>> Just zip it like that.

BILLY SHIELDS: Dozens of protesters organized by the Family Foundation of Virginia set up outside the Chesterfield County School Board office to demand the board implement the state Education Department's model policies regarding transgender students.

VICTORIA COBB: And this is not going to be a matter of if you just continue to do nothing, people are going to go away.

We're asking them to take action immediately.

BILLY SHIELDS: VDOEs guidelines make it harder for trans or non-binary students to use their preferred names and gender pronouns.

They also require students to use the restrooms corresponding to sex assigned at birth.

MARIA RODRIGUEZ: Biological differences between males and females mean that allowing access based on gender identity rather than biological sex will compromise the comfort, privacy and safety of young woman in these spaces.

BILLY SHIELDS: But advocates against the policies who attended Tuesday night's meeting say these policies invite bullying and harassment.

SHANNON McKAY: There's so much harm that can be caused, and actually He She Ze and We has hundreds of families in Chesterfield County, and we have students now under the current policies that are able to live authentically.

They're thriving.

They have friends.

They're feeling welcome and a sense of belonging.

BILLY SHIELDS: It is not clear if school boards are legally required to adopt the guidelines.

Some divisions have already pledged to reject them.

So far as the Family Foundation goes, JOSH HETZLER: The school board is certainly in violation of the law.

BILLY SHIELDS: There is no clear penalty for localities that don't implement the policies.

And a recent lawsuit in York County against VDOE by the ACLU was tossed out on procedural grounds.

Rob Hammel is a teacher at Gates Elementary School in Chesterfield.

He has a trans daughter and mentions her in class.

ROB HAMMEL: And I explain, my daughter is trans.

She looked like a boy when she was born, but she's really a girl.

And I say those two sentences.

And parents complain almost every year that I said those two sentences.

So just the fact that my daughter exists is a problem.

BILLY SHIELDS: As it stands, Chesterfield School Board has no agenda item for adopting the model policies.

Billy Shields, VPM News.