We are all too often told to "listen to the children," as though the "out of the mouths of babes" shibboleth still carried some mileage. The problem with that, though, is that the children are (being, after all, children) young, inexperienced, and easily taken in by leftist teachers and school staff. In short, the kids aren't always all right; very often they have no idea what they are talking about. There's no blame to lay here, mind you; these young people are, after all, young, and have a lot to learn about almost everything.
Once in a while, though, the kids get it right on a topic that affects them directly. Especially when it's something so egregiously wrong as the bathroom policies of far too many local school districts. And sometimes those kids are willing to act on that issue.
On Wednesday, a group of Loudoun County, Virginia, students walked out of Woodgrove High School in Purcellville to protest the school district's transgender bathroom policies.
A group of high school students walked out of their classroom in Loudoun County, Virginia, on Wednesday in protest at the district's policy on transgender bathrooms.
Loudoun County Public Schools, which saw ugly scenes at board meetings following a May 2021 sexual assault by a boy in the girls' bathroom, adopted the trans bathroom policy in August 2021.
The policy, officially termed 8040, was approved 7-2, and allows transgender students to use the bathrooms and locker rooms of their choice.
On Wednesday, a group of students at Woodgrove High School in Purcellville marched out of class in protest at 8040, arguing it made them feel unsafe. It was unclear why the protest was staged now.
'It's a massive safety risk, and they [LCPS] don't do anything about it,' said one female student.
The student's fears are not unfounded. This is, after all, the same Virginia county where the school district covered up the rape of two girls by a boy who wore girl's clothes and was allowed to use the girl's restrooms. A grand jury later condemned the school's inaction. Initially, the only consequences dished out were laid on the father of one of the victims, who blasted the school board in a public meeting, was arrested and later pardoned by Governor Youngkin.
A grand jury blasted Loudoun schools for its bathroom rape, revealing that one teachers aide warned of the student's behavior days prior, but her boss seemingly rejected it as transphobic. Another walked into the bathroom during the rape, but did nothing.https://t.co/0Rpe1aqjSD
— Daily Wire News (@DailyWireNews) December 6, 2022
It seems, though, that the Loudoun County schools still have a lot to learn about this subject. The students in the walkout stated as part of their motivation that the schools were ignoring their concerns.
She told 7News they were tired of 'being completely ignored' by the school district.
'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.'
The student said she felt her concerns were widely shared.
'I stopped using them [the bathrooms] because I don't know what's going to happen to me in there,' she said.
If the school district wants to explore the reason for this student's worry, perhaps they could talk to the two girls who were raped.
It's impossible to derive the motivation of school officials, despite all that has happened, who continue to think these policies are a good idea. Bathroom policies should be simple; if you have a penis, you use the boy's bathroom. If you lack a penis (barring some unfortunate accident), you use the girl's bathroom. Simple, right? It's logical and it makes sense, which is probably why woke school boards don't want to do it.
Here in the Great Land of Alaska, I hasten to note our own Matanuska-Susitna Borough School Board has more sense.
This is a situation, much like the "transgender girls (boys) competing on girls' sports team" issue, that is untenable and cannot continue. It's only a matter of time before the Loudoun County incident is repeated. The transgender activist community will continue to bemoan the expectation that children in public schools use the bathroom that corresponds to their actual sex and will no doubt (fairly) point out that the Loudoun County incident involved one malefactor out of many "transgender" kids who use all sorts of bathrooms all over the country without any more school girls being raped.
But it only takes one to ruin two girls' lives, as we have seen in Loudoun County.
It's not difficult. It's not complicated. It in no way runs afoul of equal treatment under the law. Boys use boys' bathrooms and girls use girls' bathrooms, and that is all. These Loudoun County students are right to walk out to protest this policy. Let's hope they stick to their guns.
