Virginia Gov. Youngkin defends transgender policies after student protests: Parents will not be ‘excluded’

Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin, R., defended his new draft policies relating to transgender students in public schools on “Fox & Friends” Wednesday, saying the rules would protect the dignity, privacy, and safety of students.

Youngkin’s 2022 Model Policies defines the word “sex” as biological sex, and the phrase “transgender students” means “a public school student whose parent has requested in writing, due to their child’s persistent and sincere belief that his or her gender differs with his or her sex, that their child be so identified while at school.”

The governor added that the new policies would bring parents more fully into the fold.

“We first want to love every kid,” Youngkin said. “And we want to make sure we’re protecting their dignity, and their privacy, and their safety. And the difference in what our policies are really focused on is indeed bringing parents fully in.”

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The draft policies, the governor explained, would maintain that if parents authorize a change in a student’s name, pronoun, or bathroom use, “accommodations will be made for that student.” It would also state that sports that are separated by sex will be separated by biological sex.

“Biological boys shouldn’t be playing sports with biological girls,” Youngkin said. “It’s just not fair.”

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Students in dozens of schools staged walkouts in protest of the draft policies on Tuesday, including in Fairfax, Prince William, Loudoun, Arlington and Stafford counties.

“The guidelines make it clear that when parents are part of the process, schools will accommodate the requests of children and their families,” Youngkin spokeswoman Macaulay Porter said in a statement to Fox News Digital regarding the walkouts. “Parents should be a part of their children’s lives, and it’s apparent through the public protests and on-camera interviews that those objecting to the guidance already have their parents as part of that conversation. While students exercise their free speech today, we’d note that these policies state that students should be treated with compassion and schools should be free from bullying and harassment.”

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Emphasizing the policies’ impact on parents, Youngkin said that his predecessor, Gov. Ralph Northam, D., issued policies that “excluded parents.” His draft policies from him, the governor said, are not meant to shut out trusted teachers or advisers, but to ensure parents are the primary decision-makers.

“The children don’t belong to the state,” he continued. “They belong to families.”

“Virginia voters spoke loudly about that last year,” he said, referencing his gubernatorial win over Democrat Terry McAuliffe. McAuliffe, the former governor, infamously said during his debate with Youngkin that he didn’t think “parents should be telling schools what they should teach.”

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Youngkin’s draft policies are up for 30 days of comment.

“I just ask for folks to read them before they comment,” he said.