In protest of Governor Glenn Youngkin (R-Va.) and his proposed transphobic policies, students at almost 100 high schools are participating in a walkout.

The massive walkout went down on Tuesday, and it’s in direct response to a policy draft dubbed “Model Policies on the Privacy, Dignity, and Respect for all Students and Parents in Virginia’s Public Schools.”

Youngkin’s proposal states that school personnel in Virginia must refer to students by using pronouns that are “appropriate to the sex” that’s listed on their official school record, Just The News reports; in other words, Youngkin is actively attempting to disregard students’ individual gender identities in favor of their assigned sex at birth.

If the policies are adopted as is, Virginia students will also only be allowed to use school restrooms that are in alignment with their assigned sex at birth (e.g., only people who were assigned female at birth will be allowed to use the girls’ restroom.)

Additionally, Youngkin’s proposed changes mandate that parents must be “fully informed” when it comes to “matters they consider important,” suggesting that high school personnel would be required to “out” students to their parents, Just The News reports.

Casey Calabia, a student at McLean High School, said that participants want Youngkin to know that they won’t stand for his restrictive policies.

“There’s an understanding that we’re sort of being used as a political punching bag for Governor Youngkin through the Virginia Department of Education to just create some sort of uproar, or to mimic the ‘Don’t Say Gay’ bill in Florida,” Calabia told NBC4 Washington, referencing the infamous bill that Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-Fla.) passed earlier this year.

“The reaction from students across the state has been overwhelming, quite frankly, and overwhelmingly opposed to these new draft regulations,” Aaryan Rawal, part of the Pride Liberation Project, said, NBC4 Washington reports. “We also had a lot of other schools who wanted to participate but, quite frankly, some students weren’t in safe enough positions to do so.”

A 30-day public comment period on the policy changes — which have not yet gone into effect — opened on Monday, and NBC4 Washington reports that around 4,000 comments were left in the first 15 hours.

“Don’t influence our kids in schools into this gender ideology,” one supporter wrote, according to the outlet.

However, Calabia says that views like this are serious misconceptions.

“I had teachers who would actively acknowledge queer history, queer problems and queer existence,” they said, NBC4 Washington reports. “It was life changing. That’s not what made me queer; that’s what made me feel safe and happy to be queer.”

The Virginia Department of Education will make a final decision on the policy proposal once the public comment period closes.

If you’d like to share your thoughts on the matter, you can access the Virginia Regulatory Town Hall forum here.

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