HANOVER COUNY, Va. -- On Sunday afternoon at Wayside Park in Hanover County, high school students stand holding Pride flags, carrying signs in support of transgender rights, hoping to catch the eye of passing drivers.
Attendees like senior Aero Molloy were originally planning on protesting Hanover County Public School's newly imposed transgender bathroom policy. However, after Virginia Department of Education released a draft of model policies regarding transgender students in public schools, Molloy said the rally took on a new meaning.
"Originally it started out as something that just happened in Hanover, but now it's a statewide issue," Molloy said.
The drafted policies put more power in the hands of parents in regard to how their student is addressed in school. For example, in order to be officially identified as a transgender student, a parent must send a note to their child's school requesting that identification.
Requests for a student to use preferred pronouns that may not align with their sex at birth, and name changes, must also go through a parent first.
Gov. Glenn Youngkin called the previous policies a constitutional overstep, saying: "It is not under a school's or the government's purview to impose a set of particular ideological beliefs on all students. Key decisions rest, first and foremost, with the parents."
According to the draft, a parent must submit a legal document, like a birth certificate, state- or federal- issued identification, passport, or court ordered substantiating the student or former student's change of legal name or sex. in order for their official school records to be changed.
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That's a process Molloy is fearful of.
"This was the first year in high school, and I'm a high school senior, that I was able to get my name officially changed in PowerSchool and my parents had to jump through hoops to get that officially changed, because I haven't gotten my name changed legally yet," Molloy said. "So, for the first time, I'm finally not having to correct people about my name when they're taking roll. If I have to go back to doing that, it's going to be so harmful, just for mental health. For, how I want to go to school. I finally enjoy going to school for the first time in four years."
Koi Richmond, another senior in Hanover County, said school already feels unsafe, and worries about the ramifications of the policies.
"Generally, being a trans person at my school is not easy. My school has a very polarized dynamic," Richmond said.
The draft does lay out antibullying and harassment policies to create a safe environment for all students.
One policy some transgender students may fear the most, however, is one that could impact their environment at home.
It reads: "No policy, guidance, training, or other written material issued by the [School Division] may encourage or instruct teachers to conceal material information about a student from the student's parent, including information related to gender."
That policy could potentially allow a teacher to notify a parent of a student requesting to go by a different name or pronouns in class.
"A lot of kids get kicked out for being trans, and if teacher have to out students to their parents, then they could end up being homeless, and that's a really dangerous thing, especially for high school students," Molloy said.
"It's going to get so many people hurt," Richmond said. "It's going to drive rates of trans people getting assaulted, it's going to drive suicide and self-harm rates. It's going to drive abuse rates. It's not going to be great."
Those with the Family Foundation of Virginia are supportive of the move, saying this keeps parents in the know.
"It looks like Governor Youngkin is really stressing the value that parents are involved and we are not undermining their role in some of these critical decisions," Todd Gathje, the foundation's Director of Government Relations, told CBS 6 Friday night.
In the next coming weeks, there will be the opportunity for public comment, which will last 30 days. The VDOE will then review comments to see if any changes are warranted and then will approve the policy for school boards to then apply.
You can read the draft policy in full here. You can also read the 2021 Model Policies for the Treatment of Transgender Students here.
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