Let’s make this clear at the outset: Those who identify as transgender are people. They are neighbors who live in our communities, students who attend our schools, and individuals who have hopes and dreams for their lives and their futures, the same as anyone else.
That shouldn’t be a necessary reminder, but apparently some very prominent Virginians — and a very vocal subset of commonwealth residents — need to hear it. They may truly believe that bashing transgender Virginians is a path to electoral success in November, but voters should be wary of anyone who believes winning power is worth drumming a minority group entirely out of public life.
Though Virginians who identify as transgender didn’t suddenly appear from the ether, many Hampton Roads residents may remember the prolonged, and often bitter, debate about a school bathroom in Gloucester as the first time those issues entered into their orbit.
At the time, a student named Gavin Grimm, then a sophomore at Gloucester High School who identified as transgender, sought to use the boys’ bathroom which aligned with his gender. Officials at the school granted that request before parents’ complaints to the local school board prompted the district to prohibit it.
Grimm sued the school district in a case that ultimately went before the U.S. Supreme Court. Five years after the dispute began, the courts ruled in Grimm’s favor, concluding his rights were violated under Title IX and the Constitution’s equal protection clause.
That ruling, however, hasn’t resolved the matter. If anything, the debate about transgender rights has become more contentious and polarized in the years since.
But the Grimm case is worth remembering. This was a 14-year-old child who, like any 14-year-old, wanted to attend high school without inviting ridicule or bullying by his peers. “The nail that sticks out gets hammered down” is a well-worn proverb, but reflects the experience of many high school students, who would prefer to go unnoticed rather than attract unwanted attention.
The Williams Institute at UCLA’s School of Law, which conducts research into the size and demographic characteristics of this population, estimates there are only about 2.8 million Americans who identify as transgender. About 44,000 live in Virginia, representing less than 0.06% of the commonwealth’s population.
Even when the discussion turns to the hot topic of sports participation, the numbers are miniscule. NCAA President Charlie Baker told Congress in December that fewer than 10 of the roughly 510,000 athletes in Division I college sports identify as transgender. About 175,000 high school students play sports each year in Virginia, but the Virginia High School League granted only 42 waivers for transgender students to compete between 2014 and 2025.
When we talk about those who identify as transgender, that’s who they are — fractions of a percent of total populations. Yet to hear some people tell it, these few thousand Virginians, or these 42 athletes, represent the end of civilization itself.
In truth, those who identify as transgender have precious little political power and almost no voice in the making of laws that threaten their livelihoods and their health. But politicians continue to use them as a punching bag because they are vulnerable. It’s an appeal to prejudice, and puts transgender people in harm’s way.
That unbecoming conduct has overwhelmingly come from Republicans, but even some leading Democrats have suggested that standing up for transgender Americans is an electoral liability.
That’s nonsense. This population has lost access to health care. Transgender service members have been unceremoniously forced out of the military. They are discriminated against for employment, housing and plenty of other opportunities. Their rights are being stripped away.
But they are Americans, guaranteed equal treatment by the Constitution. They’re asking only for the protections they are owed by the laws of this country and the safety to live their lives.
While the discussions about transgender policies can be difficult and complex, these are people who deserve dignity, the same as everyone, and not the intolerance that too many are eager to heap upon them.
