The students, identified as members of pro-LGBTQ group Pride Liberation Project, noted in their letter that the April state law on parental notification defines “sexually explicit content” as representations of bestiality, pornography, fetishism as well as any form of “sexual conduct” outlined in a specific subsection of Virginia code, § 18.2-390. But that subsection, the students wrote, also lists “homosexuality” as an example of “sexual conduct.”

“In effect, [the law] can potentially be interpreted to define all references to people in same-sex relationships as inherently sexual,” the students wrote. “We are writing to you to ask that the Department of Education develop guidelines that explicitly state that instruction about LTBQIA+ people is not inherently sexual.”