If the Child Protection Act bill passes into law, Virginia schools will be required to inform parents if their child is identifying as another gender at school

The GOP-led House of Delegates recently passed (50-48) HB 2432, also known as “Sage’s Law” or the Child Protection Act. If the bill becomes law, schools will have to tell parents if their child is identifying as another gender at school. It will also make it clear that parents won’t be called “abusive” just because they say their child’s biological gender.

This bill was named after a female student at Appomattox High School who at first said she had gender dysphoria but ended up getting caught in a horrible web of violence and abuse. Only after a terrifying ordeal was she finally able to go home.

Sage was held captive by a sexual predator in Maryland. The FBI found her and freed her. But a judge then said that her parents couldn’t get their daughter back because they didn’t believe the claim that their daughter was really a boy.

Based on the judge’s decision, Sage was put in a children’s home for boys, where he was sexually abused again. She was able to get away from that nightmare, but she was soon sold for sex again. She was finally freed by police in Texas.

Sage said, when she was safe at home and thinking back on her time of confusion, “I don’t know who I was. I’ve changed a lot since then. I was never a boy. Everyone did it, and all I wanted was friends.”

“Sage’s Law” was written to make sure that a young person in Virginia never has to go through that terrible thing again.

Now that Cross-Over Day in the General Assembly is over, bills that passed one house must now pass the other house before they can be signed into law by Governor Youngkin. Since the GOP runs the 100-member House of Delegates and the Democrats run the 40-member State Senate, bills will need to be passed with some help from both sides.

Lt. Gov. Winsome Sears (R) has the tie-breaking vote if the Senate is tied 20-20.

The Senate Education and Health Committee, which is controlled by Democrats, will vote on “Sage’s Law” next week. Sen. John Edwards (D-Roanoke) is a member of that committee, so he will be one of the key votes that decides whether the bill goes to the full Senate or is killed in committee.

Sen. Louise Lucas is in charge of the Democrats in the Senate (D-Portsmouth). Party pressure is to kill “Sage’s Law,” which they say is a “brick wall” that will stop all GOP-backed plans. So, if Sen. Edwards votes for the measure, he could get in trouble with Democrats. But because of redistricting and upcoming elections in November, Sen. Edwards will need votes from Roanoke County, Montgomery County, and Salem, where Youngkin beat Democrat Terry McAuliffe by about a 2:1 margin. Youngkin’s parental-rights platform got a lot of support, so if Sen. Edwards votes against the Child Protection Act, he could turn off a lot of voters who liked that platform.

“In the upcoming fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5), people whose gender at birth is different from the one they identify with will be diagnosed with gender dysphoria,” says the American Psychiatric Association.

“For a person to be diagnosed with gender dysphoria, there must be a clear difference between how they feel about their gender and how others see them, and it must last for at least six months. Children must want to be the other gender and be able to talk about it. This condition causes clinically significant distress or problems in social, occupational, or other important areas of functioning.

“Gender dysphoria can show up in many ways, like a strong desire to be treated as the other gender or to get rid of one’s sex traits, or a strong belief that one has feelings and reactions typical of the other gender.

“DSM-5 will give gender dysphoria its own chapter, separate from Sexual Dysfunctions and Paraphilic Disorders.”

In this report from the Federalist Society, you can learn more about Sage’s terrible experience and how Sage’s Law is meant to make sure this doesn’t happen to other young people in Virginia.