Until very recently, the scientific consensus was that gender dysphoria was a mental illness. Those who suffered from it were of course to be treated with compassion and understanding. But that didn't mean playing into the patient's disorder, i.e., telling a person with a man's organs that he was a female, and vice versa.

In the last several years a vocal political minority has pushed transgender riots as the "next frontier" of the civil rights movement, even though no meaningful scientific evidence has arisen to overturn the medical consensus on gender dysphoria. At a time where politics often times seems to trump objective scientific truth, I think it is paramount that our educational establishment hold the line. Children in particular are among the most vulnerable in our society. With that in mind, I believe it's imperative that the State of Virginia and its Department of Education:

1) Seek to treat children with the mental illness of gender dysphoria. 

2) Not confuse or traumatize young, impressionable children by normalizing transgender behavior with (i) multigender facilities (i.e., bathrooms, locker rooms) or (ii) pushing fringe third gender pronoun terminology.

3) Not force this latest fad of gender identity politics, which is not supported by the preponderance of current scientific evidence, on private educational institutions (e.g., private schools and religious schools) that do not share these views.

I am simply a concerned citizen who believes truth and the good of society, especially its youngest members, should be promoted above politics.