This article was written with the help of Julie, a WoLF volunteer

Earlier this fall, the Virginia Department of Education (VDOE) announced a revision to its 2021 “Model Policies for the Treatment of Transgender Students in Virginia’s Public Schools.” You can read the 2021 policies here, and see the proposed 2022 revised policies here. The goal of the 2022 version is to provide “public elementary and secondary schools with model policies that support positive and safe learning environments for all students while respecting the rights and values of parents.” After posting the 2022 “Model Policies,” a 30-day public comment period began.

A few weeks ago, WoLF submitted its comments, along with 71,297 other organizations and individuals. A quick search through the numerous comments indicated that gender ideology supporters submitted numerous comments related to the threat of children dying by suicide. The threat of children’s suicide is frequently used by gender ideologues to frighten and silence parents, educators, and other authority figures who are concerned about the harms posed by child medicalization.

The VDOE introduced its revised policies by stating that “the 2021 Model Policies promoted a specific viewpoint aimed at achieving cultural and social transformation in schools. The 2021 Model Policies also disregarded the rights of parents and ignored other legal and constitutional principles that significantly impact how schools educate students, including transgender students.” In contrast, the proposed 2022 model policies made it clear that parents’ rights were front and center; parental rights were the first topic listed in the proposed policies’ list of “Guiding Principles.” The proposed policies included statements like “Schools should “defer to parents to make the best decisions with respect to their children” and “Schools shall keep parents informed about their children’s well-being.”

In its public comments to VDOE, WoLF expressed support for many of the revisions made to the 2021 Model Policies, such as defining “sex” to mean biological sex, and applying that definition to protect the rights of women and girls. In the proposed model policies, segregation by sex would be upheld in sports, locker rooms, overnight accommodations, etc. with “reasonable modifications to this policy only to the extent required by federal law.” WoLF stated that the proposed policies also benefited from the removal of incoherent terms and language used in the 2021 version, such as ”assigned at birth.” The 2021 Model Policies provided a glossary for other vague and incoherent terms, including “non-binary”, “cis-gender”, and “gender-expansive” – the 2022 proposed policies did not include this glossary. Unfortunately, the term “gender identity” was included in the proposed policies and was undefined. In its comments, WoLF explained to the VDOE why it was so important to clearly define this term. 

Because so many other public comments already addressed the importance of sex-segregated sports, bathrooms, and locker rooms, WoLF’s comments focused on other issues of importance including free speech, safeguarding of bona fide occupational qualifications, and the incorrect use of of Bostock to support unlawful guidance. In addition to applauding the revisions made by VDOE, WoLF also provided suggestions for improvement to the policies, including the use of coherently-defined terms and the protection of lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) students.

WoLF has a long history of fighting to defend free speech and women’s rights in educational settings, including the submission of public comments for proposed Title IX regulations, and the submission of amicus briefs for Peter Vlaming v. West Point School Board, A.M. v. Indianapolis Public Schools, Drew Adams v. School Board of St. Johns County, and GG v. Gloucester County School Board.

You can read WoLF’s VDOE comments here. Due to the large number of comments received, the effective date of the 2022 Model Policies has been pushed back a month, to November 26, in order to allow VDOE to allow more time to evaluate the comments.