On Friday, Students at five Virginia Beach high schools staged walkouts in support of transgender rights. The walkout is in response to the Virginia Beach School Board potentially approving policy 5-31, which the Pride Liberation Project says will requires schools to out trans students to their parents. Students have been organizing walkouts across the state since Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin earlier this year announced new guidelines for trans and nonbinary students. According to NBC affiliate WAVY 3, the Virginia Beach School Board has delayed a vote on proposed updates on its current non-discrimination policy that in some ways is consistent with Gov. Youngkin’s model policy, and in other ways, is taken verbatim. As per the WAVY3, a vote is now expected at the board’s October 10 meeting. Dozens of LGBTQ+ students came out to the school board’s meeting and spoke out during public comment. The group was dressed in black to symbolize the deaths of their identities if VBCPS aligns the current non-discrimination policies with Youngkin’s model policy. AJ, a trans Kellam High School Student, told the Pride Liberation Project, “Students like me aren’t going to be able to talk to our teachers if we’re constantly worried about our school officials calling home to forcibly out us.”
