The ACLU of Virginia filed lawsuits against the Virginia Department of Education on behalf of two transgender students. The lawsuits claim the students were harmed by the state’s model policies on the treatment of transgender students.
The students are a high schooler in York County and a middle schooler in Hanover County.
Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s administration released the 2023 Model Policies on Ensuring Privacy, Dignity and Respect for All Students and Parents in Virginia’s Public Schools during a statewide debate over rights of transgender students and parents. Youngkin’s campaign largely focused on ensuring parents’ rights in education. The model policies require parental permission for students to go by nicknames and preferred names and pronouns, and receive counseling services about gender. They also address facility use, such as bathrooms and locker rooms.
The York County student is referred to as “Jane Doe” in the complaint filed Thursday “out of concern for her safety.” A transgender girl, she claims at least one teacher refused to use her “correct first name” and instead used only her last name, and the division offered no remedy besides rearranging her class schedule.
The school division had approved policy changes to align with the model policies before the start of this school year, and the student claims to have used preferred names and pronouns in previous years.
The complaint states, “Plaintiff finds the emotional toll of dealing with the issues that negatively impact her as a transgender student to be exhausting. The 2023 Model Policies have led Plaintiff to feel hopeless that her school environment will improve anytime soon.”
The lawsuits allege the model policies violate state and federal law and discriminate against transgender students.
A spokesperson for the VDOE told The Virginian-Pilot and Daily Press the department had not received copies of the lawsuits and could not discuss ongoing litigation.
Washington-based law firm Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer is representing the plaintiffs pro bono.
Kelsey Kendall, kelsey.kendall@virginiamedia.com
