Elliot Skelton, Contributing Writer
A group of around 50 could be seen in Monroe Park, on campus and in the Richmond area on Friday, Sept. 22. They were protesting Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s 2022 Model Trans Policies.
The protestors were holding signs “protect trans youth,” wearing the trans flag and chanting “trans rights are human rights.”
Congresspeople across the nation have proposed over 500 bills limiting the rights of transgender individuals nationwide, most of them focusing on youth under 18, according to Trans Legislation Tracker.
In Virginia, 11 bills have been proposed in 2023 alone, focusing on transgender individuals in public K-12 schools, according to the website.
Youngkin proposed an update to the model policies for how schools are to treat transgender students in 2022, according to the model policies. This model includes “Guiding Principles” for schools and teachers to follow when they are made aware of a student who identifies as transgender.
The second principle states that schools should defer to parents to make the best choices for their students. This includes deciding names or pronouns, and any social or physical transitioning of the child’s gender.
The third states that parents should be “fully informed” about any important matters regarding the child, which now includes any attempts at a social transition within schools that is not occurring at home.
The protest’s organizer, Ranger Ballesen, chose to host it Friday because it was the first day of early voting in Virginia. Ballesen said he wanted to make sure everybody knew that “this wasn’t just a social issue, this is also a political issue.”
Many VCU students attended the rally, including Mary-Catherine Kain, president of the LGBT future educators at VCU.
“It’s an incredibly terrifying time to be a trans teacher, to be a queer teacher,” Kain said.“As an educator, we have a duty to step up and do what’s right for our students, and I know that this is what’s right for students.”
Vivian Williams, a first-year student who has recently gone through the public school system said she is worried about the new anti-trans policies and sympathized with the struggles that students may face.
“I am here because I am freshly done with going through the public school system as a trans person,” Williams said. “I am very concerned about everything being even more difficult.”
Parents and members of the Virginia ACLU and an organization, He She Ze and We, are concerned about the impact of these policies and attended the rally.
Shannon McKay, a parent of a transgender child and the executive director of He She Ze and We, attended the rally because she felt it was important to support the voices of young people.
“Disappointing is not strong enough of a word,” McKay said about the new policies. “Students need protections in place regardless of zip code. Every student deserves respect and dignity.”
The 2021 model policies stated that students should have their choice of name and pronouns respected by staff, with no need for proof or contacting home. McKay says it’s “devastating to see the roll back.”
Leave a Reply