This is wrong on so many levels

It is our job to protect our children and to focus on their education, that’s why we send them to school to learn. By allowing this behavior in the schools you are only encouraging more children to be sexually assaulted .  Your are allowing children to feel uncomfortable and to not feel safe . The main focus of their education is thrown out the window because now it becomes a social issue. In schools there are dress codes to keep the children focused. Girls can’t show breast , stomach or the rears . It is a distraction for boys and for boys they can not wear cut off sleeves or to tight of clothing that would be distracting to girls . BUT you all want them to be able to change in the same locker rooms or go to the same bathrooms . Not only will you have an increase in sexual activity but the teenage pregnancy  rate is going to go through the roof  and also the stds. Why because you are allowing a place for these actions to occur.   Instead of worrying about what gender someone wants to be, how about we put God back in our schools .  If we put God first these issues would not arise . God did not make us to decide if we want to be male or female .  I am strongly disagreeing with these actions and if you pass them I hope and pray that the children that become victims sue you and that you lose sleep over how many incident children are harmed because of the decisions you have made .


STRONGLY SUPPORT

It is imperative that we support transgender students' health and well-being. I fully support any and all endeavours that do so


In response to Model Policies/Transgender Students/Public Elementary & Secondary Schools

I strongly oppose the Virginia Department of Education's draft of Model Policies for the Treatment of Transgender Students in Public Elementary and Secondary Schools.  If passed in its current form, this is not acceptable in any way at all. I could point out the many issues with each point in the model, but I would certainly hope those voting can foresee the trouble that is brewing. I will address on point as a parent/grandparent...."All students being allowed to use any bathroom or locker room they choose, without being questioned by any school administrator or faculty" is a HUGE PROBLEM for me. I have school age children of each sex. My girl should not be in the bathroom with someone who happens to be "identifying as a girl that day". If you can't see the possible potential dangers of this, then you all need to take more time to explore the situation. I also don't want my boy using the bathroom as a child walks in that is choosing to identify as a boy that day. We need to be open minded about many things, but we also need to keep moral, values and protect EVERYONE, not just those we are trying to include. This world of inclusion has confused many a child and adult. May we all see the light before the light to this world in snuffed out. Sadly, if we continue in this direction I think many more people need to think about private schools & home schooling or relocation to another state!


Strongly Support

I support to the fullest extent possible. There are far too many hateful comments that are being left under the section that are attempting to hide their bigotry under the guise of “protecting children”.


Mom of Two FCPS Students. Oppose.

My daughter is recovering from a life threatening mental health condition.  One of her dearest friends switched her name from she to he last year.   We are supportive of student's having the right to individual bathrooms but we are not supportive of giving students access to the bathroom of their choice.  This situation is not respectful of other student's mental health concerns, including my daughter.  I love all students.  But, enforcing a statewide policy is not loving.  We have to meet children where they are individually.  Please put resources where they are most needed.  I would say this is not the area. Best, MSW Mom of 2 FCPS Students


Transgender school policy mandate

As a Christian parent and grandparent, I strongly oppose this policy for our schools, especially at the elementary and middle school levels when all aspects of a child’s development are in dynamic flux. Our sexual and gender identity are divine gifts that conform plainly to a binary paradigm. Any personal confusion, incongruance and associated dysphoria in this aspect of our individual identity is like so many other  complex aspects of our unique humanity which each of us must adapt to and reconcile , with the grace of God. We all must deal with aspects of self that don’t conform with norms or averages or ideals.


STRONGLY OPPOSE!!

As a parent, and grandparent, I am appalled that this type of legislation is even proposed.  It is corrupt at the very core in that it promotes unhealthy behavior, supports deception and false information, and provides the opportunity for unlawful abuse.  It goes against the very purpose of public education and the states role in protecting the citizens.  It is a privilege to have public schools, but it is the duty of the schools to provide a good education, provide a safe environment, and assist the students to becoming responsible adults.  The transgender legislation does not support the parents that are providing the physical, emotional and financial support of the their children that are attending the schools. The public schools need to provide a safe environment for all students.  The educational requirements need to be aligned with the emotional and physical health of the students.  How can we expect children to grow up into mature, law abiding, moral adults if we train them that the science and biology is subject to your opinion or belief and that deceit is the best way for them to resolve their family issues? Aren't our children going to be tomorrow's leaders? Why would we make laws that teach them that their biological DNA is subject to their opinions if that's what they want to believe or that deceit is a resolution when the answer is not what you want? Law makers are put in a position of authority to protect and keep the citizens safe and healthy.  This begins at the family level and when we take the authority of the parent from them, we are headed for the destruction of our civilization.  We desperately need LEADERS to support and provide good leadership, not to deceive history, science, math or English. The Education requirements need to be aligned with the emotional and physical health of the students.  Helping students to navigate through growing into adults can often be confusing.  As adults, we need to help students navigate through that process. To compound the confusion and negate their physical DNA and biological components, is going to confuse them.  I have 5 children of my own, and have experienced helping them to grow through these difficult times.  It can be done, but not with the proposed legislation.  Implementing legislation like this will only compound the issue.  It would not be safe for girls and boys to be sharing bathrooms, locker rooms or to be involved in sports activities where they would be vulnerable and undressed positions.  Abusive circumstances that put a child these types of situations, do the most damage to a child.  It is not safe or healthy to put our children in this type of situation and outweighs any though of passing this legislation.


Public school teacher/mom of private school students  OPPOSE

This policy is damaging to children’s delicate psyche. This flies in the face of freedom of religion forcing teachers and families to submit to the agenda of the few. Please keep our daughters and sons safe in a world that is already scary enough.


Complete Support

I completely and wholeheartedly support this legislation to promote the health, safety, and well-being of transgender students. The health, safety, and well-being of any student should always come before the ignorant comments from constituents who do not understand the importance of affirming and supporting ALL students.


Strongly Support

Virginia is the home state of my alma mater. I believe this policy will allow our schools to become a safe environment for the current and future generations of youths to explore and affirm their gender identities.


STONGLY OPPOSE!!

Parents need to be aware of ALL matters regarding THEIR CHILD!!!! OUR children are not property of the school or state!!! Stick to teaching regular subjects and keep gender out of it. Boys are boys and girls are girls! When they get older then they can do what they want. I don't care how they dress but forcing others to use "correct pronouns" is wrong. If someone isn't using their correct pronoun then they need to get over it. You cant make others believe the same as you and life goes on. Stop trying to force the world to change for some.


Strongly Oppose

As parents of five children who attend Fairfax County schools, we strongly oppose the transgender mandates as currently drafted.  While we want every child to be able to attend school free from harassment, bullying and discrimination, the mandate as drafted creates a school environment that would be hostile to young women, teachers trying to focus on education, and parents who should have primary say in their children's lives. Young women should be able to use bathrooms and locker rooms comfortably at school without having to assess each situation to determine if other people in those bathrooms are there in good faith.  Not allowing teachers or other school staff to question the intention of someone of the opposite sex using a particular bathroom could put young women in an uncomfortable situation and, with the mandate as drafted, they will have no where to go to discuss the situation.  Young women could be placed in emotionally stressful situations just to simply use the bathroom or locker room.  Drafting mandates to protect one group of people should not, in turn, place another group of people in emotionally stressful situations.  We have taken decades to provide protections for women.  Please do not draft mandates that chip away at those protections. Please allow teachers to do what they have been hired to do - teach.  Certainly, harassment from a teacher of any kind is unacceptable and should be handled as appropriate.  I assume there are already policies in place addressing harassment.  Why specifically place additional harassment penalties in place for teachers addressing students in a way consistent with biological science?  Can we just let the teachers teach? This mandate significantly restricts a parent to parent their child as they see fit in accordance with home rules, culture and beliefs.  Leave the parenting to parents and focus on what schools are there to do - Educate! Children can be vulnerable at any age.  The schools here seem to be trying to take advantage of a child's vulnerability and step in and "guide them" in a direction without the school having full knowledge of what is best for the child.  This is not a place for the school to step in. Again, the schools should be a comfortable place for ALL children.  Harassment and bullying policies should apply in all situations but they should not be narrowed down to fit a particular group of students while disregarding the emotional security and safety for other students, requiring teachers to watch every word they say when what is being asked of them is contrary to biological science and parents should be the primary guide in the growth and development of their children. Accordingly, please dismiss the mandate as drafted.


Full support!!!!

I am in full support of this! It’s about time!!


school proposal

Please consider evidence based policies for our kids. Here's a great example of school policies: https://www.transgendertrend.com/schools-resources/ This group was an expert witness in the UK Keira Bell trial. The UK has taken a hard look at gender policies and found that those advocating puberty blockers, cross sex hormones and surgery do not have evidence saying they are effective in helping mental distress, or safe. Especially ROGD kids. The US hasn't caught up. I hope Virginia will stick to fact based policies for kids and young adults! Trans is not like gay at all. https://www.tinyurl.com/notnewgay  And it's not just a small traditional group pointing this out.. we are left, right, all over the country, many religions, gay, straight, trans... Thank you.


Policy for Transgender students

I ask you, as a parent, to reject the Model Policies for the Treatment of Transgender Students in Virginia's Public Schools as they are harmful to children and undermine the rights of parents and families. Science shows that there are only two sets of sex chromosomes, XX or XY and these exist in every cell. Feelings do not determine reality. Children and adolescents do not have the cognitive, psychological, emotional or moral developmental capacity to make drastic life-changing decisions. Parents have the right to listen to and guide their children into making good, sound decisions; especially decisions that will impact their health and lives way into the future. [My daughter recently told a transgender female friend of hers that she needed to let her doctor know that she had a prostate, which only men have, because she could one day find herself with Prostate Cancer.] This document oversteps the rights of parents. I can't imagine being "kept out of the loop" on such an emotionally and psychologically important issue as gender dysphoria. I ask you to reject this Model based on emotion and opinion instead of scientific fact. The schools’ responsibility is to provide a quality education in a safe environment for all its students. Period. It should be irrelevant what the psycho-social issue is, as it defines policies of treatment of students. There should be a zero tolerance of bullying by or directed at ANY student. It is not the role of the school to change social structures. We need to help those struggling with Gender dysphoria to get to the root of that dysphoria and to see they have infinite dignity, as they are, which deserves to be celebrated with truth and love. Peggy Oshinski


STRONGLY SUPPORT EVIDENCE-BASED POLICIES

I strongly support this model in which transgender and binary students are treated with dignity and respect.  Our education system should provide a welcoming and nurturing environment for all students all the time. In addition, policies should be based on current evidence and facts, rather than on hysterical overreactions by those who refuse to educate themselves about this issue.


Strongly Oppose

Stay off of our children. Do not confuse their minds by sowing doubt about the gender God gave them. Please!


Strongly support

I strongly support the proposed guidelines and any policies that support and protect all students in Virginia by providing a safe and accepting environment to learn


Strongly Oppose!!!

I vehemently oppose this and DO NOT support the proposed changes to the education policy that disregards parental rights, students' privacy rights and the First Amendment rights of all teachers and administrators! This is a terrible idea and I urge you not to support this ruling on transgender in our public schools.


STRONGLY OPPOSE!  Parents have rights. Trans students need mental healthcare intervention

The Dept of Education has no right to interfere with what is correctly a family and psychiatric matter alone.


Strongly Support

Denying supportive and inclusive treatment of transgender students will result in negative outcomes in learning and survivorship. Please move forward with efforts to support trans students in Virginia schools.


Concerned mother, grandmother, gg, auntie and a biblical believer

I strongly oppose! God created us male or female and has a plan and a purpose for each of us.

God created male or female and God has a plan and a purpose for each of His creation. Children need guidance to understand that they are already male or female and if changed there are a lot of mental and physical issues to deal with because their body is already telling them who they are and all children should be loved and respected for who they are and should be encouraged to love themselves for who they are.


Strongly OPPOSE Transgender Guidelines

The state has a legitimate right to step in when abuse or neglect as generally understood are reasonably suspected. Additionally, the Commonwealth of Virginia has the authority to set reasonable educational requirements to ensure that ALL students are treated respectfully while at school. However, parental authority should never be superseded by the State without substantial cause, and public schools have a high duty to respect parents’ fundamental rights and authority over their children. These so-called “Model Transgender Guidelines” fail in every way to fulfill that duty and must therefore not be adopted by school boards.


Fully Support!

I whole heartedly support legislation to promote the health and wellbeing of trans youth! We must unite despite diversity.


Strongly Support

As an educator, I strongly support this. It is not our job to dictate the identity of anyone other than ourselves. It is vital that ALL students feel supported and loved in their learning environment in order to be successful. Many people who disagree, don’t work daily with children to understand the necessity of an accepting environment. It is of utmost importance that we start implementing these changes, so our students can live in a world of acceptance. It is not the job of adults to object to anyone’s sex, let alone that of a child. I find it quite disturbing, to be frank. Let our trans babies live their lives without fear of retaliation or hate. Very proud to support this.


Policies for the Treatment of Transgender Students in Virginia’s Public Schools- OPPOSE

STRONGLY OPPOSE


Outrageous/ Absurd/ Sickening... NOT OK, NOT NOW, NOT EVER!!!!!

I have been employed for over 15 years in education in the State of Virginia.  I can not begin to express my overwhelming opposition to this idea.  Teachers are for education, this agenda has nothing positive to do with future children in the public school system.  If everyone wants equality, then lets take one example of your suggestion.  Instead of a young student going topless swimming, What if all students wore a shirt... Men, Women, or however you choose to identify, alike.  There is enough suicide, rape, molestation and  psychological issues with children, why in the world would you add mandates that helps enforce these issues.  The incident rate would surely be much higher with this gross oversight. The school system has enough work to do educating students than to stand and worry how the far greater majority of students would feel about a transgender child choosing an opposite bathroom.  The fact that this can happen without the knowledge of a parent, tells whoever you are that it is grossly wrong on every level.  Parents are fully responsible for the well being of their children all the way through their school experience,. One fine example would be,  the government considers children deductions.  How do I receive deductions for something I'm not fully responsible for??????  They are our children (I'm speaking as a parent, now) and NO ONE has the right to impose immoral values upon my child!!!NEVER, EVER,EVER


Strongly Opposed with basic sense

In God we trust. Justice for ALL not ‘justice’ for the confused


I Support This!

Transgender and non-binary students deserve our support.  God doesn't make junk - we are each made in God's image and how we express that is individual.  They problem is damaged parents don't always know how to love and support their children unconditionally. Some let outside forces decide what love looks like.  The statistics for these children are abysmal. https://www.glsen.org/sites/default/files/2021-01/Virginia-Snapshot-2019.pdf Many are abandoned by their families and not having family support leads to deep depression, anxiety, and suicide attempts-too many of which are successful.  All children deserve to feel valued and supported - whoever they are - if they don't get that from the family, they will get it elsewhere and schools either be a life line and a reason to hope or an additional reason to despair.   Trans and Enby students should see themselves reflected in curriculum and they deserve equal treatment, encouragement, support, and respect in all areas.


Terrible!...

Terrible stuff. You are going to create a climate of confusion and fear with letting kids change their pronouns at will, and forcing other kids to comply or face punishment?!! Leave my kids alone and keep all this stuff out of our schools!... we pay the taxes, but not for this! We just want the schools to teach our kids how to read and write and do math - is that so hard to understand?


STRONGLY OPPOSE

Virginia Department of Education is going too far here. Referring to a male as "him" or female  as " her" would be “harassment” and “discrimination” for students is appropriate. Why ? In the English language "him"is defined as " used to refer to a certain man, boy, or male animal as the object of a verb or preposition". If the person doesn't accept the fact he is a male or female, then the person doesn't accept reality. The general population of faculty and students know who they are . Contrast that with the findings of the American Psychological Association that up to 98% of sex-confused children will embrace their physical biology after puberty. ( https://www.apa.org/pi/lgbt )


STRONGLY OPPOSE


Condemn Va. Department of Education Transgender Policies

The VA Dept of Education's Transgender policies in public school is totally unacceptable.  The teachers need to treat each child with respect but not encourage them in their sexuality.  That is the parents' job and parents only.  Bathrooms are by gender. All children are to be treated kindly and with respect but not pushed into a gender crisis by schools who are taking advantage of a time when most children are confused about sexuality.  Remember your own childhood. I grew up in a rural community, with three brothers.  I played outside for years without a shirt just like my brothers.  I'll never forget the day my mother told me I had to start wearing a shirt to play outside.  I was furious when she said it was because I was a girl!  I firmly stated that I wanted to be a boy!!  What if my mother had said,"OK, sweetie, if you want to be a boy, that's fine, be a boy."  I'm not a boy, Thank God, and I'm happy for it.


Strongly support

strongly support!!


Trans rights are human rights

Trans people deserve the same rights and access as everyone else, appropriate to their gender. Anyone who disagrees is holding back Virginia as a civil society.


Transgender policy

I strongly disagree with this policy. It puts students, male or female, at risk. If the school district is looking out for the safety of all of our students, then this new policy will not be passed!


Transgender Policy

I do not approve of the  proposed transgender policies based on radical theories that eradicate all distinctions between male and female and indoctrinate our school children.


Destructive progressivisom

Gender has been and always will be a fundamental part of society. To cater to a distorted view of such a foundational aspect of life will cause unknown havoc on a child's development. Another part of this idea I find deeply troubleing is the lack of accountability and vagueness of writing. With parents not being involved or notified, you alienate the two people who know the child best and go behind the backs of those who ACTUALLY care for the well-being of the indavidual. You remove all accountability which shows that this is more about the destruction of fundamental ideas than anything else. What ever happened to focusing on preparing the next generation for adulthood? Why do we promote ideas that only show negative results on society and the destruction of foundational principals? Trading sense for non-sens only makes sense when there is an underlying agenda. - Anonymous


STRONGLY OPPOSE

My family is completely against this. If the Virginia schools want to use my taxpayer money to indoctrinate my kids and force them to share bathrooms with the opposite sex and have to call kids by whatever nonsense they make up that day, then I'll take my job and my family and leave this state.


Proposed Transgender Policy FX School Board

OPPOSED....This policy does not respect nor protect the rights ALL of the children....nor their parents....and distracts from the core objective of giving children the knowledge and skills to fulfill their potential as adults.


Strongly Support

This is long overdue. I strongly support this!


Strongly Oppose!

Please respect traditional family values.


This is wrong!

These policies are wrong on so many different levels and I am strongly opposed to them!  The “rights” of a few are being imposed on the majority. I do not wish to have a young man in the same bathroom with my small grand daughters or vice versa. Children by law are too young to make decisions for themselves. Parents are responsible for how they rear their children. All rights are being taken away from the parents. God created male and female!  One cannot ignore the obvious.


Strongly opposed

It is my understanding that our representatives are to convey their constituents opinions and not to try to push their own agenda. It is easy to see that the majority responses are strongly opposed.


Passionately support

transgender, gender nonconforming, and non binary students deserve the same rights and protections as cis gender students. If “religious” or “concerned” parents don’t want their children exposed to diversity, perhaps they should be educated on a system that owes in discrimination like they do. Such as a Christian or home school environment.  Otherwise, public school is for everybody. And everybody deserves and is entitled to equal protection under the law. Bigoted parents can take the bigoted children elsewhere.


My Nephew's friends

I hope this doesn't get lost in the volume..  My nephew belongs to a chatroom, or what ever they call it.  There is a fairly large group of boys like 20 that "claim' they will not allow 'trans-girls' to participate in girls sports.  I think they were talking like 'rough them up' if they try..  I just don't want anyone to get hurt.  I told my nephew not to get involved.  It's obviously perverse for biological boys to compete with girls (unless you hate females) I sincerely believe that bad policies have ramifications far beyond what administrators intend.


K-12 Ed

I am appalled and so disappointed that you would even consider putting special interest groups perverted desires to indoctrinate children over science and reality. I believe you all have lost your minds for even considering this


It the correct approach to address this issue

I feel for these children and agree they need support in the school system but as a father of two girls in LCPS I cannot accept shared facilities and as a father of three children in the system I should be notified of all emotional or physical challenges they may be having.    We as a family deal with these issues and not the school system.


FULLY SUPPORT

Let’s provide a safe and supportive environment for our LGBTQ+ students


Education or Indoctrination?!

Our tender children are sent to school to be educated, not manipulated, not indoctrinated, not made into the confused image of the latest agenda of social experimentation. Please do not allow this travesty of a document even to be considered. Woe to those who scandalize the young!


Strongly support this legislation

i strongly support this legislation for the protection of trans children


Caring for people doesn't mean lying to them about their biological sex

We do not lie to our children about who they are or who other people are. My daughter can pretend she is a dog, and it's fine and fun. She's very little. But we would never surgically attach a tail to her, put her in the doghouse, or feed her dog food. That would be abusive even if she agreed to it. Forcing the children in Virginia schools to agree with all this non-scientific trans stuff is damaging to them in so many ways. Stop lying to children about who they are, and stop confusing the kids.


A Gift from God

Each of the two sexes is a glorious gift from God. Our sexuality is meant to be offered back to Him either in complementary unity with the opposite sex in the context of marriage for procreation. Not only do male and female together reflect the image of God, but their coming together in a marriage relationship to bring forth new life is used in Scripture as the deepest and most intimate analogy of God’s relationship with His people. Throughout both Testaments, God and His people are portrayed as husband and wife or as a groom and bride. The creation account found in Genesis lays out this gender-based, matrimonial picture and sets the stage for the final, eternal union of God and His people – of Christ and His bride – described in Revelation. God created humans male and female, and that matters. In recent years, a revisionist transgender theology has been put forth in some theological circles that violates God’s clearly articulated and intentional design for the two sexes. This distorts His image and His plan for sexuality, marriage, family and the just and proper ordering of society.


Strongly Support Transgender Rights

I strongly feel transgender students they deserve the same rights as every other student and to be protected from those who want to harm them.


the 1st amendment secures freedom of religion which cannot be taken away.

The Gov't does not have the right to mandate gender discussion without Parents approval. Gender topics discussions is a topic within the family. The state does not have the authority to take action that is strictly the Parents responsibilities.


!STRONGLY OPPOSE! YOU CAN NOT CHANGE YOUR DNA!!! STOP THE LIES PROTECT FAMILY USA "IN GOD WE TRUST"

Our kids deserve the best how can we lie to them, that they can choose there gender?  These are lies, what's next I want to be a dog? We live in the United states of America eg: I pledge allegiance to the United States of America....under "God", do you swear to tell the whole truth...so help me GOD.  Even on our money "IN God We Trust".  Our kids should not be confused.  Stop braking up family's.  Keep the boy, girl and teacher bathrooms separate and kids there born gender. God Bless


As a non-binary person and former trans student in VA, FULLY SUPPORT.

I attended public school in Virginia for my entire K-12 educational career. I then moved on to a private college in Virginia. In early 2013, I came out as transgender and have since gone through the transgender metamorphic journey and have been living out and proud as non-binary since my high school graduation in 2015. My experiences as a transgender youth in the Virginia school system were mostly abysmal and traumatic. The “accommodations” that I was allowed in school treated me as “separate but equal”. I was allowed to use the private bathroom in the nurse’s office but I needed to ask permission each time (until Fall 2014 when I attempted suicide and received further accommodation). As a result, I developed between 5-6 urinary tract infections each school year because I was anxious about bathroom use and felt singled out. I was also told in no uncertain words that I created these problems for myself by school counselors. As a 15 year-old, I was tasked with “educating” the counselors about pronouns and trans terminology rather than them doing the work to support me and the other trans students at my school. This pressure from my school, anxieties about bathroom use, exclusion from sports, and bullying that was often unpunished wailers in a severe deterioration of my mental health and I spent a week at Poplar Spring Psychiatric in 2014 as a result. I’m in a better place now and am a private school teacher and mentor in Maryland now. My own traumatic high school experiences have allowed me to create an open and age-appropriate dialogue with my students about identity, acceptance, and empathy. Empathy was largely missing from my high school experience. At best I was an inconvenience and at worst I was unwanted and discarded as an after thought. I had several VERY supportive teachers who helped me through all the bumpy times and whom I respect greatly to this day. Their unofficial policies of support helped me through and brought positivity to my experience Implementing positive and highly integrated support policies would save lives, full stop. We should be concerned about our learners dying because our schools lack empathy. Integrate empathic policies and in return you will retain students, keep students alive, and cultivate young minds for the future.


SUPPORT because only REAL, TRUE Americans want freedom and liberties for all!

It is patently un-American that individuals are encouraging the mistreatment of other individuals based on sexual and gender identity. Transgender individuals are often unfairly discriminated against or made uncomfortable in part due to antiquated and slow-moving regulation. This document should be adopted to ensure that all Americans, even our children in schools, retain their individual liberties and freedoms.


Highly in support of this legislature.

Trans rights is human rights!! Infringing on the rights of trans individuals based on gender stereotypes and preconceived notions of what your tiny bubble world labels gender is nothing but a lazy transphobic cop out. Trans women are women, trans men are men. Stand for trans rights!!


Transgender Rights

yes.


Strongly Oppose - Parents Must Be Accountable for Children

As a father of one girl, I would expect to hear from the school if: -She was hurt at school (like in PE or a sports injury) -She was bullied or assaulted at school -She missed school or is constantly late -She is doing very poorly academically To think that she could assume a role as a boy/man and I never find out about it is unthinkable.  As her father, I am responsible for her care and upbringing. I would be very upset to be lied to or left out of the loop in my daughter’s life.


Strongly Opposed

Being a female who has been sexually abused as a teen, I strongly oppose to allowing a male by birth enter into a female bathroom! Not to mention the fact that my female daughter shouldn’t be using a bathroom with a boy! Who could potentially embarrass her for being a female! This is just ludicrous!


Strongly oppose

I strongly oppose this


Transgender recognition in public schools- strongly opposed

Please do not adopt this transgender policy in our public schools as this will ultimately harm our children.  Signed a very concerned Grandmother.


Oppose

oppose!!


Fully Support

I fully support legislation that will promote the health and wellbeing of trans students. This is a needed first step.


I support education

The education system should not be subjected to misinformation peddled by religious narratives.


Strongly support

I wholeheartedly support this guidance. As the document itself states, "84 percent of transgender youth feel unsafe at school, ... 73 percent of surveyed LGBTQ+ youth have experienced verbal threats because of their actual or perceived LGBTQ+ identity, 77 percent of surveyed LGBTQ+ youth report feeling depressed or down over the past week, and more than 70 percent report feelings of worthlessness and hopelessness in the past week." However, "a recent study found that socially transitioned transgender children who are supported in their gender identity have no elevations in depression and only minimal elevations in anxiety relative to population averages. This guidance will reduce those real and significant harms currently inflicted on trans youth, without causing any harm to those who are not trans. I therefore welcome and support its implementation.


Unbelievable

Wow, now parents rights are trying to be taken away.  Parents are responsible for their children until the age of 18.  Basically, parents will be told that what happens with their children at school in regards to their sexuality/gender will no longer be the parents business.  Then threaten to get Social Services involved to possibly remove the child from the home.  What a joke and a slap to the face of any parent.  Who does the school come after if there's a complaint regarding Truancy of the student?  The parents.  When there's issues in school with students behavior and such, does the school involve the parents?  Yes....  It is a shame in this Country-"ONE NATION UNDER GOD" that parents will be told that it's basically non of their business what life style their child is living or portraying to be, inside of our school system.  I promise, that NO ONE will EVER dictate to me how I should accept things regarding my children.  This a disgrace.  Where I live in VA, Social Services is beyond a joke on a normal day.  It takes multiple attempts to ever get Social Services involved when children are being abused and/or neglected inside their homes.  It's hard to get Social Services involved even when the children are being exposed to drug use inside their homes.  I hope that every one making these decisions to enforce this craziness for the transgender policies can deal with it when something bad happens to a student.  It's going to be a free for all, for any student that wants to prey on another student (especially of the opposite gender) that is weaker.  Our school systems should be ashamed.  If your child is confused about whom they want to be or what gender they want to be, then home school them.  Don't mess it up for the rest of the students education.  Most students accept each other for what they want to be anyway.  But attempting to take the parents rights away is not the way this should be handled.  Life for the students have been difficult enough since COVID.


Strongly Support the Regulations

Growing up trans in southwest Virginia was not a pleasant experience. By any means. I am glad that new guidance is being implemented to protect trans children and teens. No child should have to face discrimination in Virginia schools because of who they are.


Strongly oppose

I do not support this at all.


So Awful!! Are any of the supporters even reading what is in this?

This is terrible, and it opens up my kids to being scared just to go to school becasue my daughter doesn't want to use the bathroom with boys who think they are girls. She is already afraid of getting in trouble if she "misgenders" someone else, now Virginia Public Schools want to implement policies to punish her?


STRONGLY OPPOSE

This is indoctrination and otherwise serves no purpose. There's no need to forcefully enact this policy. People are perfectly capable of using the bathroom assigned to them by basic biological gender (and no it's not a social construct). The DOE is wasting time on this when there are far more important issues at play.


Fully support! Transgender students deserve to be supported at their schools

Transgender students deserve to feel supported at their schools and have their gender identity recognized and respected. Policies banning students from using the bathroom that fits their identity and other anti-transgender policies are discriminatory and will only lead to more bullying and harassment from other students and have an adverse impact on the mental health and well-being of transgender students. Most of the comments against this policy cite supposed biblical definitions of gender and sexuality. These definitions do not belong in public schools or state legislation.


NOT IN SUPPORT AT ALL

This cannot possibly be in consideration. Would you want a 15 yr old boy watching a girl insert or remove tampons? This is absurd. This will lead to very bad situations fornboth sexes. Imagine the sexual assult rates. All a girl has to say is hebtpuched her ornvose versa. Get real. Would you want your daughters topless arpumd a bunch of boys. Please.


!STRONGLY OPPOSE!

!STRONGLY OPPOSE!


Rules for schools and transgender

I strongly oppose the "rules" regarding transgender issues for public schools!


Strongly Support

In order for society to reach its greatest potential, children should be treated equally and cared for no matter their sexual orientation. To build a strong community it is important that all members are treated with respect and cared for. I went to a Virginia high school and had a transgender friend. She did not come out because of the fear of acceptance and bullying. She was already ridiculed since she was thought to be a gay boy. This resulted in her academic work being affected negatively. Luckily she had family and friends to support her and she is now a successful contributor to our community. Not everyone has this support. Therefore, schools should provide more support for all transgender students so that they can flourish and improve our society.


Transgender policies

Strongly, very strong oppose transgender policies concerning VA schools!!


Oppose. Concerned.

It is my understanding that the State of Virginia has a no-bullying policy in effect that would more than cover any issues being addressed in this proposed new legislation.  PLEASE allow parents to guide their children!  Both parents and teachers who have enjoyed the public education system in Virginia are being forced to leave for private education or homeschooling.  Psychologists have confirmed that most children outgrow "gender confusion."  This policy seems to be a huge overreach.  I OPPOSE PASSIONATELY.


Fully Support

There is no reason it should be 2021 and Virginia doesn't have A COMPREHENSIVE school policy regarding the health and wellbeing of transgender youth. This state has let the regressive, muddled and diseased minds of republicans and rural anti-social cultists drag its policies regarding the health of children down for too long. Time to believe in science and let people control their own bodies for once.


Strongly oppose this policy

I oppose this shift in policy. Our society should operate under the premise that parents will protect their child’s best interests, and school policy should reflect that premise. Society should not act in opposition to family’s choices unless a child’s life is in danger.


Opposition of transgender

To Whom it Concerns, As a parent of two young children in elementary school, I implore you to refrain from allowing transgendered students to use school bathrooms of the opposite, natural sex. Children should not have to be in the same room with a nude student that has the opposite body genitalia. This would create an unsafe feeling environment and, quite frankly, children should not be subjected to seeing that genitalia. In regards to athletics, the same should apply. Men naturally have more muscle and body strength then females. It would not be fair to have a male playing a female sport where they are naturally stronger than females. Despite undergoing a gender change, naturally born males and females should use their same sexed bathrooms and participate in sports of their natural born sex. Please do NOT subject our children to having to witness male/female genitalia in opposite bathrooms. Lesley Brady


STRONGLY OPPOSE

I hope every parent opposed to these regulations pull their children from public schools.  We need to stand up for our children. Keep them home and teach them values and morals; something they will no longer get at public schools.


men can't be women, women can't become men

A man cannot become a woman and a woman cannot become a man. The biggest claim of the transgender movement is that a man who thinks he’s a woman can really be a woman, and vice versa. You see this in many ways — from preferred pronouns, sex reassignment surgeries, and demands to use the restroom of perceived rather than given gender. The problem is that this is a philosophical claim that is not true, and can never be true, in any way or form. A man’s chromosomes cannot be engineered into female chromosomes. Altering one’s appearance cosmetically or surgically cannot change the underlying reality of a person’s biological make-up. The psychology of the mind cannot override the facts of a person’s biological markers. The transgender revolution demands that we believe falsehoods about human nature. And truth and falsehood have never been a matter of majority vote, because we know that there is a Creator who has the authority to decide and state what is right and wrong. The Bible supplies the framework for understanding the transgender revolution. A Christian worldview informed by the Bible can fully explain why people experience feelings of gender dysphoria. The Christian worldview is one that acknowledges that creation has been disrupted and is not the way it once was, nor how it will eventually be in the New Creation (Genesis 3; Romans 8; Revelation 21). No part of our existence in the universe has been left undisturbed by sin’s effects. This means that the brokenness of creation reaches into every corner of our lives — even our minds and hearts. To the same degree, every human is made in God’s image. To differing degrees and in differing ways, every human struggles with the brokenness of our own bodies, desires, and thoughts. And to the same degree, every human can find their true identity by recognizing that the God who made them has also saved for them and will one day restore them. So in this created-but-broken world, we understand that not all identities or feelings are to be accepted or fostered, because we are all guided by a mixture of good and broken desires. The great Bible story of Creation, Fall, and Redemption tells us that we should not be shocked that people experience desires that will not in fact bring about the wholeness they are seeking; and equally that we can never be self-righteous about how others struggle or sin.


Transgender rights and reading comprehension!

I fully support implementing policies to promote the health and well-being of trans youth. Many of the commenters don’t appear to have read or understood the document or its purpose. The Virginia Code has already been amended and mandates that the DOE develop model policies for school districts to implement no later than this upcoming school year. That part is not up for debate, nor are the existing laws or protections extended to students by both federal and state legislation. The recommendations outlined here are for evidence-based best practices for how districts can fulfil the requirement put forth in the Virginia Code to ensure that all of our students, regardless of their sex at birth, are ensured a learning environment that is safe and free from bullying and harassment. This is a goal that all Virginians should support, regardless of how you feel about “the transgender stuff." And just for the record, if you do find yourself opposed to the idea of equal rights for transgender folks, I would encourage you to do some introspection and really ask yourself why. Is it because of “biology?” Because we already know from modern science that there are more than two possible outcomes for “sex,” whether you define it by chromosomes or by phenotype. Is it because of religion? Because I know of almost no widely practiced world religion that does not uphold some version of the “golden rule” as a major tenet (and seem to remember something about this Jesus fellow who hung around the prostitutes and outcasts of society while reminding us to do better). Or is it just because you are uncomfortable? And does your discomfort really give you the right – in America – to restrict someone else’s freedom to peacefully exist?


It is important to be able to protect all children. Transgender youth are at a higher risk for victimization, bullying, and suicide. The protection of these students is everyone’s responsibility. Trans rights are human rights.  The protection of transgender youth is a matter of life and death for many.  The risk of violence and suicide for transgender youth is too widespread to ignore. I support this policy.


Strongly support!

I strongly support this policy. All children deserve equal protection from bullying.


Transgender policy

Strongly oppose


Absolutely opposed - extremely destructive to kids and families?

I am absolutely opposed to the proposed policy changes!  Children are not made "safer" by the schools throwing them into gender confusion that they are neither ready to handle developmentally nor even thinking about unless prompted by agenda-driven adults. This proposed policy represents continued interference by government and school related officials with families who hold to deeply held religious values.  It leaves schools in the position of being dishonest with parents and in a sense, so devaluing the role of parents, that they (the public schools) see themselves as the sole arbiter of what the student should or should not believe.  This is not a position that has been granted by parents, or God Himself.  Parents should not be bypassed for the sake of an agenda driven false notion of "safety."  This policy presumes, in reality, that parents do not have their own children's safety at heart or that they are capable or able to direct their children to healthy decisions.  This is a pompous assumption by our school administrators.  This is something I would expect to see coming out of Soviet Russia, not the United States of America. The public schools should spend more time focusing on adequately educating students in learning and how to learn as opposed to trying to reach into areas of social life with which they have no reason to participate.  I am absolutely opposed to this! No! No! No!


Strongly Support

I strongly support legislation needed to promote the health and well-being of trans youth.  I see a lot of comments about fear for daughters and sons having a trans youth in the bathroom.  These people commenting are not thinking about the other side - these trans youth fear using ANY bathroom or locker room.  Their safety and mental health is always at risk, so let's do our best to create an inclusive environment that supports ALL of our children.


I support.

I strongly support. The safety, well being, and happiness of trans and non-binary children shouldn’t be debated


Strongly Oppose!

The protection of innocent children is at stake.


Opposed

Distinction of public accommodations (restrooms) should be based upon biological sex, not gender. I agree that there is a need for improvement in school support systems for trans students, but the excess of these guidelines is inappropriate for school-age children. Standardized educational programs, designed and enforced by the state, that demand a distinct aspect of culture be accepted are out of line. Fundamentally, I do not believe humans can be transgender. BUT, I do believe that no human should be put down for what they believe in, what they want to wear, how they want to behave, what they want to call themselves. Who am I to get in the way of self-expression? Or decide what’s real and what’s not? To reiterate, these guidelines just overstep public education boundaries. Please, I am begging you to come up with some reasonable proposals. There does not need to be a dramatic shift in ideology. Also, in hopes that some other citizens will read this, stop trying to press your religion upon others. Your faith does not, and should not, define rule of law. Separation of church and state is a two-way street.


OPPOSE this bill 100%!!!!

I could not oppose this bill more than I do now!  This bill does nothing to protect the majority of students.  This bill blatantly ignores the privacy, security and concerns of hundreds of thousand of kids, especially girls.  Your duty is to protect and serve all children that us as parents have placed in your trust. You are not finding a compromise to give respect and privacy to transgender students AND all other students.  If a student is uncomfortable using a restroom or locker room with people of their biological sex, why is it then not okay to address concerns of students who are now in a bathroom or locker room with people of the opposite sex?  You have essentially made bathrooms and locker rooms coed by not placing ANY restrictions here during the most formative and awkward time in children’s lives.  How is that a good thing? Many parents have opted this year to put their children in private schools or to homeschool them.  This will only increase with this overreach into our children’s privacy and security as parents have become more comfortable with other tools and resources available to them!  And before you think, “Great, we will have more funds for less # of students!”, I can guarantee the students you have lost and will lose are in the upper echelon of your test scores - and we all know that does directly impact your perceived success! I URGE you to reconsider this policy and draft a new policy that address’s concerns of ALL students and not just the extreme few!  You will not be able to appease everyone 100%, but you can show that you respect and value ALL students by coming up with policy that reflects everyone’s concerns even if you do not fully agree with them.


Strongly Support

As a teacher, I know how important this legislation is. It will save lives. Support trans kids!


I oppose strongly - Schools are there to teach not to help my children explore their sexual identity.  Not to mention this is a direct violation of parental rights and sovereignty!  And a direct encroachment on religious freedom. I STRONGLY OPPOSE!


Support all our youth

I support this bill in favor of advocating for the health of our trans youth.


STRONGLY OPPOSE

I strongly oppose these policy changes because they will endanger vulnerable young people by allowing more opportunity for sexual abuse. I would have been horrified as a young lady to be made to change in front of a member of the opposite sex, even if that person was allegedly not interested in me. This policy ENDANGERS our children, it does not PROTECT them. It surrenders to the wishes of a small minority while ignoring the safety of the majority. What makes the wishes of a few transgender students more important than the rest of the students? Is the school system bowing to the popular trends of the day rather than standing for what is best for the students? What happens when students claim that they are neither male nor female, non-binary, and they wish to go back and forth between locker rooms depending on whether they feel more male or more female that day? This is certainly a recipe for disaster.


TRANS RIGHTS ARE HUMAN RIGHTS

HOW DO YOU LET THE MUSTY PEDO TEACHERS CHECK SCHOOL GIRLS GENITALS WITHOUT THEUR CONSENT? YOU ARE NOT ALLOWED TO DO THIS. first, this is very illegal seeing that most of our male teachers are pedos. Second, this is sexual harassment. Third, U MFS RLLY THINK THAT TRANS CHILDREN ARE DANGEROUS? WTF IS WRONG WITH THE GOVERNMENT. THAT GOV SENATOR HAS TO LEAVE THE GOVERNMENT. NOW. oh and also, why is it only for girls? You sexist mf.


Strongly support — we must do everything we can to affirm kids’ identities as they are growing up.

This is doing the bare minimum in order to affirm and protect trans students. Many of this Is already done for cis-normative students so why NOT do it for trans students. As a teacher, it is important to me that my students feel safe in their own skin. They won’t learn otherwise. If we’re talking about learning loss during a pandemic, the real learning loss is when students don’t feel safe enough to come to school because they feel threatened by their environment. Or when they’re in school, they’re so focused on getting to the next period unharmed and uncriticized that they don’t pay attention.


Strongly object

I am so opposed to this! Why can't we just stick with the Golden Rule?  The fact is that we would be encouraging children to make moral, life altering, body altering decisions at such a young age.  Young children being handed such a heavy burden isn't fair. Let them be children still!!


Strongly Support transgender education guidance

I strongly support these guidelines.  Transgender students need to be treated in accordance with their gender identity and to be supported in their transitions, not shamed or ridiculed by anyone, student or adult, at school.


Trans rights are human rights!

I strongly support trans rights in schools. Trans individuals deserve to feel safe and respected in their educational environments.


STRONGLY support!

i see a lot of people claiming school is there to teach, not to have children explore their identity. But if as a child grows up, the school oppresses their identity, isn’t that inherently harmful? Trans kids deserve a space, surrounded by their peers, for them to explore themselves. Clearly this isn’t something they can do at home, given the amount of transphobic and hateful comments left here by people who strongly oppose this. School should foster growth from every aspect of a child and provide a warm and loving environment to do so.


Strongly oppose.

Strongly oppose.


I oppose strongly

I oppose strongly.  Schools are there to teach not to help my children explore their sexual identity.  Not to mention this is a direct violation of parental rights and sovereignty!  It is a direct encroachment on religious freedom. STRONGLY OPPOSE!


I am opposed to this policy

I am opposed to this


Never

This should NEVER be passed ANYWHERE!!


STONGLY OPPOSE. TRANS CRAP IS A PRODUCT OF MOLESTATION AND DEGENERATE PARENTS

Absolutely not. The only thing transkids should get is the police called on their parents for CHILD ABUSE and probably MOLESTATION. There is no such thing as TRANS kids! These are just kids with mentally ill parents manipulating their children and probably molesting them.


Strongly oppose this bill. You cannot overstep parental rights.

Please do not allow this bill to be approved. The school system continues to overstep its boundaries by pushing parents voices out of the children’s lives each year. The school system was designed to teach math, reading, history, and science. They do not have a right to teach about sexuality, especially when that means forcing a bill that would exclude a patents right to know what’s going on in their own child’s life. Stop overstepping. Stop pushing an evil agenda.


STRONGLY SUPPORT

Trans rights are human rights. I STRONGLY SUPPORT this bill. Making schools inclusive, equitable, and anti-discriminatory is a step in the best direction. As a bisexual woman, I strongly support taking care of marginalized students, and flipping the script and what closed-minded folx see as "right." Taking call of all students means taking care of ALL students. Loving all students means loving ALL students. Educating all students means educating ALL students. Don't further marginalize and discriminate against trans students. They deserve space, and time, and a place where they can obtain an education without fear.


In Support of the Pursuit of Life, Liberty, and Happiness

In 2015, exactly 27,715 respondents from all fifty states, the District of Columbia, American Samoa, Guam, Puerto Rico, and U.S. military bases overseas completed the U.S. Transgender Survey < http://www.ustranssurvey.org/ >. 723 identified as Virginians. Data from the Executive Report on Experiences in Schools: More than three-quarters (77%) of those who were out or perceived as transgender at some point between Kindergarten and Grade 12 (K–12) experienced some form of mistreatment, such as being verbally harassed, prohibited from dressing according to their gender identity, disciplined more harshly, or physically or sexually assaulted because people thought they were transgender. Fifty-four percent (54%) of those who were out or perceived as transgender in K–12 were verbally harassed, nearly one-quarter (24%) were physically attacked, and 13% were sexually assaulted in K–12 because of being transgender. Seventeen percent (17%) faced such severe mistreatment as a transgender person that they left a K–12 school. Nearly one-quarter (24%) of people who were out or perceived as transgender in college or vocational school were verbally, physically, or sexually harassed. Let lived experiences rise above the opinions of others so that we make work together to end this history of trauma. This decision will protect the rights of all children to exist, thrive, and grow into healthy and happy contributing members of society.


IN YOUR HOME

s won't be happy until they've attempted to corrupt every child's mind with this gay homo . Transpeople commit suicide at a rate higher than jews in nazi occupied Germany even AFTER transitioning and being "accepted". That tells you all you need to know about how mentally unstable/ill they are. Now they want that for kids. No. Go yourself. Maybe if these people had relationships with THEIR Fathers they wouldn't want to molest and mistreat children.


STRONGLY OPPOSE!!!!!!

This is a very dangerous policy!!  Most people who oppose this bill care for and have empathy for transgender students; however, letting ANYONE go into the bathroom or locker room they choose puts our most vulnerable population at risk! Please reconsider other options to accommodate transgender students like allowing them to use private bathrooms such as the nurse’s bathrooms. We cannot fully accommodate the concerns/wishes of transgender students without then making MANY more students feel the same uncomfortableness and insecurity that the transgender first felt in the bathroom that matched their biological sex.  It does not make any sort of logical sense! Please protect and consider ALL students’ concerns, as they are all legitimate and worthy of addressing and protecting!


Oppose Bill 145 and 161

I strongly oppose Bill 145 and 161! There are sufficient laws that already protect students. This is yet another gross overreach of government and it must be stopped! The government is not and will never be a replacement for fair and decent parenting. Nor are they the authority on what parenting SHOULD be. In that, by substituting itself in place of parental guidance and basic moral training, you are directly undermining and degrading the delicate and PRIVATE fabric of the nuclear family, parental rights, responsibilities, and privilege. What this bill will further do is handicap parents and weaken family units even further. VA parents are responsible, capable, loving, and care for their families. If they are not, there are laws and procedures to deal with these issues. How will taking away parental responsibility to ALL parents, help increase safety & well being in our children? IT WILL NOT! We do not need the government to regulate how we raise our children, nor influence our morals & beliefs. STOP GOVERNMENT OVERREACH NOW! OPPOSE Bill 145 and 161.


I do not support and oppose this

This is ridiculous. I object. Your frontal lobe isn't fully developed until age 23. That is your decision making lobe. Stop abusing our children and putting these thoughts in their heads at a young age. Let them decide as adults.


s

No. off s


All in support are CHILD MOLESTERS! Round them all up and eradicate them.

Transkids are a result of abuse. They want to abuse our children. Say no to this


s

My kids will be taught to ignore these "transkids" and treat them like the gender they are not the gender they wish to be. Bring back BULLYING. We never had these issues when I was a kid because s got what they deserved.


hell no

Keep all the LGBT elsewhere. Go to a homo-private-school where the teachers can molest your kids


Strongly support this bill!!

Strongly support this bill!  Transgender students must be protected and supported at all costs, and this school system should be a place of safety and comfort for all transgender students (unlike the hateful nature of this comment section).


Absolutely Opposed

My husband and I are absolutely opposed to the policies proposed by the VDOE as it allows life choices to be made for our children that do not include us as parents. We will not allow this agenda to be pushed onto our kids. If we understand this correctly, the VDOE, school faculty/staff, and even the Church are expected to exclude parental involvement in our children's lives while in these institutions? And we are just supposed to be okay with this? It almost feels as if our children are being stolen from us. No, sir. No, ma'am.


Strongly opposed this bill. Appalling it's even being considered! Protect our children

I strongly oppose this bill. We must protect our children!


Strong Support

I support clear guidance and consistent expectations across Virginia's public schools so that all students feel safe -- a minimal standard that I would hope be clear and urgent even to people who do not support LGBTQ+ rights. I would welcome further guidance of how to represent LGBTQ+ people and families in curriculum and libraries (not just health). One example of this can be found in the MA social science standards: https://www.doe.mass.edu/frameworks/hss/2018-12.pdf . This would build on the state's good work in making social science more inclusive of black, brown, and native experiences. Thanks for your work in this process!


SUPPORT SUPPORT SUPPORT!! SHAME ON THOSE WHO OPPOSE

people who think people are gross for being themselves are the true and absolute scum of the earth. lgbt people (especially students) deserve so much love and support?? SHAME ON THOSE WHO OPPOSE. THIS BILL IS ROLLING OUT ANYWAY REGARDLESS OF YOUR OPINIONS.


Strongly support!! These comments suggest need for protection and support of trans students.

Strongly support. The comments posted on this forum strongly suggest that trans students are in dire need of protection, support, and equity. They are people, CHILDREN, and deserve to feel safe and supported in their places of state mandated learning.


Strongly Oppose

Strongly Oppose


STRONGLY SUPPORT!!

Transgender lives are equally as important as anyone else's, and should be treated as such. Ask yourself what you would want, if you had a transgender child.


agree!!!

trans rights are Human rights and anyone who disagrees is closeted<3


Opposed.

I am opposed to this bill. It will cause absolute confusion to our children and teens. This being said, I have no hate and only love for those who consider themselves to be transgender. We are called to show nothing but love foreveryone, but this bill is ridiculous.


Support all children

Support all children regardless of how they self identify. Everyone has the right to decide who they want to be in a safe environment especially children.


Strongly Oppose - Stop this indoctrination !!!

I strongly oppose the VDOE’s draft policies for the treatment of transgender students because: It clearly violates parent’s rights to educate their children with their family values. This policy gives the schools the authority to hide children’s personal information from their parents It also sacrifices and compromises the privacy and safety of all the students. Simply put, this draft of VDOE’s policies aim to instill in the students a set of habits and misbeliefs that align with an ideology against family values, constituting them in a clear indoctrination. I strongly oppose this VDOE’s policy!!!


Matt Alhazred, Pastor at Hosanna Tabor church

Strongly Support, only a Bigot would oppose this

We must support our children in any form they come in. To oppose this action is to show a vile heart intrinsically tied to a weak and corrupted faith and humanity. All who oppose shall be condemned for all eternity.


A Boy is Male a Girl is Female nobody dies from that FACT

Prove Children can suddenly be born with wrong genitals by accident. YOU CANT !  Brainwashing.

http://www.publicadvocateusa.org/news/article.php?article=10794&fbclid=IwAR0yuLoEUGCQULTyOBdD3M0CVLJcwyw5mxNPyDa3AJHbhAbEpIq56OsOlNE 1st the lies there was an outbreak of confused children, then fraudulent funding sex habit/fetish that somehow overnight landed in public schools k-12 in an effort to socially construct gender confusion 2017 https://www.facebook.com/familyresearchcouncil/videos/10155237328052442/ Clearly hiding awareness efforts for reality was a priority of the invested in this perverted CULT agenda https://youtu.be/hmWEU-G9Emw Why would it be ok to continually ignore Parents and Girls ? https://twitter.com/KLBfax/status/1351286028477341702?s=20 #KeiraBell Keira Bell could prob teach Gavin Grimm a few things about reality of taking bribes to encourage self hatred https://www.channel4.com/news/children-have-been-very-seriously-damaged-by-nhs-gender-clinic-says-former-tavistock-staff-governor Traceability EXISTS. Who will take responsibility for the damages done to minors being targeted ? If I told you people my family’s experiences directly with transagenda involving a 5yr old male and strangers claiming they knew his penis was an accident day 1 most of you wouldn’t sleep well again. The facts are this was a socially constructed perverted Cult agenda intending to profit from labeling children with sex habit/fetish titles. Drugging and Encouraging Genital mutilation based on feelings and coached self destruction is Blatant Evil. There couldn’t be a more obvious answer as to what is the right thing to do. It couldn’t be more obvious the intent is to punish people for pointing out truth. This is how


I absolutely support this initiative.

I absolutely support this initiative. It is my greatest hope that the impact of this proposal will be that the children of the those posters who are expressing outright fear and hatred towards these concepts will be more understanding, more compassionate, and more open-minded than their parents, having not been raised in the fog of condemning those different than you, and fearing that which they don’t understand. For those who claim their religious or parental rights are being taken away or, worse, that this action attempts to discriminate against them, I would like to remind them that lessons can be taught and reiterated at home to the parents’ content, but it is not the job of a public school to curate a worldview for your child that matches your own. More importantly, the separation of church and state falls additionally on to these state institutions, so that those who need those resources to be available to them, such as that of a good and safe education, can do so without fear of persecution and the distractions of bigotry. Your right to your religion does not outweigh a trans students right to live their life according to their choosing.


I Support!

YES! I 100% support protecting the mental health and overall well-being of our transgender youth! As a mental health professional, I believe it to be crucial that we begin advocating and protecting the rights of our children. This will eventually help to decrease the suicidal ratings and encourage individuals to understand their value as a human regardless of their sexual and gender identity. Trans rights are human rights!


TRANS RIGHTS ARE HUMAN RIGHTS

This bill absolutely need to be passed for the sake of our children. In order to have an effective learning environment safety and security for our children needs to be met first. This is not a difference of opinion, this is support that is required to be given to all children. We should not discriminate under any circumstance.


I support this

Strongly am for this. Support all people regardless of gender, religion, ethnicity, or race.


Strongly support!

Thank you for helping ALL children to feel welcome, seen, included, and supported! Loved children become loving adults!


Cease usurping parental rights under the guise of personal choice

It is time to speak science in regards to the proposal placed before the VDOE. The science, biology, of this lgbtq+ proposed “education” is sorely lacking. There is no scientific evidence that humans can change gender or can choose gender, which is a biologically placed matter. Allowing students of the other sexes into restrooms, locker rooms, and sports teams is denying science and harming children in more ways than one. It is time to let parents become the lead on their child’s personal acceptance of gender and sexuality. Taking away the rights of parents is a gross overstepping of the VDOE and completely irrational and unconstitutional. This is stripping the rights of biological women from all aspects of education and achievement and should be stopped immediately. Step down, VDOE. This is not education, it is politics. It is a clear and present danger to children and to women and it’s time to stop the nonsense.


STRONGLY SUPPORT - TRANS RIGHTS ARE HUMAN RIGHTS

Protect the students, all of them!


IN SUPPORT

I SUPPORT TRANS RIGHTS IN SCHOOLS


strongly support

People who identify as trans deserve protection in our schools.  Many of the comments here in this forum prove the vulnerability of those who identify as trans.  All children deserve to participate in school free from harassment.  I strongly support implementing model policies in our schools.


Gender of a child

May God have Mercy on your souls for trying to brainwash our children ?? I strongly oppose this.


Transgender policy opposed

Opposed to the transgender policy.


Strongly opposes. God does not make mistakes

I strongly oppose this policy. God does not make mistakes. I’m not one for hating on anybody but I do not believe in this policy whatsoever. God made either male or female, not in between. You cannot choose your gender, that is just absolutely stupid and ridiculous. Those of you who believe in this transgender trash is pretty much saying that God made a mistake and he was wrong. That is even terrible to think about. I refused to have my daughter go into any bathroom or locker room where it’s possible that a guy could walk in. If I ever find out that that happens, there is going to be some serious serious problems and that is a threat!


Strongly Oppose!

I strongly oppose the proposed transgender bill. It's not right to undermine & go behind parents backs regarding what their child is involved in, does or is disciplined about at school. No child should be bullied or harrassed but forcing, teaching, & encouraging transgender/LGBTQ agenda is reckless & causes further confusion to children. The Bible & nature itself plainly states/shows that their is male & female not only physically but their inner self as well. To enforce this agenda puts the teachers & children in situations that would otherwise not be an issue. Parents & teachers need to work together in the education of their children. Teachers should not be forced to teach & embarce questionable agenda without the parents knowledge. This definitely breaksdown the trust between parents & teachers.


Strongly oppose

It’s extremely sad and dangerous to allow children to “choose” their gender. They will undoubtedly end up with more emotional, mental, and physical issues. ?? Children need to be encouraged to embrace who they ARE, not what they wish they were. Also, very dangerous to remove parents’ rights in ANY AREA.


I doubt anyone who supports this has read anything beyond the title.

The title of this document is "Model Policies for the Treatment of Transgender Students in Virginia’s Public Schools" and is 26 pages long.  A one page document could be written to say transgender students should be treated just like everyone else. This document uses 26 pages to create new terms and rules to be used as a stick to beat anyone with the view that remotely opposes anything transgender. You must believe you can choose your own gender and change depending on how you feel at any given time. This document even suggests the school as a judge between students and their parents. "In the situation when parents or guardians of a minor student (under 18 years of age) do not agree with the student’s request to adopt a new name and pronouns, school divisions will need to determine whether to respect the student’s request, abide by the parent’s wishes" why would the school even want to be put themselves in this situation? The schools job is to teach children working together with parents. Not a single thing in the 26 pages makes that job easier for schools or parents. I believe transgender is a not a problem to be solved in school. What someone chooses to do after they are 18 is there choice. Before 18 it's parents choice how to raise their children.


OPPOSED to the Model Policies for the Treatment of Transgender Students Proposed by the VDOE

Good afternoon! I am a mother, grandmother and former teacher and I am opposed to Radical Gender Theory being introduced into our Virginia School System.  The students of today and future generations would be much better served if the VDOE would refocus and put their primary energy and attention on educating our students in the areas of reading, writing, math and science.  That is why parents send their children into school.  They do not send their children into school to be socially indoctrinated and engineered into group think based on what the VDOE decides is best for everyone.  Really?  We are trying to climb out of a global pandemic and trying to get the students safely back into the school buildings so that the world can begin to function again, and this is what you are spinning your wheels about?  This is how our tax dollars are being spent?  I can only imagine all of the "professionals" and "experts" that lined their pockets to come up with these programs that will infiltrate and pollute every aspect of the curricula, sports activities, clubs, as well as any counseling and advocacy groups.  I beg of you for the welfare of our children, please get back to the job of being educators and leave the parenting to parents and the family.  You have no business there! Thank you for your time and attention. Respectfully, Anne Patsalosavvis


Oppose

Strongly oppose


Public schools is no place for the radical agenda of a few.

This is a radical agenda. Face it. It is an agenda  of a relatively few people and should not be pushed onto everybody in our public schools.  Our public schools serve ten’s of thousands of kids and teachers.  They should not be expected to follow this confusing radical agenda of a few people!  This  mentality  is innately confusing even to the one it is suppose to serve. This proposal is not to protect kids-  it is to punish people who don’t think the same way as his radical few.  The school board should be smart enough to recognize this for what it is.


Strongly OPPOSE

I strongly oppose this initiative. Adequate protections against bullying and discrimination already exist while this measure goes beyond those protections to restrict the rights of parents and guardians by not only limiting parental involvement and the essential flow of information to responsible parties by the school but also threatening parents with the removal of their children if they take exception and desire to exercise their rightful authority as parents and constitutionally-protected religious beliefs which inform that family relationship. This measure is unnecessary and goes beyond legal bounds to infringe on parental rights. It should be strongly opposed.


Support

I support this, as it’s important that people don’t face discrimination from people who are too busy hiding behind “family values” to hide their bigotry. I also support sharing the mountains of research that only serves to continue validating trans people with the local community (even in our educational institutions) if that’s what it takes to open people’s eyes as to the harm they may be causing by opposing this. Cheers.


Strongly oppose. Never support harassment of any kind.But do not encourage children to choose gender

God created each of us uniquely and with His purpose in mind. Children are innocent yet naive and swayed easily. We cannot continue to teach the next generations to come that they can do what they please because they “feel” a certain way. We all have temptations and ideas that are morally wrong within us and need to learn how to endure through this life realizing it’s not what we want it to be. Endurance builds character. These children are being taught that it is okay to do whatever they please and have major entitlement attachments. As a mother of a son and a daughter, I will not stand by nor support this. I would pray with and for these children. Teach them they are SO loved by their maker and that they will continue to experience things in their hearts like this throughout their lives. I know this world isn’t run by God, so we as Christ followers need to speak up where darkness is taking over. I strongly oppose the encouragement of transgender acceptance in schools.


I support this bill

Trans people are people too. Trans children deserve to feel safe while figuring out who they want to be like the rest of us. All of us are made up of different identities so who are we to say that this specific type of identity is immoral? I support this bill and the safety of Trans children.


Kids aren't ready for this...

As a public school teacher, it grieves me that we would force children to swallow concepts they aren't ready for.  It grieves me that we would tell parents that they cannot teach their own children what they believe to be right.  This legislation is forcing on the population of our state at large a worldview that most do not hold to.  Our nation is supposed to be one of Freedom and Individual Rights, where each person is free to live by his/her own convictions.  Putting this type of legislation through sends the message that we must believe what the government tells us to.  I would have a hard time telling a child it was okay if he wanted to change genders.  Based on the Bible I believe God creates each person male or female, and it is wrong to force the people of Virginia to teach children and manage schools according to a godless worldview.  More and more families will decide to leave public schools for other educational options if the state forces them to swallow this viewpoint.


Parents must be consulted: Model Policies for the Treatment of Transgender Students

Pages 12 and 13 of the guidance document for the treatment of transgender students state that information may be purposefully withheld from "unsupportive parents." The status of a student's sexual identity is more a personal matter than an educational one. If a student is exploring their identity, especially if they plan to transition, it is a medical and social/emotional matter. Parents should not be able to tell the school what and how to teach the students. In the same way, the school should not allow a child make such huge, life altering decisions without the knowledge or consent of their parents, even if a school staff member disagrees with the parents' response. A family may already have supports and plans in place for the particular student. The school should never interfere with how a student is being raised. As an educator, that is not my job.


Strongly support implementation of these guidelines

As a Virginia parent of school age children in the public school system I strongly support the implementation of these guidelines. It can only help the mental health and school participation of students. All students deserve to be treated equally, fairly, and with respect.


Please don't ...

Please stick to the basics ... which the school system has yet to master.  Why take on another ridiculous and bad idea?  Just teach the children to read (and think for themselves), write and add.


VA Schools Transgender Policies ~ HELL NO!!!

Women & children have been assaulted and raped in Target restrooms since their policy of allowing transgenders in their restrooms and dressing rooms!!! Supporters of this policy want protection for trans children. What about the safety of the other children???


Strongly Support!!

I strongly support these policy updates. Schools need to have the resources to serve and educate their students. Schools should be a safe place for all children to learn. Enacting these policies shows a portion of our population that they are valued and supported.


Strongly Support

I support that transgender students deserve equal protection in all aspects of our fundamental freedoms. Life. Liberty. And the pursuit of happiness.


Support Trans Youth

I fully support legislation needed to promote the health and well-being of Trans Youth.


Strongly support! Everyone deserves the right to be themselves and to feel comfortable. #transmatter

I strongly support trans lives. They are humans just like everyone else. I don’t know why society is deciding what is the right and wrong way to live. EVERYONE deserves to be themselves and express it the way they want. We should support this community and to allow them to feel comfortable in public places. I understand the concern just like every other subject. We have to realize that this is already a difficult transition for their community to make.. so why make it harder when we could just try to come together and understand how they are feeling.


Strongly oppose

I do not support schools discussing any sort of sexual orientation/sexuality topics with young children. There is absolutely no reason that a young child should be exploring their sexuality before a certain age. This notion that we should encourage children to make such choices at a very young age is disgusting and serves no purpose in a civilized society. Schools should be focusing on the subjects they are teaching and good character traits in general - not whether or not you are male/female/etc. Teachers have enough to worry about as it is, and having to worry about whether they are using the correct he/she/they terminology is absurd.


Conflict with 1A Religious Freedom, Dignitatis Humanae and Conscience: The 1st Amendment binds State. Dignitatis Humanae binds Church. Conscience binds the Individual. I am protected by conscience. Conscience is protected by Church. Church is protected by State. The individual inviolable conscience rejects the authority of any forces seeking to compel action against conscience. Life itself is a steady state of religious ritual in practice. Any tax imposition or attempts to restrict freedom is null and the opportunity forfeit until which time appropriate efforts are converted to alignment of each individual conscience. “If a law is within the legitimate power of government to enact, then the First Amendment does not apply. That amendment is about what is outside the power of government and what it may not do.” https://www.americamagazine.org/issue/religious-liberty-50 By the very nature of the proposed regulation citing protection of the first amendment, the proposed ruling also confirms that religious liberty falls equally and irrefutably under the same sphere of influence. It is self-evident that which is outside the power of (State) government is equally and irrefutably outside the power of (Church) government for reasons the same. The supreme jurisdiction on matters of faith and morals remains the inviolable conscience of the individual. It is imperative that detailed and concise language outlining the relationship of individual conscience with the proposed is included for the benefit of each individual resident of Virginia. Failure to do so negates the positive moment in the spirit of the proposed regulation. This opportunity to realize positive potential and combine efforts of faith, hope and love at the individual level is at stake.


Couple concerns

While I support the people in the LGBTQ community, there are a couple issues which need to be addressed. One is restrooms and locker facilities. Sharing facilities with transgender people invites potential risk (woman in a male body) on the other girls - and especially vise versa. For a boy who was a girl, picturing the reaction of the boys towards that person changing in the locker room would expose students to a woman’s body a lot sooner, and there are boys who would find a way to act on those feelings. So shared facilities leads to increased sexual exposure to students, uncomfortably for (I hesitate to say, but) normal students, and the potential for rape and increased bullying. Next is gender the gender specific activities. Men and woman are biologically different, and even with hormonal therapy and surgical changes, a trans person will still be different. There are already examples of trans women competing with woman-at-birth and blowing them out of the water. Even the Olympics has a current one year mandatory therapy period before trans people can compete, but they are considering extending that because women who were men at birth are still out performing women. Allowing transgender students to compete in the gender they identify as would either make it more difficult for the students or overly easy for the students. Those are the two biggest issues that I believe would need to be addressed so that activities are fair for all the involved students, and general education, like gym, doesn’t provide more opportunities for discomfort, bullying, and rape.


Concerns about Transgender Policy as currently written

Dear VDOE: As a public school  parent, I am terribly concerned that your draft policy grossly infringes on parental rights to know what's going on with their children, is harmful to children identifying as trans, and is incredibly insensitive to ethnic minorities.  Arlington, Virginia (where my kids are in school) drafted its transgender policy with similar exclusive language about providing parents information about their children.  I am comfortable with where Arlington landed - namely, by making ample accommodations for children identifying as transgender but not impeding parents from knowing how their own children expressing themselves at school. It is A SIGNIFICANT OVERREACH for the Commonwealth to so exclude parents in such an egregious way.  If one of my kids identified as a different gender at school, it should be my right to know about something so important going on with them.  Furthermore, your policy suggests that teachers have more rights than parents in the lives of children.  Given that transgender children have such high rates of depression and suicide, it is horrific that you would want to exclude parents in important information about their kids.  A parent is the first line in suicide prevention; your policy may create horrible situations by specifically excluding parents.  Plus, it seems so harmful to kids' mental health to encourage these children to live with a dual reality between home and school.  Furthermore, while I am left-leaning, my kids go to school here in zip code 22204 with so many conservative Muslim families.  This policy needs to consider the needs of ethnic minorities that yes, may have different views about gender, but should still have rights to parent according to their creed.  Asking a child to wear a hijab (while no, is not something I will ever do) should not be a reason to call CPS.  Rather, counseling and mediation for a whole family should be the answer. Please revise this draft with something more reasonable.


Strongly Support

Non-binary children are children, they aren't something to be feared. The legitimacy of their existence should be affirmed, especially as adolescents when they are coming to terms with their gender identity. Issues surrounding locker rooms/etc. should be addressed by increasing privacy for students who desire it, not by shoehorning them into a gender identity that is most convenient for the adults involved. This guidance is badly needed, as many school boards across the state are unlikely to address these issues of their own volition.


Strongly Support

I urge you to adopt this guidance, which will keep my child and all others safe. It's time to dispel the myths around this topic.


Strongly Support

Transgender students are some of the most vulnerable children in our communities, and face a great deal of stress and discrimination - many of the enraged and bigoted comments in this town hall section duly prove this point. It would be in the service of all members of the community to provide these students with protections and accommodations, so that through their affirmation, they feel supported and are able to thrive.


Support trans students

I support the Model Policies for the Treatment of Transgender Students in Virginia’s Public Schools. Transgender students need and deserve to have a safe place to learn, just like all other students are granted.


VDOE transgender policies

I fully support the policies that are proposed to protect and support transgender students in schools.  Transgender rights are human rights.  Every child deserves to feel supported, included and protected in school.  There is no place for discrimination especially in schools.  Students need to focus on thriving in academics and social interaction when attending school and this can only happen when they are not being threatened, bullied and targeted by people who do not understand or care about them.  Teachers and administrators have a duty to represent every student not just the ones who identify as cisgender and heterosexual.


Strongly Support

I hope that those who are tasked with reviewing public comment will look at the abusive and hateful language used by those in opposition to see what this is really about. These parents are indoctrinating their children to hate and bully anyone who is different than them. Keep your hateful religion out of the classroom.


Support

I support this bill and future bills that move to protect trans lives.


Oppose

As a single mom, I put myself through school. I worked so hard to get here. I have been a math teacher for 7 years. I have welcomed every student to my class. I have encouraged every student. I have supported every student, but I will not condone sin. Please as a Christian as a mother, do not put me in the position to choose between my career, a job I have intense passion for, and my faith. My faith in Jesus Christ will win! I don't want to walk away, but I will have no choice. I will take my own children with me.


Strongly Support

This initiative can give transgender children the guidance and safe space needed to feel like a member of society that is respected and included.


transgender policy

strongly appose this policy, va says follow the science on covid but not on biology, want to take control from parents over their kids. if dont comply with their views you must be punished, no free thought for you think as we say.


Transgenders are not human

Transgenders are not human. God made humans to be male and female. They do not belong in our schools


Trans Student Legislation

I fully support legislation to promote the health and wellbeing of trans youth.


I absolutely oppose this

There is absolutely no reason to allow this to happen.  If children are struggling with their identity, then there should be some additional kind of unisex bathroom/changing room, etc. just for them.  They should not be allowed in the same changing area as someone of the opposite sex, what about that persons right to privacy? When does the majority get their rights back, and we stop accommodating a teeny tiny minority?


Oppose

I strongly oppose these revisions (changes) that would be implemented if approved. They are not something that a school should be able to do as it should be a family matter alone. If approved, they will be forcing this onto other students and teachers who do not support the choice of the student.


Support for brief

I support transgender students rights. There should be no question that any human should have to fight for basic rights and respect.


Strongly Oppose -

transgenders is a mental problem and parents must be involved


OPPOSE

Parents need to be a part of any conversation with the school in regards to the child.


Support! And Thank you!

I fully support this legislation. Thank you for following the science and making schools a safe place for our children and future leaders to feel safe and secure in being their authentic true selves!


support

so supportive of this!


As an educator, I SUPPORT our TRANS YOUTH!

It's imperative as educators (and just frankly as adults) that we make sure all students have a chance to be successful, and can do so in a safe, positive, loving environment. This policy that is being proposed is a step in the right direction. It's important that we respect a student's gender identity by accepting their pronouns or name changes. It's equally important to respect a student's privacy, if they request so, and schools need to develop policy to respect that. This will positively affect the mental well-being of many of our students in the commonwealth.


Treatment of transgender students

strongly oppose


Very Much in Favor!

I think this document is a wonderful guideline for how to treat all students with respect and dignity. Acceptance and tolerance will help reduce the incidence of mental health disparities in this community.


opposition to proposed transgender regulations

The proposed regulations would undercut parents' involvement in the life of their children at school and endanger the bodily privacy and safety of students. Thank you for your consideration.


Strongly oppose brainwashing kids

I strongly disagree with this attempt to brainwash children into believing that they're a female when they're a male and visa versa.  This stuff is sick and sick, mentally ill people are the ones that want to push it on school age kids. Kids need to be taught math, science, reading, and other regular subjects instead of having this sick crap being pushed on them. School is not the place for this kind of thing. This is what psychiatrists are for. If you're unsure of some as simple as your gender, you need mental help.


There's a reason for this

There's a big picture here behind all of this. If this society can churn out more confused, stupid, weird, mentally ill people, then the more Democrat voters there will be.


VDOE PEDOSADISTS

You don't deserve civil comments, because you are monsters to propose these things


STRONGLY OPPOSE

I STRONGLY OPPOSE  these nonsense guidelines.


Thank you for supporting all children

Thank you for supporting all children.  We should teach children it is safe to explore and express their identities, as long as they follow the same guidelines that apply in any other regard - be kind, don't hurt others, be respectful, work hard, etc.  It does not hurt anyone for a child to explore or express their identities and it will help them be better focused on school if they feel safer there.


Strongly Support this Legislation

Children need to learn to respect everyone, this includes anti-bullying.  Transgender children need to feel safe in our schools so that they can grow to become productive members of our society. I support this and any legislation that makes the world a safer place for members of the transgender community.


Barbara Leary Jones, retired School Physical Therapist

Strongly support these guidelines for treatment of all students

All students need to feel safe at school and should not be looked upon with fear.  So much of this is common sense inclusive language.  This needs to be adopted!