By Robert Marshall
Governor Glenn Youngkin has proposed public school regulations that require using a student’s name given at birth, using sex-based pronouns, and limiting access to certain school facilities based on sex distinctions for restrooms, locker rooms, activities, and overnight trips.
Loudoun, Prince William, Alexandria, Arlington, Fairfax, and seven other Virginia public school districts are defying Governor Youngkin, claiming a right to “help” students live a transgendered personal life behind their parents’ backs.
Instead of following Governor Youngkin, these jurisdictions follow former Governor Northam’s guidelines which allow public schools to propagandize K-12 children into the LGBTQ worldview with no parental notice. Northam’s guidelines include:
“… There are no regulations requiring school staff to notify a parent or guardian of a student’s request to affirm their gender identity …”
“A school employee’s … refusal to respect a student’s name and pronoun is … discriminatory.”
“ … a plan may include addressing the student at school with their name and pronoun consistent with their gender identity while using the legal name and pronoun associated with the sex assigned at birth when communicating with parents or guardians. ”
Deceiving parents is immoral, illegal, and akin to mobsters keeping two sets of books! This virtual kidnapping of a child’s identity deprives parents of significant character and life-altering information to which they have a natural right!
The moral price of ensuring that “trans” students can lead a double life entails massive, systematic deception and/or lying to parents/guardians by entire school divisions! Will teachers who refuse to lie to parents be fired? What happened to the inviolable right of conscience?
The US Supreme Court has long upheld parental responsibility and authority:
“… [t]he child is not the mere creature of the State; those who nurture him and direct his destiny have the right … to … prepare him for additional obligations.” (Pierce v. Society of Sisters, 1925)
“… the interest of parents in the care, custody, and control of their children— is perhaps the oldest of the fundamental ‘liberty’ interests recognized by this Court. … in Meyer v. Nebraska … we held … the Due Process Clause includes the right of parents to ‘… bring up children and ‘to control the education of their own.’” (Troxil v. Granville, 2000]
A federal Appeals Court in Florida ruled that requiring students to use male and female bathrooms corresponding to their sex does NOT violate “… the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment … [or] … Title IX of the Education Amendments Act of 1972 …” (Drew Adams v. School Board, 2022)
LeRoy Rooker, past 21-year USDOE Family Educational Rights and Policy Act director, stated, “Any kind of record about what a student’s gender preference is, parents absolutely have a right to that under FERPA … it doesn’t matter if a student or school wants to disclose it. If they have a record on that, parents have a right to it if they request it.” (Bethesda Magazine, 1/8/2021)
So-called transgender-affirming treatments advocated by current Fairfax, Loudoun, Arlington, Alexandria, and Prince William School Boards and seven other Virginia school divisions, “ … pose significant risks to fertility potential and outcomes, ranging from potentially impaired fertility rates to full elimination of reproductive potential …” [Ainesworth, Mayo Clinic Proceedings, April, 2020)
Eradicating reproductive ability conflicts with a U.S. Supreme Court decision that rejected an Oklahoma mandatory sterilization law:
“The power to sterilize … may have subtle, far-reaching and devastating effects. … There is no redemption for the individual whom the law touches. Any experiment which the State conducts is to his irreparable injury. He is forever deprived of a basic liberty. … in emphasis of our view that strict scrutiny … in a sterilization law is essential …” (Skinner v. Oklahoma, 1942)
Here is what Russian Nobel prize winner, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, suggested we do when confronted by authorities who demand lies:
“… Never knowingly support lies! … Will not raise a hand in vote for a proposal which he does not sincerely support; will not vote openly or in secret ballot for a candidate whom he deems dubious or unworthy … ” (Live Not by Lies, 1974)
Give a big hug to your children before you vote, either during early voting or on election day, Nov. 7. Please remember that Virginia laws and local school policies supporting transgender ideology and practices are supported by Democrat candidates and are opposed by Republican candidates. It’s that simple!
Robert Marshall is a former state delegate. He served in the General Assembly for 26 years.
This article has been reprinted with permission and can be found at fairfaxtimes.com/articles/opinions/choose-truth-over-lies-for-virginia-s-children/article_d6975208-5e39-11ee-9064-77c8fffb0738.html.