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Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin signed an executive order on Thursday directing the Virginia Board of Health to draft regulations preventing biological males from participating in female sports and changing in their locker rooms.
The order follows controversy in a Washington-area county, where the school district will mark LGBTQ+ History Month in October – and at least one elementary school reportedly encouraged students to observe “National Coming Out Day” on Oct. 11.
Youngkin’s Executive Directive 14 aims to stop males from undressing and utilizing designated female spaces and keep biological men out of women’s-only athletic teams.
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People gather to protest different issues, including the board’s handling of a sexual assault that happened in a school bathroom in May, vaccine mandates and critical race theory during a Loudoun County School Board meeting in Ashburn, Virginia. (Leah Mills/Reuters)
“Since day one, this administration has worked to protect the fundamental rights of all Virginians,” Youngkin said Thursday.
“These fundamental rights intrinsically require the assurance of health and safety for all individuals. Through collaboration with our federal partners, this administration is fighting tirelessly to prevent discrimination on the basis of sex and to protect the civil rights of our citizens under the constitutions of our commonwealth and nation…”
Youngkin’s directive also runs in line with President Donald Trump’s own executive order barring public schools from “indoctrinating” children into “radical” transgender ideology.
Trump ordered Education Secretary Linda McMahon to provide recommendations for elimination of federal support for “illegal or discriminatory treatment” or indoctrination based on “gender ideology or discriminatory equity ideology (like ‘unconscious bias’ and ‘White privilege’)” under the Civil Rights Act and other titles.
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Protesters for and against gender-affirming care for transgender minors demonstrate outside the Supreme Court on Dec. 4, 2024, in Washington. (Jose Luis Magana/Associated Press file)
In that regard, Loudoun County Public School’s announcement it will celebrate LGBTQ+ History Month may run afoul of Trump and potentially now Youngkin, according to critics.
The board voted Wednesday to proclaim October as such, approving a motion from board member April Chandler of Algonkian.
The move “affirms [LCPS’] commitment to fostering equity, belonging and inclusion,” the board said in its minutes.
The school board did not respond to a request for further comment.
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In Aldie, near Front Royal, an LCPS elementary school under LCPS’ auspices reportedly took the pronouncement a step further, after parents sent a purported letter from their children’s school to a reporter at ABC News’ Washington affiliate.
The reporter, Nick Minock, also posted on X that the LCPS livestream of the board meeting appeared to be inoperable Wednesday night.
The letter was reported to be from Henrietta Lacks Elementary and encouraged families to promote National Coming Out Day:
“There is also a special day called national coming out day to celebrate being yourself,” it read.
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John Reid, the Republican nominee for lieutenant governor, slammed the letter and Loudoun’s posturing.
Virginia parents in Loudoun and beyond are tired of schools being “run by politics instead of putting kids first,” Reid told Fox News Digital.
“The vast majority of normal people would agree that conversations about sexuality have absolutely no place in elementary schools,” said Reid, who is gay.
“Unlike [Democratic opponent state Sen.] Ghazala Hashmi, I’ve been clear: we need to get back to academic excellence and parental involvement, not more political agendas in the classroom.”
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While GOP gubernatorial nominee Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears did not respond to a request for comment, she released a related ad campaign Thursday called “Zero,” which criticized opponent Abigail Spanberger and Democrats for “radical… gender ideology” policies.
“Our children deserve a governor who is going to keep them safe. This is about making sure young girls are not forced into spaces with grown men,” Earle-Sears said.
“And they shouldn’t be. My opponent continues to avoid giving a yes or no answer to the simple question: Do you support boys in girls’ bathrooms?”
The ad features a Virginia parent endorsing Earle-Sears whose son “shared urinals” with a “girl who claimed she’s a boy.”
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Spanberger recently told Roanoke’s ABC affiliate in response to such criticisms that Virginia “until very recently had a process in place where, on an individual… basis, schools, parents, teachers and coaches were making decisions based on fairness, competitiveness and safety.”
Fox News Digital reached out to Hashmi, Lacks and LCPS for comment.
