Students walk out to protest governor’s anti-trans policies
Students across Virginia walked out of class Sept. 27 to protest Gov. Glenn Younkin’s new model policies on transgender students.
The walkouts were organized by the Pride Liberation Project, a student-led coalition of LGBTQIA+ students working to create safe, inclusive, and equitable schools.
Students at 22 Fairfax County schools participated, including Annandale, Falls Church, Justice, and Woodson high schools.
About 200 students at Falls Church High School walked out at about 2:40 p.m., Principal Ben Nowak wrote in an email to parents.
Related story: LGBTQ advocates blast Youngkin’s policy to roll back protections for trans students
“Students left the building in an orderly fashion and were outside in the stadium for about 20 minutes,” Nowak wrote. “FCPS respects the rights of our students to engage in peaceful protest and express their opinions through speech and other ways as long as it is done respectfully, does not interfere with the rights of others, and does not disrupt learning in the school.”
The model policies call for teachers to address students by the name they were assigned at birth and prohibits teachers from concealing information about a students’ gender from their parents.
Youngkin asserts the policies are about parental rights.
“If this was about parental rights, then we’d be talking ending mass incarceration, stopping deportations, and expanding language access so every parent can engage with their student’s school,” the Pride Liberation Project tweeted. “But it’s not about parental rights – this is about hurting Queer students for politics.”
The organization wants Youngkin to know that “students can’t learn if we’re worried about abuse, harassment, depression, and our rights. All we want is to be able to learn in inclusive schools that let us thrive like every other student.”
these students are not very bright – or they would know all this does is give parents the right to be parents. This is what my taxpayer dollars are going for.
Would you say the same if the person was one of your own family? I hope not….
Momma Amy: this includes your statement also….🎈
Judging from their comments, I’m pretty sure Mark and Momma Amy “wouldn’t condone that sort of thing” in their houses. In other words force their children to live in the closet until they escape their controlling, abusive parents. The previous policy was written to protect children from parents just like Mark and Amy.
Again, Ron says parents who disagree with him are child abusers.
Hiram, nice strawman you built up there. Good job tearing it down as well!
I shouldn’t make this point, because you’ll ignore it again, but I will anyway. People don’t chose their gender. People don’t chose their sexuality. If a parent forces a trans child to live as a different gender, it is abuse.
Your tax payer rights are going to teach children to think for themselves and stand up for what they believe in… as you are right now…
Mark – that is not “all” this does. The proposal also relitigates the bathroom issue by forcing trans students to use the bathroom of their birth certificate sex… even if a parent is 100% behind their child identifying as the other sex.
Youngkin is not truly pushing parents rights. If he were, I’d be for it. Instead, he’s just pushing forward divisive policies that SOME parents like, much to the dismay of many others.
They left at 240? What a brave statement.
“does not interfere with the rights of others”
Like parents?
How brave of you to criticize teenagers exercising their right to protest. If the cause/movement was something you agreed with, I’m sure you would encourage them.
I for one am proud of the strong upstanding citizens that Fairfax County Public Schools are educating. Parents should not be permitted to prevent their children to be who they are meant to be. If a young child identifies as a boy or a girl, or a non-binary, then no parent should be permitted to hamper their child’s freedom to be who and want they want to be.
Bravo!!! More of this please!!!
Agree Susie, and I bristle at the notion that any of these policies have anything to do with parental rights, because it doesn’t. This has everything to do with limiting the human rights of trans kids.
It seems the republican playbook is “how can we remove people’s rights?”
– Abortion? Check
– Voting rights? Check
– Trans kids… working on it.
Next in line:
– Gay rights to marry
– interracial marriage
– women’s voting rights? (I kid you not… a Trump backed GOP candidate for congress argued that women’s suffrage led to the downfall of american prosperity. You can’t make this kind of crazy up. https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2022/09/21/politics/john-gibbs-womens-suffrage-19th-amendment-kfile/index.html Yes, he’s trying to walk it back, but ffs… who the hell says that in the first place?)
There is an election coming up folks…. If there is an R next to the name, it stands for “Removal” of rights.
This protest, well intentioned though it may be, is exactly the kind of publicity Youngkin is seeking as a reaction his clownish policies. He is the worst governor of Virginia in over 50 years. His only focus is on ginning up media attention to enhance his prospects of being selected as a VP or perhaps presidential nominee.
Those kids walked right into Youngkin’s diabolical “if the kids leave 20 minutes early, I’ll be president” ruse!!
Are there any teachers or former teachers who made comments above? School is chaotic enough without trying to figure out who is a he that is biologically a she and vice versa and trying to remember if a student wants to be called “they” or “their” or “them” instead of their given name. School is a learning experience and I don’t see that students now days are learning how to cope with the norm instead of forcing their agenda on the majority.
I’m a local teacher. If you can learn the kids’ names, you can remember if they want to be called something else, and if they prefer different pronouns. It’s not that “chaotic”, really, if you actually care about the kids.
I am a teacher too. Well said.
Cope with the norm? Please define what you mean by that. I have a guess but I’ll wait.
Lucy,
You act as if we live in a democracy, where majority rules.
Mixie
GT, If you have a guess and it’s that I am part of the LGBTQ community, you’d be correct.
Mixie, We actually live in a republic – supposedly.
So you just cope with the norm yourself and not try to fight for equal treatment/justice? People just want to be whomever they want to be, so long as it’s not hurting anyone, I don’t see the issue. This whole forcing the agenda thing is so blown out of proportion, no one is holding a gun to anyone’s head. It’s a request to be called something, way too many snowflakes out there.