Dear John, This morning doctors, mental health professionals, educators, faith leaders, students, parents, community leaders, and advocates attended the Virginia Board of Education's monthly meeting and gave public comment opposing the Dept. of Education's 2022 draft model policy that would remove protections for transgender and non-binary students in Virginia's K-12 public schools. We are proud of and inspired by everyone who attended or spoke today, and want to send a message of thanks for sharing your beauty, authenticity, and personal story. Together we sent a message that #TransYouthBelongVA. And thanks to those who joined us after the meeting for waffles. Prioritizing care for the community is a guiding principle for Equality Virginia staff and we are grateful for the continued opportunity to share space with our vibrant, strong, chosen family. Plus, who doesn’t love waffles? |
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As you likely already know, the state will close the public comment period for the 2022 draft model policies next Wednesday, October 26th. Thanks to the hard work of folks like you, there are over 60,000 comments on the policies already - and many of these are in opposition to the guidance! If you haven’t submitted a public comment against the policies yet, you can do so on the Virginia Regulatory Town Hall. Visit the Public Comment Hub on our website for additional information on the newly proposed policies, as well as tips, research, and prompting questions that will help guide you as you draft your statement. We understand that navigating to the Town Hall page and potentially seeing comments with harmful language in support of the policy can be a negative or triggering experience for folks, which is why we’ve created our own Public Comment Portal where you can submit your comment instead, and we’ll upload it to the Town Hall page for you. We cannot thank you enough for all of the time, effort, and love that you have poured into advocating for trans students and their rights over the past few weeks, months, and years. While these final six days of the public comment period will be heavy in many ways, there is also joy and connection to be found as we work together to push back on these policies - and we hope everyone is able to access that collective joy as we move forward in our advocacy. Please remember to check in with yourself, lean on your community, and take breaks when you need them - and reach out to me at [email protected] if there is any additional support that Equality Virginia can provide. |
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In solidarity, Narissa S. Rahaman (she/her) Executive Director |
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