YORK COUNTY — Concerned York County citizens spoke out at the latest York County School Board meeting, many urging the board to leave the division’s nondiscrimination policy as is currently written.
The possible policy change is the result of Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s Model Policies released in 2023. The administration’s policy on nondiscrimination addresses the treatment of transgender students while continuing to respect all students’ beliefs, according to the Virginia Department of Education.
Verbiage in York County’s current policy does not include the terms sexual orientation, gender identity, ethnic origin, pregnancy, childbirth or other related medical conditions, or military status.
Community members spoke out at the Oct. 28 meeting, many sharing that they feel all students are already protected under the current verbiage.
“Every person deserves to be protected, regardless of background, beliefs, or creed. However, there are already numerous laws on the books which make this abundantly clear at both the state and local level. You might ask why if there are already protections in place at the local and state level, what’s the big deal with adding the wordage here? The answer is pretty simple, actions like these have a proven track record of having utterly failed to do anyone any good anywhere,” said one.
“If you can work a mouse and a keyboard, you can search many instances of this on Google, where instead of protecting students who did an excellent job paving the pathway to infringing upon religious liberties, harming woman and female sports, and also undermines policies recently passed down by the Virginia Department of Education during these matters.”
While many spoke out against the policy change, others came forward in support, noting that the possible new policy will cover all types of people and situations.
“I think it’s important for us to double down on our policy of nondiscrimination following the pretty basic proposal to expand our nondiscrimination policy to make sure that we are covering everyone in our district, that includes gender, gender identity, it includes sexual orientation. I have family members who are gay, I have family members who are transgender and I am here tonight on their behalf as well because love is love,” one supporter said.
While the policy was only heard on first reading, community members will still have an opportunity to voice their concerns when the policy is up for final adoption at the next board meeting, scheduled for Nov. 18.
To view the meeting in full, click here.
