Virginia passes law preventing teacher from keeping students’ gender change secret from parents—all Democrats vote against it

Sage’s Law is named after a 14-year-old girl who was raped and became a victim of sex trafficking after her parents’ lost custody of her for alleged “misgendering.” Sage’s school had allowed her to adopt a male name and pronouns without informing her parents.

Last week, Sage’s mother, Michele, delivered an emotional testimony before the Virginia education committee in which she told the harrowing story of how her daughter struggled with serious mental health issues before secretly transitioning to live as a boy with her school’s approval.

Michele told the committee that she and her husband were willing to use Sage’s male name and pronouns, but that their daughter ran away to a transgender friend she had met online the night they found out about her transgender identity. She was found nine days later and had been sex trafficked, drugged, and gang raped. Sage was taken into state custody, and housed in a male children’s home where she experienced further assaults.

Sage’s Law requires that teachers immediately inform parents if their child has adopted an opposite sex identity, and clarifies the meaning to “child abuse” to exclude “misgendering.”

The bill passed by a vote of 50 to 48 and now moves on to the Virginia Senate.

“Today, 50 Republican Delegates passed Sage’s Law and said NEVER AGAIN will we allow this to happen to another child, while we also closed the door to block judges or social workers who would make parents criminals if they affirm a minor child’s biological sex,” Dave LaRock, the sponsor of the bill, told the Daily Caller. “All Democrats voted against Sage’s Law, apparently willing to leave the door open to predators by preserving the secrecy in which they thrive.”

“Sage will spend the rest of her life recovering. We can’t undo the harm done to Sage, but we can help protect others,” LaRock added.

The Democrats who opposed the bill argued that it will endanger so-called “trans kids” by forcibly outing them to unsupportive parents, possibly leading to abuse or homelessness.

Trans activists define “unsupportive parents” as being those who don’t instantly accept that their child is a member of the opposite sex, as well as those who want to protect their child from becoming a victim of the child-sex-change medical experiment.