Democrats kill Virginia bill banning schools from hiding kids’ gender transition from parents

Virginia Democrats killed legislation Thursday requiring parents to be notified when their children adopt a different gender identity at school.

House Bill 2432, also known as Sage’s Law, was defeated in the Virginia Senate Education and Health Committee on a 9-6 vote, with all Democrats voting against the bill and all Republicans voting for it.

The bill passed the Republican-controlled state House last week, as did legislation barring biological males from girls’ sports, but both measures were considered dead on arrival in the Democrat-led Senate.

Among those cheering the defeat of the two bills Thursday was Democrat Del. Danica Roem, the state’s first transgender legislator.

“If you wrote headlines last week about the Virginia House of Delegates Republican majority passing two anti-trans bills, then please update your stories: our @VASenateDems defeated those bills,” tweeted the Democrat. “Virginia remains *the* leader in the South for LGBTQ equality.” 

HB 2432 was named after a Virginia girl named Sage who transitioned to male at age 14 in high school without her mother Michele’s knowledge. She was bullied and assaulted at school, ran away, and was sexually trafficked before her parents were able to regain custody.

The bill’s sponsor, Republican Del. David LaRock, said the bill’s defeat effectively gives school personnel carte blanche to refer to students by their adopted opposite-sex names and pronouns in class without clueing in their parents.

“We worked this really hard. We depicted very clearly, with the help of Michele and the story of her daughter Sage, what can and does happen, what can go wrong in schools,” Mr. LaRock told The Washington Times.

The bill would have also clarified that “misgendering” a minor does not constitute abuse or neglect, a response to a kerfuffle over a 2020 Democratic bill that would have made it child abuse to inflict “mental injury” based on gender identity. That bill has not been reintroduced.

“We made very clear that the schools are actively engaging in what I could call grooming kids, moving them toward this path of changing their gender identity,” Mr. LaRock said. “I think this comes really close to, if does not constitute, a medical-treatment decision, and doing that with minor children and without the involvement of parents is borderline criminal.”

Equality Virginia said the bill would require the “forced outing” of transgender students, which “violates the student’s and their family’s privacy, and can have detrimental effects on that student’s safety.”

The LGBTQ group said the Virginia Assembly has now defeated all 12 “anti-trans” bills, which included measures barring cross-sex hormones and surgeries for minors, introduced during the 2023 legislative session.

Even so, the “mere introduction of these bills has inflicted harm on our community, and transgender and nonbinary youth specifically,” said Equality Virginia.

“We should not have to spend time fighting for our humanity to be recognized, for our experiences to be considered, or for children to be protected,” the group told the Washington Blade. “Building celebration and joy into the work is vital to our wellbeing and to our ability to advocate and still feel whole.”

Mr. LaRock said he hoped the voters would remember what happened with Sage’s Law in the next election.