Victoria Cobb, President of The Family Foundation Thursday, January 9, 2020

Tomorrow is a HUGE day for parental rights and religious liberty as the Senate Education and Health Subcommittee will take up SB 161, patroned by Jennifer Boysco (D - 33, Herndon), which would require the Department of Education to develop model policies concerning the treatment of transgender students in public elementary and secondary schools.

This bill would mandate local school divisions to develop policies on how schools must handle situations that involve students of one biological sex who identify as the opposite sex, including i) the use of bathrooms and locker rooms, ii) the use of pronouns when identifying students, and iii) allowing biological males to participate in all-female sports teams. SB161 would push radical sexual orientation and gender identity policies onto parents and their children that intrude on their personal convictions.

CLICK HERE to email Senate Subcommittee Members to Oppose SB 161 (https://familyfoundation.salsalabs.org/202019TransgenderPoliciesSB161/index.html?eType=EmailBlastContent&eId=7146e186-2b65-4c7d-83b7-96ba1f838205)

These proposed policies are like all of the nondiscrimination policies that have been approved by numerous school boards in Virginia which allow boys to use female locker rooms or be bathrooms, and possibly even share the same hotel room for school sponsored events.

Not only will this bill mandate policies that force extreme issues onto students and their parents, but it will have serious consequences for teachers who follow their deeply held religious convictions.

You may recall Peter Vlaming who was fired by the West Point School Board, because he refused to use male pronouns when addressing a female student who, after two years in Mr. Vlaming’s French class, decided to begin identifying as a boy. Mr. Vlaming made an effort to be respectful of the student by using the student’s newly chosen (traditionally male) name, and to refrain from using any pronouns altogether. All he did was follow his conscience, which would not let him speak objective falsehoods that did not align with biological realities. (To read more about what happened click HERE and HERE.)

SB 161 would no doubt lead to more cases like Peter Vlaming's, which will only deter highly qualified people from pursing the teaching profession.

CLICK HERE to email Senate Subcommittee Members to Oppose SB 161 (https://familyfoundation.salsalabs.org/202019TransgenderPoliciesSB161/index.html?eType=EmailBlastContent&eId=7146e186-2b65-4c7d-83b7-96ba1f838205)

Stand with us against this deliberate attack on our fundamental rights as parents and our religious liberty.