In 2020, Democrat governor Ralph Northam directed the Virginia Department of Education (VDOE) to develop policies to ensure an “inclusive” environment for Virginia’s K-12 “transgender” and “nonbinary” students. The reasoning was that, in order to prevent discrimination, and enable students to feel included, the VDOE would allow students to:
Use a name other than that on their birth certificate and school records.
Use their chosen pronoun(s) regardless of the gender identified on their birth certificate and school records.
Use the bathrooms that “align with their gender identity.”
Participate in extracurricular and sports activities regardless of gender, except for Virginia High School League sports.
This policy would turn on its head the very concept of inclusivity, privacy, and respect that it purports to protect. Boys on girls sports teams, in girls’ locker rooms, girls’ bathrooms, and girls’ hotel rooms on school trips is an absurd result of creating an “inclusive” environment for the 1% of Loudoun County Public School students who identify as transgender or nonbinary. Furthermore, while schools are mandated to teach the English language, allowing a student to refer to herself as “we” or “he” is inconsistent with even the basic rules of grammar. Legislators knew something had to be done to right this ship.
Accordingly, in 2022, Republican legislators introduced the “Parental Bill of Rights” HB1126 which required that school boards make available same sex-only restrooms, locker room, facilities, and lodging accommodations, and allowed parents to opt out their children from any activity, reading assignment or use of a library book to which the parent objected. Astonishingly, this bill was killed in committee by Democrat lawmakers including then-Delegate Suhas Subramanyam!
Republicans tried yet again in 2023 to protect students by introducing HB1507 that would have given parents the right to “opt out of policies, surveys, research studies, or [instruction] inconsistent with their beliefs, [and] values.” Suhas Subramanyam was given no less than three opportunities to support this parental rights bill. Subramanyam twice tried to kill it in committee, and again voted against it on the House floor. It advanced to the Senate Education and Health Committee where it was once again defeated by Democrats.
Subramanyam’s website claims that he “has always stood on the side of everyday Virginians.” Who exactly are these “everyday Virginians to which Subramanyam refers?” Not female athletes, and certainly not parents. In fact, Subramanyam is dangerous for Loudoun County students and now wants to advance his radical agenda across our country. Do not allow Subramanyam to advance to the U.S. House, vote for Mike Clancy to protect parents’ rights and the safety of our daughters.
