Governor Glenn Youngkin (R-VA) said Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union” that his policies will respect parents want their transgender children to use the bathroom and pronouns of their choice.
Anchor Jake Tapper said, “The American Academy of Pediatrics says these kinds of laws about bathrooms and excluding people, ignoring their gender identity, the American Academy of Pediatrics say these laws can increase anxiety, depression, and suicide in transgender youth. Did you talk to transgender youth?”
Youngkin said, “We’ve had interaction across the administration. What we’re not saying is there’s no accommodation. We’re saying parents have to be engaged in that situation. If a child and their parent, along with administrators and teachers, choose to have accommodations for that child, they’ll be granted. This is where I constantly get back to. I would ask people to read the policies.”
Tapper said, “I did read the policy. It sounds like you are excluding parents that might be supportive of their child going to the bathroom or joining the sports team that is in alignment with their gender identity.”
Youngkin said, “Certainly not. If parents actually want their child to be able to change a pro noun of their name, use a bathroom, if parents choose that, legally, that’s what the schools will do. With regards to sports teams, this is a different issue. I do believe that it’s unfair for girls to have biological boys play sports with biological girls. There are sports with segregated sexes and those sports should be honored. There are sports where they’re not segregated, where both sexes get to play at the same time. I think we have to respect girls as well here. Our policies were written in order to respect the dignity of all children, their safety and their confidentiality. We’re in a 30-day comment period, and we’re going to finalize these. I expect the school districts to adopt something consistent with them.”
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