Less than a decade ago, I was a teenager living in rural northern Virginia. I knew fellow children who were regularly beaten for being LGBT+ while school staff looked the other way. I watched as many LGBT+ teens who didn't have the shield of being popular prior to coming out were discussed casually with slurs around lunch tables in hallways. I had to sit through a conversation with a well respected teacher and writer for the local paper as he described his disgust towards LGBT+ people and how they shouldn't be allowed in the military and don't ask don't tell shouldn't have ended.
I know children who didn't survive. I know people still in the area who cannot safely come out as transgender, and are planning on dying without telling anyone still in my hometown, because they fear severe violence. I myself, left my hometown as soon as I was physically able to, and promptly socially transitioned (with medical transition following shortly afterwards once I could afford it). I do not plan on returning to live there, because I fear severe violence from the community.
This policy encourages for a culture of violent anti-LGBT+ rhetoric to thrive within schools, and by extension the counties and towns these schools serve. It is a joke that it was ever considered as a state policy. Those who back it are fully knowledgeable that this policy is dangerous for students, but will appease the Christo-fascist voters who they want to gain support from.
Children who wish to by a different name, use different pronouns, dress differently, and use restrooms pose no threat to other students. Affirming them does them no harm. Affirming students does not harm the quality of education being received by their peers.
Children deserve to be safe at school, many do not have safe homes to return to at night. Keep the children of our communities safe!