
Sage's Law
In the Summer of 2021, a freshman named Sage, with a difficult past including foster care and adoption by her grandparents, started at Appomattox High School. Trying to find acceptance from her peers, she decided to "transition" to be treated as a boy at school - a new name "Draco", new male pronouns and using the boy's bathroom. The school did not inform Sage's parents of their active participation in Sage's transition. Within a couple of weeks, she was assaulted by a group of boys in a boys' bathroom. The school eventually contacted Sage's parents, telling them to come pick up their distraught child. At home, Sage's mom assured her that she could stay home from school until they figured out what to do; her mom also found a hall pass for "Draco" in Sage's backpack. A few hours later, Sage ran away from home to meet up with a "friend" she met through an "affirming" website. Instead, Sage was victimized by brutally sex trafficking for nine days before being recovered by the FBI in Maryland. Then, things only got worse, as an ideological public defender and judge refused to return Sage to her parents, claiming her distraught parents' calling her Sage and using her female pronouns was abuse and neglect. Maryland instead placed Sage in facilities with delinquent boys, where she was further sexually abused and given street drugs. Eventually placed in a behavioral health facility in Loudoun County, VA, Sage asked her mother to provide female clothes, but to keep that secret from facility staff that was pushing her to get a double mastectomy. Sage fled that facility, and again fell into horrific sex trafficking, this time ending up in Texas. Once again rescued, Sage was finally returned to her parents, with help from the Founding Freedoms Law Center in Richmond, VA. Sage's family and advocates requested that Del. LaRock file legislation to protect other children from the horrors Sage and her family faced.
Read Sage's Story: "Virginia Teen Sex Trafficked Twice After School Hides Gender Identity From Her Parents"
Read text and history of Sage's Law: LIS > Bill Tracking > HB2432 > 2023 session (virginia.gov)
- January 19th Sage's Law press conference: https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=_t0cH6U_G2w - January 30th House K-12 subcommittee full hearing of Sage's Law, HB 2432
- January 30th House K-12 subcommittee Testimony from Sage's Mom, Michele Blair
- February 6th HB 2432 Sage's Law - House of Delegates 2nd Reading floor debate
- Feb. 13 Sage's Law press conference: https://youtu.be/w_lRWvpJQS0
- Virginia Lawmakers Approve Bill To Ban Teachers From Hiding A Child’s Gender Transition From Parents - Daily Caller, 2/7/2023
- Virginia Introduces Sage's Law to Protect Children - O'Connor Tonight
- Parents slam teachers who secretly allowed their daughter to transition and use boys' restrooms - before she ran away into the arms of an online groomer
- Del. LaRock on NEWSRADIO 1140 WRVA Richmond's Morning News w/ John Reid, 1/24/2023
- Sage's Law: Protecting Vulnerable Children From the Ideological Fervor of the State - Washington Examiner, 1/30/2023
- It’s time to stand for children and pass Sage’s Law, the Child Protection Act
- When Students Change Gender Identity, and Parents Don’t Know - New York Times, 1/22/2023
- Maryland Refused To Give Back A Virginia Runaway Because Her Parents ‘Misgendered’ Her. Then She Was Sex Trafficked, Mother Says.
- Family Policy Alliance webinar with Josh Hetzler: Girl at Home, Boy at School - The School Stayed Silent | Sage's Law in Virginia
More general information on what's been going on with this issue:
- I Thought I Was Saving Trans Kids. Now I’m Blowing the Whistle. There are more than 100 pediatric gender clinics across the U.S. I worked at one. What’s happening to children is morally and medically appalling. By Jamie Reed, 1/9/2023
- Maine Mom Demands Investigation after School Counselor Secretly Gives Daughter a ‘Chest Binder’
- Pro-Trans Group Behind Virginia School Walkout Plans To ‘Rehome’ Gay Kids Who Hate Their Parents
- When Kids Consider Transitioning, Parents Need to be Involved - Washington Post, 2/2/2023
- Polling on trans pronouns and parents: "Virginia voters also show support for requiring parental approval for K-12 students to be referred to by a different pronoun from their birth certificate (59% to 36%)". CLICK HERE to access the full survey report.