Virginia GOP Gov. Glenn Youngkin this week defended his policies on transgender students and his executive order that banned the teaching of critical race theory in public schools during a town hall broadcast on CNN.
"The heart of our policy is that parents should know what's going on in their children's lives and have a role," Youngkin said during the event, which took place on Thursday. "And when they do, then, in fact, they can tackle these difficult decisions together as a family."
He later said he was in favor of gender-neutral bathrooms after a teenage transgender man who attends school in Arlington asked, "Do you really think that the girls in my high school would feel comfortable sharing a restroom with me?"
The governor said that schools must "try very hard to accommodate students."
He added, "That's why I have said many, many times, we just need extra bathrooms in schools. We need gender-neutral bathrooms and so people can use the bathroom that they in fact are comfortable with."
Youngkin went on to defend his policy on transgender student-athletes as "non-controversial."
He also addressed his order to ban the teaching of critical race theory in public schools, saying that the subject "isn't a class that's taught, it's a philosophy that's incorporated in the curriculum."
Youngkin said: "The key point is how we teach it. We need to teach it honestly and transparently, but we shouldn't teach it with judgment."