Speakers at a public hearing on Thursday said that legislation in West Virginia to narrow the definitions of gender would deny women any additional rights and would allow Republicans to repress transgender people. CHARLESTON, W. Va. (AP)
During the 45-minute hearing in the House chambers at the state Capitol, dozens of speakers opposed the “Children’s Bill of Rights” while a small number supported it.
According to the law, “equal” does not imply “same” or “identical” in relation to equality of the sexes. A child’s sex is determined at birth, and gender equity terms cannot be substituted, according to state statutes and formal public policies. Additionally, it may prove that some single-sex settings, like locker rooms, bathrooms, and athletic facilities, are not discriminatory.
At a public hearing on Thursday, February 8, 2024, in the House chamber at the state Capitol in Charleston, W. Va., Mollie Kennedy, community outreach director for the American Civil Liberties Union’s West Virginia branch, expresses her opposition to the proposed “Women’s Bill of Rights.” The bill, according to critics, would stifle transgender rights in the state. (AP Photo/John Raby)Max Varney, a student at Marshall University, claimed that the act justifies stigmatization by citing women’s rights.
“I am a trans man in West Virginia, and I stand before you,” Varney claimed that neither my life nor a threat to the public were offensive. “This legislation is dehumanizing. It’s unfair. And it is repulsive.
“Why am I never also supposed to be regarded as a person?” Varney continued. “I’m here now to prove to you that transgender individuals in West Virginia actually exist. I am real. I’m here. And I deserve to be treated with dignity.”
The bill, according to Fairness West Virginia, the state’s sole LGBTQ+ advocacy group, does nothing to help women and, among other things, forbids transgender people from using gender-appropriate restrooms in public buildings.
The GOP-supermajority House of Delegates is still debating the policy. Governor of West Virginia Jim Justice firmly supported the bill at a meeting held just before it was introduced last quarter. Similar actions have been taken in different states: Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt signed an executive order in August on the limited definitions of sex.
Riley Gaines, a former Kentucky swimmer, attended both events and voiced her disapproval of an NCAA determination that permitted transgender swimmer Lia Thomas to compete against her in the women’s tournament race in 2022. Gaines is a member of the Independent Women’s Voice anti-trans team.
The language of the bill is vague about its possible effects because it omits specifics like enforcement systems and penalties. Officials in other states with laws limiting the access of trans people to restrooms had had trouble figuring out how they will be put into practice.
Despite its broad “Bill of Rights” premise, the measure doesn’t address problems like abortion, affordable childcare, or reproductive care. When a House committee president ruled that an equal pay provision wasn’t relevant to the bill, which is otherwise titled “The West Virginia Act to Establish Sex-Based Terms Used in State Law, Help Protect Single-Sex Spaces, and Ensure the Accuracy of Public Data Collection,” one lawmaker’s attempt to include it was rejected.
The act “guarantees my rights to security, privacy, and safety,” according to follower Nila Thomson at a public hearing of the House Judiciary Committee. “I’m but appreciative that you came up with this act on your own.”
However, Mollie Kennedy, the community outreach coordinator for the West Virginia section of the American Civil Liberties Union, referred to it as a “bigoted bill.”
“To understand how this legislature feels about women, we don’t need a women’s bill of rights,” she said. “It’s disgusting and unpleasant.”
The House Education Committee passed a new bill last month that would forbid transgender individuals from using gender-appropriate restrooms at school. The court committee has not discussed that act.
Republican Justice joined more than a few states that have passed legislation restricting or outlawing clinically supported treatments for transgender children last year when he signed legislation banning gender-affirming care for minors.
There will probably be legal challenges.
The trans bathroom ban on a Virginia school board was declared unconstitutional by the Richmond-based 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in 2020. West Virginia is under the purview of the 4th Circuit.
A 12-year-old transgender woman in West Virginia was granted permission by the U.S. Supreme Court last year to continue playing on her middle school’s girls sports teams while a state ban lawsuit is still pending. Trans athletes are not allowed to compete in sports that are consistent with their gender identity under the ban.
