I am speaking out strongly against the guidelines regarding transgender or gender-non-conforming students proposed by the governor.
I am a white, Christian, cis-gender, married, mother of two gender-conforming children. However, I am also the friend of mothers and fathers of gender-non-conforming children, of transgender women and men, and a friend and family member of gay and lesbian individuals.
The proposed guidelines are harmful to children who try to become the best versions of themselves and to live their lives fully. Very often LGBTQ+ are not supported in their identity at home, so school and their friends and teachers are the place where they have the opportunity to express and try out who they are, and eventually find the courage to come out to their families. The alternative is often depression, suicide and abandonment.
And the governor's credo of parents choice, per the new guideline stops where parents of transgender children are not allowed to register them in the child's expressed gender.
My children have been exposed to LGBTQ+ individuals since their earliest childhood and in both family and school settings, and neither of them has expressed confusion or concern or the desire, based on these individuals' sexual orientation or gender expression, to follow suit.
As a Christian woman I say, all human beings are children of God, and we are made wonderfully and special.
As an American I say, we are created equal before the law of this country, and freedom of religion is a high good in our society.
Thank you for reconsidering,
Barbara G.
Charlottesville, VA