CHANTILLY, Virginia — A group of roughly 70 students at Chantilly High School in northern Virginia marched out of class and off school grounds without adult supervision to protest Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s new policies on transgender students.
Shortly after 2 p.m. local time, the group of students, many waving or wearing gay and transgender pride flags, congregated outside the school building for a brief rally before parading off the school grounds and down the sidewalk into a residential area.
VIRGINIA STUDENTS WALK OUT OF SCHOOL IN PROTEST OF YOUNGKIN’S TRANSGENDER POLICIES
The protest was one of dozens that occurred Tuesday at various public high schools and middle schools across Virginia to show opposition to new model policies proposed by Youngkin that require schools to obtain written parental consent before accommodating a minor student who requests to be treated as a gender identity that differs from their biological sex.
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The initial rally at Chantilly High School saw a handful of school officials and adults watching the group of students, but they did not accompany the students as they marched down the street in front of the school, into an adjacent neighborhood, and along the sidewalk of a major state highway.
At one point, several students began asking among themselves if they were going the right way before the human caravan turned around and headed back to the school with chants of “protect trans youth.”
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Nicole Neily, the president of the parent activist group Parents Defending Education, told the Washington Examiner it was “ironic that opponents to the proposed model policy cite ‘safety’ for students as a sticking point.”
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“If student safety truly was paramount for these activists, then shouldn’t these walkouts have had adult supervision present?” she said.
Macaulay Porter, a spokeswoman for Youngkin, responded to the walkout protests in a Tuesday statement to the Washington Examiner, saying: “The guidelines make it clear that when parents are part of the process, schools will accommodate the requests of children and their families.”
Porter added, “Parents should be a part of their children’s lives, and it’s apparent through the public protests and on-camera interviews that those objecting to the guidance already have their parents as part of that conversation. While students exercise their free speech today, we’d note that these policies state that students should be treated with compassion and schools should be free from bullying and harassment.”
