High School Students Hold Walk Out to Protest Transgender Bathroom Policy: 'That is Not OK'
Virginia high school students protested Wednesday against their school district’s transgender bathroom policy that allows students to use whatever bathroom they wish depending upon their gender identity.
Between 50 and 100 students at Woodgrove High School, part of the Loudon County school district, walked out to protest the policy, which was adopted in 2021, according to WJLA-TV.
“In the locker rooms in the morning it’s an invasion of privacy, as I said because when men and natural-born males are in our locker rooms and they are showering in the morning, natural-born females can walk in there as they please,” one male high school student said. He was not identified by the station. “And that is not OK. And it goes against what we believe in.”
“It’s a massive safety risk, and they don’t do anything about it,” a female student whose name was withheld by WJLA told the station.
“And we express these concerns and they ignore us and write us off as right-wing crazies. We’re not crazy. We just don’t want to be in danger on a daily basis in this building. I think it’s people finally stepping up and just being sick of it. We’re sick of being here and just being completely ignored,” she said.
“I stopped using [the bathrooms] because I don’t know what’s going to happen to me in there,” she added.
Happening now in Loudoun County. @7NewsDC pic.twitter.com/kgrOoUfIQg
— Nick Minock (@NickMinock) November 1, 2023
High school students in Loudoun County gathered today to ask the Loudoun County School Board to restore girls only and boys only locker rooms and bathrooms in schools. @7NewsDC pic.twitter.com/EKUj18Hnsf
— Nick Minock (@NickMinock) November 1, 2023
Student protesters said that the school treated them differently than supporters of the policy, according to LoudonNow.
Ronan Mackey, an organizer of the protest, said the school did not announce the walkout as previously agreed.
“No announcement was made and it took multiple kids posting on stories about this event to get kids to come out,” he said.
Pro-district protesters came equipped with flags and were accompanied by parents. WJLA reported that one protester said policy protesters outnumbered policy support about 10 to one.
Protesters were not allowed to have flags, which irked high school junior Katie Young said, according to LoudonNow.
“They get to do whatever they want and we have to play by rules that don’t exist to them. It’s one of those things that is really, really frustrating,” she said.
“I mean, of course, they have their First Amendment rights and their freedom of speech the same way we do, I just wish the rules applied blanketly, because they just don’t at the moment,” she said.
A group of high school students walked out of their classrooms in Loudoun County, Virginia, in protest at the district’s sick and perverted policy on “transgender” bathrooms. The end of this horror is nigh. https://t.co/IQFby7SSfl
— 🇺🇸Lionel🇺🇸 (@LionelMedia) November 3, 2023
Parents supporting the walkout said they had been told no adults were allowed, then realized the other side was allowed to have them.
“It angers me. We took the time to go through the right steps to do this and they allow this to happen behind us,” Woodgrove parent Mark Farr said.
“It’s a double standard, I believe,” Mackey said. “They are trying to push an agenda and they don’t want us doing what we are doing because it goes against what they are trying to push on us as kids.”
The Loudoun County School Board issued a statement in response to the protest.
The board said it is “continuing to follow its established process in its review of the latest Model Policies issued by the Virginia Department of Education. Policy 8040 is in review along with the new Model Policies, by the Student Services Committee,” the statement said, referring to the policy in question by its number, according to WJLA-TV.
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