Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin defended the state's school bathroom and sports policies during a town hall Thursday when confronted by a transgender teen.
"The heart of our policy is that parents should know what's going on in their children's lives and have a role," Youngkin stated. "And when they do, then, in fact, they can tackle these difficult decisions together as a family."
Starting last September, Youngkin led an effort alongside his cabinet and Virginia Republican lawmakers to require students to use the same bathrooms and locker rooms and join the same sports teams as their sex assigned at birth.
A transgender student who went by "Nico" challenged those policies during a question-and-answer period. According to the teenager, he is 17 and has transitioned from female to male.
"Look at me. I am a transgender man," Nico said. "Do you really think the girls in my high school would feel comfortable sharing a restroom with me?"
Youngkin first replied by thanking the student for his question and then shared his view that it is crucial Virginia schools "try very hard to accommodate students."
"That's why I have said many, many times, we just need extra bathrooms in schools," the governor explained. "We need gender-neutral bathrooms ... so people can use the bathroom that they in fact are comfortable with."
Youngkin strongly denounced the idea of biological men playing in women's sports, insisting that he does not believe that specific policy is controversial.
"I don't think biological boys should be playing sports with biological girls," Youngkin said. "There's been decades of efforts in order to gain opportunities for women in sports. And it's just not fair. And I think that's non-controversial and something that is pretty well understood."
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