Virginia Department of Education sued over model transgender policies

Two Virginia public school students in complaints filed Thursday allege the state’s model policies for transgender students violate local and federal law, and they accused officials of ignoring evidence-based best practices and discrimination.

The Virginia Department of Education’s model transgender policies, which were introduced in September 2022 and finalized in July, allow teachers and students at Virginia K-12 schools to misgender transgender students by using the name and pronouns associated with their sex assigned at birth, rather than their gender identity.

They also prohibit teachers from referring to a student using a different name or pronoun without written permission from the student’s parent and prevent transgender students from competing on school sports teams that match their gender identity. Parents must also be notified if a transgender student at their child’s school is permitted to use a restroom or locker room that differs from their sex assigned at birth.

In issuing the model policies, the state Department of Education violated a 2020 law signed by former Gov. Ralph Northam (D), which requires the department to develop policies addressing common issues involving transgender students “in accordance with evidence-based best practices,” according to two separate lawsuits filed Thursday by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Virginia on behalf of the transgender students.

“Instead, in furtherance of an ideological and political agenda, the [Virginia Department of Education] directed schools to adopt policies that discriminate against and harm transgender and gender non-conforming students,” the lawsuits state.

The current model policies, which were issued under GOP Gov. Glenn Youngkin — and replaced Northam’s 2021 model policies that were widely supported by LGBTQ rights groups — “cite no evidence that supports the change from the 2021 Model Policies,” according to the lawsuits.

“They contradict both their legal mandate and the evidence-based best practices they’re supposed to reflect, and they have already resulted in discrimination that violates state and federal law,” said Wyatt Rolla, senior transgender rights attorney at the ACLU of Virginia.

“It’s a shame [the Virginia Department of Education] has put school districts between such a rock and a hard place by telling them to implement policies that could open them up to serious legal trouble,” Rolla added.

The Youngkin administration’s model policies have drawn sharp backlash from national LGBTQ advocacy groups and have spurred several student-led protests at public schools across the state. Dozens of local school boards, which are responsible for adopting policies “that are consistent with but may be more comprehensive than the model policies,” have vowed to reject them.

The administration has yet to say how the model policies will be enforced in schools that refuse to adopt them, though the governor in September said school districts “don’t really have a choice” in whether to ratify them.

Virginia’s Republican Attorney General Jason Miyares in an August opinion said “school boards across the Commonwealth should support and implement” the education department’s model policies, adding that, “It’s not just common sense, it’s the law.”

The state Education Department has not yet received copies of the lawsuits and is unable to discuss ongoing litigation, according to a spokesperson.