Youngkin Constrains Transgender Madness in Public Schools

Today Governor Youngkin’s administration published its much-anticipated final version of the 2023 Model Policies on the Privacy, Dignity, and Respect for All Students and Parents in Virginia’s Public Schools, which restores parental rights and prohibits schools from hiding information about students social transitioning from their parents. 

After ten months of reviewing and validating all of the comments submitted during the public comment period and making final revisions to the policies, Governor Youngkin’s Department of Education has released the final version of the model policies to officially replace the “Transgender Model Policies” created by the Northam Administration in 2021, which jeopardized the bodily privacy and safety of students, violated free speech, and created a wedge between parents and their children.

The revised model policies are a significant improvement over the 2021 policies created by the Northam administration that fully embraced the radical transgender ideology without any constitutional protections or meaningful boundaries – like parental involvement.

Chloe Cole -- a teen who speaks publicly about being victimized by the “gender-affirming” industry -- shared in a recent Speak Up! Virginia podcast her perspective on why the Northam model policies open the door to harming kids: “It’s so perverted, I can’t even believe that’s a thing [educators hiding information from parents].  Because as a parent you have a right to know everything about your child, what they’re going through, what they’re doing. I mean, how else are you supposed to take care of them if you don’t know what’s going on? It’s really no adult’s right to get between a child and their parents.”

For over two years, we led a state-wide Protect Every Kid campaign to encourage parents to urge their school boards to reject the Transgender Model Policies created by the Northam Administration, and thankfully some of them bravely chose parental rights over the transgender ideology.

Today, we are thankful Governor Youngkin did not buckle to cultural and political pressure by radical LGBTQ+ groups and reaffirmed his commitment to provide better guidance to Virginia school boards about ‘transgender’ issues that is more in alignment with statutory provisions and legal precedence affirming parental rights.

Now, we are calling on school boards to begin replacing the policies they set in place under the old guidelines, with the improved guidance that is parent-centered.