Throughout 2021, Virginia parents from across the political spectrum thronged school board meetings to share their concerns about the way their children were being educated and how they were treated while at school. They were not trying to dictate policy; they were simply trying to be heard about the education and welfare of the most important people in the world: their children. Instead of taking their concerns seriously, school boards met them with derision or stony silence.
Then, in November, parents turned out in droves to be heard in another way, electing the candidate who promised to return their voice, an outcome that should have surprised exactly no one. As a lifelong Democrat who supported and voted for Gov. Glenn Youngkin, I am grateful that he kept his campaign promise to uphold the constitutionally guaranteed right of parents to determine how their children will be raised and educated — and that he did so in an even-handed manner that does not pass judgment on the specific values that parents wish to instill in their children.
The 2022 Model Policies on the Privacy, Dignity, and Respect for All Students and Parents in Virginia’s Public Schools strikes a careful balance, placing parental rights and the well-being of children at the forefront while also acknowledging First Amendment protections against compelled speech and the necessity of adhering to relevant federal laws. Of particular significance is the recognition that parental involvement is essential in improving educational outcomes. The policy makes it clear that the distinctive needs of transgender students should be accommodated, but with “due sensitivity to the needs of other students and the practical requirements of the teaching and learning environment.” There is special emphasis on the prevention of bullying and harassment throughout. Under this policy, no student is unwelcome or unsafe in Virginia’s schools.
Those culture warriors who are already claiming that this is an attack on transgender students cannot possibly have read the document. With the adoption of the model policies, parents will be able to use their best judgment about whether it is in their child’s best interest to affirm a gender that does not correspond with his or her biological sex, and they will be provided with the necessary information and support from schools to assist in making that decision. Given the higher rates of suicidal ideation among children who identify as transgender, it is unconscionable to keep parents in the dark about this critical mental health information.
The previous administration’s Model Policies on the Treatment of Transgender Students raised schools far above their pay grade, granting them unwarranted power to interfere in the family dynamic. At their sole discretion and without even a token effort to establish processes for an impartial assessment, school administrators could decide that certain parents would make harmful decisions about a child suffering from gender dysphoria.
Teachers and staff were then required to develop a plan to conceal this information from parents, an intentional act of deceit with far-reaching consequences, denying these struggling and possibly suicidal children the support of the people who know them best and love them the most: mom and dad. Most insidiously, it denied families the opportunity to grow and bond through overcoming challenges together, with the potential to cause enduring family rifts. This arbitrary and dishonest policy was far outside the scope of public education, and thanks to Gov. Youngkin, it is at an end in the Commonwealth of Virginia.
It should be noted that these rights remain under threat at the federal level. The so-called Equality Act (H.R. 5), which was co-sponsored by 224 Democratic members of Congress and is awaiting consideration in the Senate, would override Virginia’s well-crafted protections for parents and students. If this becomes the law of the land, schools may, in a warped interpretation of non-discrimination, again be called upon to lie to parents about the mental health of a child questioning his or her gender.
Gov. Youngkin has done his job and done it well. Ours has just begun.
Emily Curtis is a Loudoun County resident and former staffer in the Clinton White House.
