Democrats in Virginia’s Senate voted to kill a bill that would ban schools from hiding a child’s “gender transition” from parents.
Sage’s Law, the bill that passed the Old Dominion House 50-48 on February 7, was shot down Thursday in Senate committee 9-6. Democrats control Virginia’s Senate by a margin of 22-18.
The law would require school employees to notify parents if a child begins identifying as “a gender different from the student’s biological sex.” It also ensures that the treatment of children as their biological sex is not considered neglect or abuse.
Every Democrat on the committee voted against the bill.
Democrats said the bill was “forcibly outing transgender students” and “just the latest example of a coordinated attack against transgender kids across our country.”
State Del. Tara Durant (R), who told the Daily Caller the Democrats’ decision to block the law represents “politics at its worst,” also said, “This bill would protect students like Sage — one of many who have suffered irreparable trauma that could have been avoided if her loving and supportive parents hadn’t been kept in the dark about her experiences at school.”
The bill’s namesake, Sage, is a girl from Appomattox, Virginia, who was secretively aided in her “transition” by school officials.
The 14-year-old girl made the decision to go by a different name and pronouns because “all the girls there were bi, trans, lesbian, emo,” but Michele, Sage’s mother, was never notified.
Michele said Sage was bullied in the boys’ restroom and ran away only to become a victim of sex trafficking in Washington, DC, and Baltimore, Maryland. The government put Sage in a male juvenile facility where she was further assaulted and given drugs.
Sage’s parents were accused of abuse for “misgendering” their daughter.
Eventually, Sage escaped Maryland for Texas where she was “drugged, raped, beaten and exploited” before being returned to her parents.
“Sage says she doesn’t know who she was back then,” Michele said. “She wasn’t a boy. She just wanted to have friends.”
“But her school, the judge, the attorney and the doctor were all blinded by their ideology,” she continued. “The consequences for Sage were unspeakable. Please don’t let ideology harm another child. Let parents do our jobs. We know our children best and we love them a million times more.”
Breccan F. Thies is a reporter for Breitbart News. You can follow him on Twitter @BreccanFThies.