Ralph Shearer Northam (born September 13, 1959) is an American politician and physician serving as the 73rd Governor of Virginia since January 13, 2018. A pediatric neurologist by occupation, he was an officer in the U.S. Army Medical Corps from 1984 to 1992. Northam, a member of the Democratic Party, served as the 40th Lieutenant Governor of Virginia from 2014 to 2018 prior to winning the governorship against Republican nominee Ed Gillespie in the 2017 election.
Biden Backs Virginia Students Protesting Glenn Youngkin's LGBTQ Policies
newsweek.comGlenn Youngkin's reversal of transgender protections and his new LGBTQ school policies.During Tuesday's press briefing, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said that although she hasn't read the reports of the mass walkout, President Joe Biden continues to support the LGBTQ community and is "always proud to speak out against the mistreatment of that community.""He believes transgender youth should be allowed to be able to go to school freely, to be able to express themselves freely, to be able to have the protections that they need to be who they are," Jean-Pierre told reporters.Students at nearly 100 middle and high schools walked out on Tuesday after Youngkin released guidelines earlier this month that would require students to use restrooms, pronouns and names based on their official school record—unless there is a parental sign-off—and would limit student-athletes from only playing on sports teams of their biological sex.Youngkin, who replaced former Democratic Governor Ralph Northam in 2021, largely won on a platform that championed parents' rights and argued that parents should have greater input on their children's education.Despite the pushback that his policies have faced from students across Virginia, Youngkin has insisted that public schools follow the new guidelines and defended the revisions as benefitting parents in the state."Parents should be absolutely at the center of this discussion with their children, who they have known since before they were born," the governor told WJLA-TV on Monday. "And I think this is for the child's best interest for the family's best interest.
