Highlights: - Equality Virginia (EV) has spent a decade working with advocates and local communities, school district by school district, to update bullying and non-discrimination policies to protect LGBTQ students and staff. There have been meaningful successes, but it has moved slowly, so Equality Virginia worked with Senator Boysko and Delegate Simon to introduce, for the first time, legislation to create statewide guidance equipping school districts with the tools they need to serve all students, especially trans students.
- Senator Boysko noted transgender students’ participation in athletics according to their gender identity was the only real sticking point for some community members and fellow senators. That part of the bill was removed, after consulting with stakeholders, to ensure more support for the bill on all sides of the aisle. Luckily, that part of the bill was redundant since the Virginia High School League (VHSL) has already had a statewide policy allowing trans students to participate in school sports based on their gender identity.
- Delegate Simon framed the bill to his colleagues as providing localities the tools and resources administrators, teachers, parents, and students need and have asked for. They have questions, and the model policies that will come out of the VA Department of Education (DOE) will provide answers based on best practices and current research.
- Ted Lewis explained that Side by Side supported this legislation by collecting thousands of postcards to send to legislators and they worked to connect young people and their family members to committee testimony, in-person meetings, and calls and emails to legislators.
- Shannon McKay said He She Ze and We has helped lay the groundwork for building safer schools in Central Virginia by collaborating with parents of trans youth and school boards to support trans students. She also discussed how many school officials simply don’t know how to support trans youth or are afraid of parent backlash.
- Nicolle Campa highlighted how advocacy is a core value of Metro DC PFLAG’s work, and becomes all the more urgent after seeing the devastating effect that unsafe school environments have on trans youth in their support groups. Metro DC PFLAG mobilized their Virginia groups to send letters of support, join EV’s Day of Action, and contact their representatives.
- Claire Gastañaga explained legal precedents such as the on-going Gavin Grimm case and the VA constitution which enshrines all Virginians’ right to an education while giving local school boards authority over education, which is why the legislation requires the DOE to craft model policies and for the school boards to adopt and implement them.
- All of the speakers encouraged advocates to be involved early and often both with ensuring the DOE policies are sufficient and making sure the school boards support these efforts and see the outpouring of communal support for trans youth and their families.
We hope you will join us for the rest of this series to learn more about the many pro-equality bills that passed in the General Assembly and find out what they mean for the community. Click here to see the schedule, read the descriptions, and register. Don’t forget to invite your friends and family too! | |
Please join us on Tuesday, May 12, from 12:00-1:00pm, for our session to celebrate Virginia protecting the transgender community from discrimination in health insurance coverage. We have a robust panel lined up, including: Delegate Danica Roem, Katie Keith who is a Steering Committee Member of OUT2Enroll, Brandon Robinson with the Virginia Association of Health Plans, and Afton Bradley and Melissa-Irene Jackson from the Virginia League for Planned Parenthood. We look forward to seeing you on Zoom soon! In Solidarity,
All of us at Equality Virginia | |
