Governor Glenn Youngkin of VA has revised new guidelines from the Virginia Department of Education (VDOE). These guidelines could kill trans students in Virginia. In fact, they will.
I have been fighting for trans protections at Marshall High School and in Fairfax County Public Schools since my freshman year. That was three years ago. As a current senior, I’m tired. I have gone to school board meetings, I have tweeted (a lot), I have posted (a lot), I have sent emails, worked with teachers, worked with the administration – myself along with so many others have done so much to fight for trans protection at our school and we are met… with this? All that work has pretty much gone through the drain. It’s just… gone.
The new guidelines will out students, force teachers to use students deadnames and incorrect pronouns, deny students access to locker rooms, dressing rooms, and bathrooms that align with their gender, prohibit schools from acklowledging non-binary students, and there will no longer be LGBTQ+ affirming trainings for teachers.
Trans students already have an increased suicide and depression rate. These revisions will increase those rates to an incredibly high extent. If students are no longer allowed to be their true self in the place they spend the most time in, what do we do?
My life at home is quite complicated. While I’m grateful to still be accepted as part of the family, it is clear that my family doesn’t see me as me, but rather, what they want to see. They refuse to call me by my name. They refuse to use my pronouns. They refuse to even try to understand me and my identity. I’ve been out as trans to them for years, and all they do is make jokes or ignore it.
School is really the only place where I feel like I can be my true self. I need school to be this environment my family life is not. Over the years, I have met a handful of teachers who have consistently been there for me in a way my family has not. With these new regulations, though, I lose that support system.
Since finding out about the new revisions, I have been unable to think about anything else. I can’t focus during class, I can’t work on homework, I can’t comprehend new content – all of it has just become so much harder. I feel useless but all I want to do is fight. But, at the same time, I’m tired of fighting.
Right now, what we need is support. We need support to show that we’re not alone. We need support to show that we aren’t fighting on our own. That we have you.
–senior Rayan Afif