As a public school teacher in VA, I am concerned about the transgender policy proposed here. I care deeply for my students. My role is to guide students to what is true and what is good. This policy is the antithesis of truth and goodness. Instead it serves to indulge an anti-scientific, sexist transgender ideology at the expense of our students. Our students are facing a mental health crisis because they feel they have no purpose. While it may seem these policies will help our youth, they instead reinforce a lie that cannot answer the questions that plague them.

Students will be forced to use the restroom with others who do not match their sex. Female athletes will be forced to compete with physically stronger male athletes. Furthermore, students can easily exploit this policy putting teachers and administration at risk of harassment or discrimination. Does this sound like a functioning school environment?

Finally, not only am I a teacher, I am also a Christian. To call a student by his or her preferred pronoun acknowledges a version of reality that goes against what I believe to be true. It is dehumanizing and a lie. When I become a teacher, I was not burdened by the standards put forth here. However, if you enact these policies, you will push Christian educators outside of the public sphere leading to an absence of diversity and “unity.”