When recently asked about her stance on allowing students to use bathrooms and locker rooms based on their “chosen identity” instead of their biological sex, Virginia gubernatorial candidate Abigail Spanberger refused to condemn such policies.

Late last month, the U.S. Department of Education found five counties in Virginia to be in violation of Title IX for allowing “students to access intimate, sex-segregated facilities based on the students’ subjective ‘gender identity.'” In light of this news, ABC affiliate 7News recently sent questions to Spanberger’s campiagn, including asking whether she “believe[s] the five school districts should defend and keep their existing transgender and non-binary bathroom and locker room policies,” whether she “support[s] policies that allow students the option to use bathrooms and locker rooms at K-12 schools based on students’ chosen gender identity,” and if she “support[s] biological males competing in women’s sports.”

The outlet said the campaign did not answer its questions directly, instead sending a statement on Spanberger’s behalf: “[T]he safety of Virginia’s kids is Abigail’s top priority, and she believes that parents have the right to make decisions about what is best for their children.”

While some Democrats were reportedly “furious” with the statement for potentially implying trans policies are dangerous or frustrated that it “didn’t make it clear where [Spanberger] stands,” the statement stopped short of actually condemning men in women’s intimate spaces.

In contrast, Spanberger’s opponent, Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears, has “said state school districts should end their current transgender and non-binary bathroom and locker room policies,” ABC7 reported. She also cited Spanberger’s past stances on parental rights and transgender policy in a recent post on X, claiming she is “not for parents.”

Spanberger’s record speaks for itself. In 2022, she suggested Youngkin’s model policies, which in part attempted to base bathroom use on sex rather than “gender identity,” were “shameful,” and effectively accused him of “punch[ing] down” at children who just want to “be themselves in schools.” As 7News noted, she voted in favor of boys being allowed to play in girls’ sports in 2023. She also voted against the Parents Bill of Rights Act during her tenure in the House.

In a state that Biden won by ten points in 2020, Republican Youngkin won the governor’s race with his stance on education reform. His catchphrase on the campaign trail was “parents matter,” and he took executive action to end mask mandates and critical race theory in schools on day one, as The Federalist reported. He has since come under fire for failing to effectively implement his agenda.

Virginia schools’ trans policies have put several districts in the national spotlight. In 2021, skirt-clad male student Hunter Heckel raped a girl in the girl’s bathroom of a Loudon County school. The school tried to cover up the rape while working “to pass a policy that would allow transgender students to use the bathroom of their choice,” the Daily Wire reported.

The same year, Appomattox County High School concealed a teen’s “transgender identity” from her guardians, as The Federalist reported. The teen was later trafficked after, as her mother said, she was deceived by sexual predators “posing as friends” online.

Jacqueline Annis-Levings is a correspondent for the Federalist. She is a rising junior at Patrick Henry College, where she is majoring in English.