'School board, I quit'
After a change in state laws, the Loudoun County Public School Board in northern Virginia has put in place plans to instigate new transgender policies. These new policies are aimed at ensuring the mental and physical wellbeing of trans-youth, while also building a more respectful, tolerant, and nurturing learning environment.
But one of the speakers at the school board meeting to discuss the new policies, teacher Laura Morris, quit her job in front of the board ahead of the policy vote.
Ms Morris said she had “struggled with the idea of returning to school” because she knew she would be “working yet again with the school division that despite its shiny tech and flashy salary, promotes political ideologies that do not square with who I am as a believer in Christ.”
The Policy-
The policy states that Transgender kids should “use their chosen name and gender pronouns that reflect their consistently asserted gender identity” and that staff should also respect that.
“Staff or students who intentionally and persistently refuse to respect a student’s gender identity by using the wrong name and gender pronoun are in violation of this policy,” the guidelines state.
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Furthermore, kids will be encouraged to use the bathroom that aligns with their gender identity, and staff should “take steps to designate gender-inclusive or single-user restrooms commensurate with the size of the school”. This landmark policy also seeks to make "All school mental health professionals shall complete training on topics relating to LGBTQ+ students, including procedures for preventing and responding to bullying, harassment and discrimination based on gender identity/expression”.
Ms Morris addressed the board: “You’ve made your point. You no longer value me, or many other teachers you’ve employed in this county. So since my contract outlines the power that you have over my employment in Loudon County Public Schools, I thought it necessary to resign in front of you.
“School board, I quit. I quit your policies, I quit your trainings, and I quit being a cog in a machine that tells me to push highly politicised agendas on our most vulnerable constituents – the children," she continues, though she should elaborate on whether it is just political ideology she is against, or whether she is against indoctrinating the same children into religion?
Morris was one of a group of concerned Christians who wept during their speeches while saying: “We respect everyone just as we should respect everybody."
One parent of a trans boy who attended the school prior to the policy change said that their son would have benefitted from policies such as these. Similarly, a transgender parent said: "I'm encouraging you all to support policies that are inclusive of transgender students and to show your support for transgender students and transgender faculty. This isn’t pseudoscience, this isn’t some sort of ideology. This is people’s lives. This is civil rights.”
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