Transgender policy provokes strong response during Board of Education meeting

RICHMOND, Va. (WDBJ) - Virginia’s model policies for transgender students brought strong reaction from supporters and opponents during a meeting of the Virginia Board of Education Thursday morning.

Members of the board listened to speakers for well over two hours, and most of the comments involved the policies that will determine how school systems across the state deal with transgender students.

The guidelines now under review call for parents to be notified when a student identifies as transgender, and for participation in sports and use of bathrooms to correspond with a student’s gender at birth.

“My parental rights don’t stop where your feelings begin, in a pseudo-science that’s destroying children,” said one speaker who supports the Youngkin administration proposal.

“Any policy that directs teachers and staff to mistreat their students in this way is discriminatory at best and deadly at worst,” said another speaker who argued against the change in policy.

The Board of Education isn’t expected to vote on the model policies. The Department of Education will determine what is included in the final regulations.

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