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Protesters demand Chesterfield adopt trans student guidelines

Protesters are seen outside of the Chesterfield County School Board meeting.
Billy Shields
/
VPM News
Protesters gather outside before a Chesterfield County School Board meeting Aug. 13, 2024.

The Family Foundation of Virginia organized the protest at Tuesday’s meeting.

The agenda for the Chesterfield County School Board’s Aug. 13 meeting bristled with optimism: School bus drivers, principals and cafeteria workers all received recognition for their work over the past year.

But that optimism was overshadowed by anger Tuesday evening. Protesters organized by the Family Foundation of Virginia filled the courtyard outside the meeting hall, demanding the board vote to adopt 2023 statewide guidelines on school policies regarding transgender students.

Those guidelines push back on policies enacted in 2020 by Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s Democratic predecessor, Gov. Ralph Northam, in an effort to fend off bullying, harassment and discrimination against transgender students.

The new guidelines make it harder for students to go by the names and gender pronouns of their choice, mandate they use bathrooms corresponding to the sex they were assigned at birth and require parents to be involved in any gender-based discussions.

“Biological differences between males and females means that allowing access based on gender identity rather than biological sex will compromise the comfort, privacy and safety of young women in these spaces,” said Maria Rodriguez, who spoke at the protest and has a daughter in the school system. “Who will protect the rights of my daughter?”

But advocates for LGBTQ+ students’ rights say that adopting VDOE's policies puts an already-vulnerable community at more risk.

“There’s so much harm that can be caused,” said Shannon McKay, executive director of the advocacy group advocacy group He She Ze and We. “We have students now under the current policies who are living authentically and are thriving with a sense of belonging.”

The policies surrounding transgender students in Virginia’s schools have been a source of controversy across the state, with varying opinions on whether school boards are required to implement the Youngkin administration’s guidelines. The Family Foundation’s interpretation is that school boards are legally obligated to follow them.

“Chesterfield County Schools are currently in violation of the law,” Josh Hetzler, the foundation's legislative counsel, said Tuesday.

Protesters, mostly in support of Youngkin’s measure, packed the meeting hall during public comment, with several holding up signs; a corner of the hall was occupied by advocates for trans students holding their own signs.

Other school divisions — including Fairfax County Public Schools, the state’s largest — have refused to enact the guidelines. The Chesterfield board currently has no agenda item scheduled to consider the matter, nor are there public plans to make a statement concerning the issue.

“This is not going to be a situation where if you do nothing, we are just going to go away,” said Victoria Cobb, president of the Family Foundation. “We’re asking them to take action immediately.”

Rob Hammel, a teacher at Gates Elementary who has a transgender daughter in the school division, told VPM News that students “often ask if my daughter is a boy or a girl.”

“I explain my daughter is trans — she looked like a boy when she was born, but she’s really a girl,” he said. “And parents complain that I said those two sentences every year. So just the fact that my daughter exists is a problem.”

Previous coverage of the trans model policy

Billy Shields is the Chesterfield County reporter for VPM News.