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Trans, non-binary, gender-non-conforming and other gender-expansive students have new rights and supports in FCPS

****Breaking News****

June 22, 2021: Trans, non-binary, gender-non-conforming and other gender-expansive students have new rights and supports in FCPS.

FCPS welcomes LGBTQIA+ students and lists the rights and supports of Trans and Gender-Expansive students on this webpage.

Support for Gender-Expansive and Transgender Students
  • The right to access restroom and locker room facilities and other non-stigmatizing accommodations that are consistent with the student’s gender identity;
  • The right to non-disclosure of gender identity and/or sexual orientation unless required by law; 
  • The right to be called by chosen names and pronouns;
  • The right to internally generated and shared school lists of students (e.g., honor roll, graduation programs, yearbooks, school newspapers) that identify students by their chosen names and genders.
  • The right to receive support to ensure safe and equitable access to all school and FCPS facilities and activities.
  • Editorial note: the right to “shared schools lists” includes the right to have their chosen name appear in their school email accounts and on online platforms such as Google Meets and Schoology
Students or parents/guardians with questions about accessing supports for gender-expansive and transgender students should contact their school counselor, psychologist, social worker, or the FCPS Ombudsman. Parents/guardians can also contact the FCPS Parent Resource Center

Editorial note: The “ FCPS Ombudsman” is an anonymous problem-solver for anyone in FCPS (students, staff, parents). If you are encountering difficulty with getting any of these rights through, just call the Office of the Ombudsman or submit the form, and they will help fix it. The office is really the go-to place when you encounter barriers.

 Students may initiate any of these rights by contacting their counselor, or, if the counselor, is out for the summer, the Principal or the Ombudsman.

The members of FCPS Pride, staff and families, welcome and applaud the groundbreaking steps that Fairfax County Public Schools is undertaking to ensure that all students, including trans and gender-expansive students, are welcome, safe, and respected in our schools, from K to 12. We look forward to further action by the school board and administration to ensure that LGBTQIA+ students, staff and families are fully included in our school community.

As one student said, “Does this mean I won’t be treated like a second-class child anymore?” One parent said “It’s been hard negotiating every year for my child’s rights in school. Now I know that my child and I have the full support of the school.”

Announcing FCPS Pride!

“Enfin!” in the words of my friend who teaches French: “Finally!” Fifteen years after the initial proposal, the Fairfax County School Board added “sexual orientation” to its non-discrimination policy, and it added “gender identity” this spring (Current FCPS nondiscrimination policy).

Thus, FCPS Pride has come in to existence, to “network and advocate for allied and LGBT employees, for ourselves, our colleauges, our friends and families, our students and our children.”

So FCPS Pride welcomes, of course LGBT employees, but also GSA sponsors and others concerned about students, and parents of LGBT children in the system who are also employees, as well as other staff supportive of LGBT people.

Members may include teachers, administrators, support staff, maintenance staff, substitutes, and central office staff; in other words, all people with a current FCPS employee number.

FCPS Pride envisions a school system in which all students, employees and applicants are respected and treated fairly, regardless of sexual orientation and gender identity or expression.

The purpose of this blog is to address issues of concern to this community. Discussion and disagreement are welcome, but extreme language should be avoided; this is also not a forum for disagreement with the basic rights and respect that LGBT people deserve (i.e. it is not a completely open forum). Specifically, misgendering of respondents will not be allowed.

Guest blogs are welcome, subject to editing for space. Please submit to [email protected]

Membership forms are on another page. Both members and associates may join the “action cohort.” You need to join membership and the action cohort separately, if you wish to be included in both. The contact information on each does not need to match.

You would receive “action emails” about letter-writing campaigns to the school board and other local government officials, and possibly robocalls (rarely) about a need for attendance at a school board meeting.

You may join both or neither, as you choose. If you wish to be removed, email [email protected]

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