Albemarle County Public Schools, for example, have adopted a policy to allow male students to use facilities designated for females, and vice versa.
The district's "Policy on the Treatment of Transgender and Gender-Expansive Students" document declares its objective is to "maintain a safe and supportive school environment for all students free from harassment, intimidation, and/or bullying and free from discrimination because of actual or perceived … gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation … or any other protected class."
But as it works to accommodate those gender-confused students, the district has disregarded the comfort and safety of everyone else.
"It is quite an absurd and offensive comment to say that feeling uncomfortable isn't a good reason to object to students using bathrooms and locker rooms designated for the opposite sex," comments Todd Gathje of The Family Foundation. "Parents of students, they have every right to feel uncomfortable and vulnerable."
That is one reason why Governor Glenn Youngkin (R) has finalized his guidance on the matter.
Formalized Tuesday, the new policies direct local districts to roll back some current accommodations and increase parental notification requirements regarding discussions of gender identity.
The guidance says students' participation in certain school programming and use of school facilities like bathrooms or locker rooms should be based on the sex assigned at birth. It also says students who are minors must be referred to by the name and pronouns in their official records, unless a parent approves of something else.
Though the new policies have been sharply criticized by LGBTQ+ advocates, Gathje says Gov. Youngkin is "making sure that we restore some commonsense approaches to this transgender issue, making sure that parents can properly exercise their fundamental right to ensure that their child is safe while at school to make decisions regarding their education, and then to protect constitutional rights of students and those parents."
LifeSiteNews.com points out that conservatives warn that forcing girls to share intimate facilities with members of the opposite sex violates their privacy rights, subjects them to needless emotional stress, and gives potential male predators a viable pretext to enter female bathrooms, showers, or changing areas by simply claiming transgender status.
The latter problem was put on full display in Virginia last year, when a grand jury returned charges against Loudoun County Public Schools' fired Superintendent Scott Ziegler for allegedly covering up the rape of two female students by a "transgender" classmate in a girls' bathroom due to its damaging implications for the LGBTQ+ movement.
