YORK COUNTY, Va. — Another chapter in the debate over model policies in Virginia schools is unfolding; two students, one from Hampton Roads, are now part of new lawsuits seeking to overturn the Virginia Department of Education’s guidelines for 2023 model policies, claiming the guidelines are harming LGBTQ+ students, not helping them.
“We filed two lawsuits on behalf of trans young people," said Virginia ACLU Senior Trans Rights Attorney Wyatt Rolla.
In one case the ACLU of Virginia is taking, a student in York County alleges a teacher refused to address her by her preferred name.
In Hanover County, a student claims they were not allowed to participate in a girls' sports team.
Both said they’ve been harmed by the Virginia Department of Education's 2023 model policies.
“Absolutely, this is impacting people across the state of Virginia," said Rolla. "What these lawsuits say is that these model policies fail those standards that are laid out in the law for what they must contain. They are not in accordance with evidenced-based practice, and they don’t provide the kind of guidance that the law intended for the model policies to provide.”
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A state law passed in 2020 requires the Virginia Department of Education (VDOE) to develop policies to help ensure schools are safe and welcoming environments for LGBTQ+ students. School districts then have to decide whether or not to adopt the policies.
"The new, 2023 model policies are not based on some dangerous, political ideology. They are founded in reality and in truth," former Virginia Beach teacher Brenda Pence said at a Virginia Beach School Board meeting in August 2023 in which the 2023 model policies were discussed.
The issue tends to draw a lot of speakers at school board meetings, as was the case at the meeting in Virginia Beach.
Many people made arguments for adopting them.
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"If you do not do this tonight, if you support not adopting these policies, I’m going to ask you to reflect for a moment on what message that sends to your teachers, to your administrators, and to your staff. You’re basically telling them you don’t have to follow the rules if you don’t want to," Virginia Beach resident Vincent Smith.
But what is it that makes LGBTQ+ issues so contentious?
“I think the thing that makes some issues more contentious than others depends upon to what extent they sort of attach themselves to central narratives and stories of who we are as individuals and who we are as a people," said CNU professor Dr. Jamie Harris.
Harris is a professor in the Department of Sociology, Social Work, and Anthropology and said personal and social identities are always works in progress.
“Don’t try to learn about people or learn their position so that you can attack them. When we learn for understanding, I think we’re in a better place," said Harris.
News 3 did reach out to the VDOE. A spokesperson said the VDOE could not comment on the lawsuits because the VDOE had not had time to review them.
News 3 also reached out to the school boards in York and Hanover County. Hanover County provided the following statement:
On behalf of the Hanover County School Board, thank you for your inquiry. As you know, the lawsuit has been filed against the Virginia Department of Education, not Hanover County Public Schools or the Hanover County School Board. Therefore, it is not appropriate for us to comment on this pending litigation.
York County said the school board does not comment on pending litigation.
