Virginia Parents Are Under Siege Part II - Transgenderism

Groups like Equality Virginia and Side by Side, which aggressively champion the “LGBTQ+” agenda, are actually partnering with the government in Virginia to impose policies that would allow children to “transgender” without parents even knowing.

Two months ago I shared how government is undermining parental authority in Virginia Parents Are Under Siege.  It revealed how radical liberals in the legislature and executive branch are transforming Virginia into a state in which parents can no longer parent their children, and that children are being manipulated into disavowing their parents’ teachings and values –and even being commissioned to report parents who don’t fully embrace the new orthodoxies.

This month, the Virginia Department of Education (VDOE) released a draft of its harmful and illogical Model Policies for the Treatment of “Transgender” Students. If approved in its current form, it would effectively require every public school to allow – without question – any student to act in every way as a member the opposite sex while at school (including name change, different pronouns, using opposite sex bathrooms, locker room, etc.), without the school ever notifying parents!

Helping the VDOE craft these model policies that will grossly undermine parents are a host of state and local government officials, psychologists, social workers, professors, and of course plenty of LBTQ+ activist organizations . (e.g. Equality Virginia, Side by Side, He She Ze & We, Shenandoah LGBTQ Center; Note: The Family Foundation was never invited to participate in discussions, despite being a highly interested stakeholder.)  Among them are representatives from groups that are actively pushing policies in schools and government that elevate the subjective and erroneous notions of “sexual orientation” and “gender identity” to special protected classes, which directly clash with religious liberty. 

Consider some excerpts from the best practices being proposed in these model policies:  

“School divisions will need to consider the health and safety of the student in situations where students may not want their parents to know about their transgender status … There are no regulations requiring school staff to notify a parent or guardian of a student’s request to affirm their gender identity...”

“School staff should be prepared to support the safety and welfare of transgender students when their families are not affirming. … Whenever school personnel suspects or becomes aware that a student is being abused, neglected, or at risk of abuse or neglect by their parent due to their transgender identity, they should report those concerns to Child Protective Services immediately.”

This and other language suggests that schools can and should allow a student to explore and make decisions regarding their expression of sexual identity while at school, without a parent ever knowing!  Essentially, a student of any age could use the bathroom and changing facilities of the opposite sex, go by names and pronouns that reflect his or her preferred “gender identity,” and wear clothing typically worn by members of the opposite sex, while at school without their parents being notified about any of it.

What’s worse, parents who engage their children in important conversations about sexuality and the reality of their biological sex could be at risk of being accused of abuse or neglect if it is against the wishes of their child.  This would effectively have the same outcome as HB 580, a bill that was introduced during the 2020 regular legislative session but was later stricken at the request of the patron.  Clearly physical and verbal abuse are not acceptable, especially when these children are struggling with emotional and psychological challenges.  But these so-called best practices actually encourage teachers and school administrators to “immediately” report parents to the state entity empowered to take their child away from them if they so much as “suspect” that a student is “at risk of” abuse or neglect by their parent “due to their transgender identity.” And the whole paradigm begins with the assumption that it is necessarily bad if a parent does not fully support their child’s acting out on his or her confusion or unnatural desires.

The notion of allowing kids to decide for themselves their “gender identity,” however, is not a new concept and it’s certainly not isolated to a few states like California, New Jersey, or Virginia.  In fact, it’s become the dominant mantra of these leftist groups, which seek to completely transform our society’s long-standing values and mores of family and sexuality.  Even the presumptive President-elect, Joe Biden, advanced this notion during a town hall event in October:

“The idea that an 8-year-old child or a 10-year-old child decides, ‘You know I decided I want to be transgender. That’s what I think I’d like to be. It would make my life a lot easier.’ There should be zero discrimination.”

While he didn’t state specifically that parents shouldn’t know about their child’s actions or be able to guide their child away from that decision, his “zero discrimination” should be interpreted to include even from the parents.

And then there’s this recent suggestion by an activist and Youtuber who goes by the name “Zinnia Jones”:

“An inability [for children] to offer informed consent or understand the long-term consequences is actually an argument for putting every single cis and trans person on puberty blockers until they acquire that ability.” 

This was in response to a court ruling from the United Kingdom that held “it is highly unlikely that a child aged 13 or under would be competent to give consent to the administration of puberty blockers" and "it is doubtful that a child aged 14 or 15 could understand and weigh the long-term risks and consequences of the administration of puberty blockers."  According to this person’s logic, the government should begin putting every child on puberty blocking hormones until they are old enough to determine on their own which gender they want to be.

It’s easy to dismiss statements like these.  After all, of course a 9 year old girl isn’t capable of deciding on her own she is really a boy – even if that was possible.  And it’s ridiculous to think that someone would seriously promote a policy that would force kids to use puberty blockers to prevent their bodies from maturing naturally – the way God intended – until they choose which gender they believe they are.  But too often these outrageous statements are made enough that public officials begin to push these radical new policies – even a presidential candidate, and now presumptive President-elect, Joe Biden!

Sadly, as these groups and government officials make it more and more difficult for parents to guide and nurture their children, more adolescents continue to walk down a deceptive and destructive path of denying their God-given biological sex, and will sadly reap severe consequences.