(text whooshing and tense music)
- What are you willing to do to keep a job you love?
Work overtime?
Add 30 minutes to your commute?
Wherever you draw the line, I hope we can all agree
that no one should be willing to lie to a child
in order to stay on the payroll,
and especially not when the those lies
can do real damage to school-aged children.
That might not strike you as all that controversial,
but it has real-world implications
in Loudoun County, Virginia.
My name is Monica Gill.
In my 1/4 century of teaching, I've taught students
from a wide variety of ethnic and socioeconomic backgrounds,
and I treasure my students.
Over the years, I have developed good relationships
with my students to understand
their individual personalities, strengths and aspirations
and to help equip them to realize their true potential.
But in 2021, the Loudoun County School Board
presented teachers like me with an impossible choice.
In order to keep our livelihoods,
we would be forced to lie to students
about the most fundamental points of biological reality.
Despite the enormous number of genuine concerns
expressed by parents and teachers, which came
from across political spectrums,
the board adopted Policy 8040.
The policy forces teachers, staff and even students
to call girls, boys and boys, girls solely based
on another student's stated gender identity.
Even more alarming, school regulations
also allow staff and teachers to cut parents
out of the equation entirely, concealing the fact
that children as a young as kindergarten
are identifying as the opposite sex during school hours.
There are no exceptions, no middle ground,
no opportunity to compromise for the sake of conscience.
Under 8040, you can only work
at Loudoun County Public Schools if you agree to become
a mouthpiece for the reigning ideology.
I have taught many transgender-identifying students
over the years.
I've seen their real pain and discomfort
with their physical bodies.
I've also seen them simultaneously
face many other conditions, including depression,
eating disorders and anxiety,
but the board mandates what is known as social transitioning
for every student who identifies as the opposite sex.
Social transitioning is a form of psychiatric treatment,
transforming the way students and teachers interact
to affirm the student's asserted gender identity.
So the policy demands that we participate
in what is essentially a treatment plan
without providing for any mental health assessment,
let alone a diagnosis of gender dysphoria.
That doesn't serve a child's best interests.
In fact, there's very good reason to believe
it would steer them away from getting other help
they really need.
Research shows that when kids who grapple
with gender dysphoria are allowed to go through puberty,
the vast majority will come to accept their biological sex.
Those who go through social transition
often go on to puberty blockers, hormone treatments,
and surgery, all of which have irreversible
physical and mental impacts that may cause
a lifetime of regret.
The Loudoun County School Board has willfully ignored
the rising evidence of these regrets,
and the irreversible damage suffered
by people who have detransitioned.
The board's one-size-fits-all policy
only increases the likelihood of such harms,
and for me, that is truly heartbreaking.
I've loved and cherished every student I have ever taught
over the years, but my duty to be honest, and to always act
in my students' best interests means I can't always do
or say everything they ask.
That's why, even though I call
my transgender-identifying students by the name they choose,
I can't use pronouns that are inconsistent with their sex.
That would be affirming that a boy is a girl or vice versa,
and that's just not true.
The most loving thing we can do is to speak to others
in words that are accurate and true.
The board's new rule keeps me from doing
what I have always done, deal in love and honesty
with every student that crosses the threshold
into my classroom.
So with the help of Alliance Defending Freedom,
two fellow teachers and I filed a lawsuit challenging
this unconstitutional edict.
I'm not a lawyer, but I do know that it's always harmful
for government officials to force citizens
to say things they believe are wrong.
And I'm not a doctor, but even I know you can't prescribe
a treatment before diagnosing a condition.
While I am concerned about my constitutionally
protected freedom as all Americans should be,
I am far more concerned about what's best
for my students and for the sake of these kids,
I want to see an end to this destructive policy,
and so should you.
Find out more about my case at adflegal.org.
You can find more videos like this
at adflegal.org/freedom-matters or on YouTube and Facebook.