Transgender Children in Schools: What Happens If You’re a Kid Like Gavin, or Why You Can’t Get What You Want
Struggles similar to mine are still being endured by transgender kids in school across this country. In my home state of Virginia, the Board of Education wants to impose new restrictions on where trans students can go to school. Last month, the public comment period for proposed changes in Virginia schools’ policy changes saw tens of thousands of people weighing in. (Officials have announced the new policy won’t take place until the end of this month at the earliest, to afford them the chance to review the comments.)
I had become the agenda item and the subject of headlines not just in my hometown, but across the country. At that school board meeting, parents of kids I grew up with were calling me a freak directly to my face – and talking about my genitals in a public forum. That’s how low they were willing to go to inflict hate on a child.
My activism on transgender rights led me to write a children’s book with co-author Kyle Lukoff called “If You’re a Kid Like Gavin,” detailing my battle for equality and freedom. I’m hoping that even if transgender kids don’t have the support of a loving parent like I did, they’ll see themselves reflected in its pages.
These dangers are many, and they don’t all come at the hands of a potentially violent aggressor. A report that was published in March 2022. by the Williams Institute at the UCLA School of Law estimates that up to 54,000 trans teens between the ages of 13 to 17 could lose access to gender-affirming medical care as a result of anti-Trans legislation proposed in statehouses across the US
Even as a high school student, I saw that threats to the lives of trans Americans had reached a dangerous tipping point. I have never wanted to be an activist. I was just a kid. It felt like the task of increasing awareness for a community that had been pushed to the margins fell to me.
These treatments, that have allowed me and other transgender people to become the people we were intended to, have been studied and peer reviewed and are best practices developed by the American Medical Association, American Association of Pediatrics, American Psychiatric Association, the Endocrine Society and other leading health organizations.
Yet, across the country, they are being banned, challenged or indefinitely delayed, while people hoping to transition are put through a series of hoops and hurdles before getting access to treatment.
In the end, my activism – and willingness to fight for my rights – led to my suing the Board of Education in Gloucester County for excluding me from the boys’ restrooms at my school. Gloucester High School had insisted I use the girls’ bathroom, later requiring me to use the bathroom in the nurse’s office.
After four years, the courts ruled that the school board was in violation of the Equal Protection Clause and Title IX of the US education Amendments of 1972, a federal law barring schools from sex discrimination
Or so I had hoped. Appropriate policies were adopted across the Fourth Circuit because of social change, other court decisions, and the outcome of my case.
Source: https://www.cnn.com/2022/11/13/opinions/transgender-schools-virginia-bathroom-access-gavin-grimm/index.html
Protests against Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin’s Proposed Policies on Transgender Students in Schools and Schools: a Civil Libertarian Action in 2021
But last year saw the election of Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin, a Republican who ran on a platform that included blatant misinformation and targeted attacks against marginalized communities.
Under his administration’s proposed guidelines, transgender students would only be permitted to use their correct name, pronouns and facilities if a parent requests so in writing. Even then, the measure does not contain any language that mandates schools approve such requests. This excludes children who are not out to their parents for safety reasons or whose parents are not supportive.
And notably, Virginia’s model policy contains language permitting schools to go beyond the guidelines and institute even more restrictive rules, saying “Each school board shall adopt policies that are consistent with but may be more comprehensive than the model policies developed by the Virginia Department of Education.”
It seems as if Gov. Youngkin is willing to reject not only established federal and state law, but also guidance and best practices from leading authorities on the physical and mental health of children and young adults. Youngkin and his administration have couched discriminatory actions in language about protecting children, religious liberty and the rights of parents, but it is my belief that his real agenda is scapegoating a minority already under duress, in a cowardly bid to gain support from his base.
His gains won’t be permanent, but he may succeed in that. A few weeks ago, thousands of students across Virginia walked out of school to protest Youngkin’s proposed restrictions on trans students. Protests are continuing against this unjust proposed policy. The transgender community is not going away.
The West Virginia Secondary School Activities Commission, which oversees scholastic sports, said in 2021, when the suit was filed, that it had not received any complaints about transgender athletes on girls’ teams.
The American Civil Liberties Union and its West Virginia chapter filed the lawsuit in 2021 on behalf of an 11-year-old transgender girl who hoped to compete in middle school cross-country in Harrison County. The state and county boards of education were named as defendants in the lawsuit.
The attorney general said that it was about fairness in women’s sports, plain and simple. We must protect the future of girls and women on the field.
“The legislature’s definition of ‘girl’ as being based on ‘biological sex’ is substantially related to the important government interest of providing equal athletic opportunities for females,” Goodwin determined.
In his Thursday decision, he said the plaintiff, “like all transgender people, deserves respect and the ability to live free from judgment and hatred for simply being who she is.” There wasn’t enough evidence that the legislation had harmful intent.
When the measure was passed, there were no reported cases of trans girls participating in sports. The statute is at best a solution to a potential, but not yet realized a problem, he said.
The Transgender Rate in West Virginia: The Most Discriminating State in the State Currently Has No Electoral Representatives to the Legislature
The court wouldn’t have been able to weigh in on the issue if the legislature hadn’t done so. “Nevertheless,” the judge concluded, “I must do so now.”
A study by the Williams Institute at the UCLA School of Law concluded that West Virginia had the highest rate of residents who were identified as trans by 13 to 17 years old. That equates to 1,150 teens.