All human beings should be treated with respect. Respect requires that adults refrain from harming children by intentionally confusing them as to whether they are male or female. As a matter of science, every person is either male or female; and it is important that children are affirmed in their biological sex, not taught that it is fluid or a matter of choice. Many things are a matter of choice. Whether a person defies sex stereotypes as to career choices or child-bearing choices represent true and important choices.

But one's sex is not a matter of choice. Our chromosomes determine our sex and program our bodies to develop accordingly throughout our lives. To teach a child that she might be male, or he might be female, harms the child emotionally, mentally, and physically.  

The recent social construct that there is a difference between sex and gender is detrimental to the healthy development of a child at all stages of development. Hormone therapy causes devastating and permanent harm to a child or adolescent. In the not-distant future, this brief period during which educational "experts" promoted a severely harmful ideology will rightly be viewed as an extreme form of child abuse that left far too many young victims permanently harmed. 

Virginia should choose the wise course, which is to let other states experiment with this harmful ideology and observe the results. In a decade, scientific data undoubtedly will show that this ideology inflicted needless and grave suffering on too many children.

If adopted, these model policies will expose Virginia school officials to lawsuits by former students, who as adults will want to hold accountable those who foisted a harmful ideology on them when they were too young to understand the permanent harm they were doing to themselves by undergoing hormone therapy or endless surgeries.

Finally, calling these policies "model" policies is deceptive and a misrepresentation unworthy of public servants. A "model" policy is a policy that is optional. These "model" policies expressly require that school districts adopt them or more extreme policies. These "model" policies coerce school districts into adopting these policies whether or not the elected school board members think these policies harm the children in their districts.

Please reject these "model" policies. Generations of Virginia's children will thank you.