Youngkin defends revised transgender policies

After updating “new model policies” for the treatment of transgender students, Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) said in an appearance on Fox News on Tuesday that parents are the decision-makers and not the state.

“This is not controversial,” Youngkin told Sean Hannity on Fox.

“This is about restoring power to parents. And let’s just be clear, children do not belong to the state. They belong to families. And when a child is wrestling with this kind of decision, a parent should absolutely be the primary counselor adviser and help her in wrestling with this decision.”

Youngkin on Friday updated “model policies” regarding the treatment of transgender students, claiming that the previous “guidelines disregarded the rights of parents.”

The Virginia Department of Education updated its 2021 Model Policies for the Treatment of Transgender Students in Virginia’s Public Schools, noting that the guidelines under the previous administration “disregarded the rights of parents and ignored other legal and constitutional principles that significantly impact how schools educate students, including transgender students.”

The new policies also stated that the previous guidelines “promoted a specific viewpoint aimed at achieving cultural and social transformation in schools.”

Virginia’s Dept. of Education listed first under the “Guiding Principles” section that “parents have the right to make decisions with respect to their children” and that the “policies shall be drafted to safeguard parents’ rights with respect to their child, and to facilitate the exercise of those rights.”

Source:  Fox News