies in September, has dubbed the model policies “Don’t Be Trans.”

The 2023 model policies largely reiterate the September draft, allowing school personnel to use pronouns that do not correspond to the student’s recorded sex only if a parent provides written permission and requiring that parents be notified of and allowed to refuse any “counseling services pertaining to gender.” The policies also state that teachers cannot be instructed or encouraged to conceal information about a student from a parent, including information related to gender.

Critics of the policies have said these guidelines can “out” students to their parents before they are ready.

The policies also state that teachers, staff and other students cannot be compelled to use a person’s preferred pronouns in “any manner that would violate their constitutionally protected rights.”

A spokesperson from Virginia Beach Public Schools said the division’s administration is reviewing the model policies, and the board will also need to review and discuss them, and “until that time, we are not able to provide further comment.”

Throughout the last school year, dozens of students came to each school board meeting to urge the board to reject the model policies for being discriminatory. They said the policies if implemented would be harmful to transgender students.

Board member Jessica Owens presented a resolution reaffirming the division’s commitment to “nondiscrimination and antiharassment” of LGBTQ youth in its schools as a response to the students and community members who had expressed their concerns. This resolution narrowly passed in a 6-5 vote last month. It is unclear how, if at all, the resolution will impact the board’s decisions regarding the model policies.

For now, school boards around the state will need to determine how they want to handle Youngkin’s finalized model policies.

LeBar said she and her other former classmates have already made plans to address the school board members about upcoming actions regarding the policies. However, she said that they could also be looking to start advocating at the state level as well.

The Pride Liberation Project said it is planning “ mass student mobilization” on the issue.