I am an attorney. I have been working in family, juvenile, and criminal law for over ten years. I am fortunate to have many LGBT friends in my life. I strongly oppose the draft policy. I urge the VDOE to reject it.
It is an unfortunate fact that much of the worst abuse suffered by minor children occurs in their own homes. Statistically, parents and other relatives are the biggest danger. It is vitally important that children have access to trusted, uninvolved adults, who are only interested in the best interests of the children. Those adults are very often the teachers and other staff members at public schools.
Many children who are exploring LGBT identities may be subject to severe abuse at home, depending on the attitudes of their parents. Just as importantly, many of them may ALREADY be subject to severe abuse at home, based on a perception of LGBT traits by their parents, whether accurate or not. I think most of you are old enough to have known some boy or another whose father decided he was a "sissy" (or even worse language) and decided to beat it out of him.
Under the draft policy, a child who was subject to abuse at home because of their perceived gender nonconformity, who went to their teacher with this issue, might have that conversation routed straight back to their parents. This would, obviously, subject them to severe abuse or other punishment. It would dissuade other children from reporting other kinds of abuse, if they saw how their fellow students were "outed."
We cannot encourage children to seek safety from those adults they trust, and then betray that trust by alerting their abusers, or potential abusers.