Equality Arlington Strongly Opposes the Virginia Board of Health’s Anti-Transgender Proposed Regulation
Equality Arlington is a nonprofit advocacy organization dedicated to improving the lives of the LGBTQ+ community in Arlington, Virginia. We strongly oppose the Virginia Board of Health’s misguided and discriminatory intended regulatory action: “Regulations Governing Biological Sex Specific or Separated Spaces and Activities [12 VAC 5 ‑ 660].”
The Board of Health’s proposed regulation would prevent transgender women from participating in women’s sports throughout Virginia and from using women’s changing rooms or bathrooms. Under the guise of protecting women, the Board of Health is attempting to use the coercive power of the state to discriminate against transgender women. This regulation will serve only to ostracize transgender women from their peers and implement an absurd regulatory regime across the state to verify each woman’s gender before allowing her to use a public or private bathroom or changing facility.
The proposed regulatory action is in direct violation of the Virginia Human Rights Act which prohibits discrimination based on gender identity. It aims to take away transgender women’s right to live a free and fulfilling life and goes against the practices and guidelines of the Women’s Sports Foundation, National Women’s Law Center, and many states who are working towards best practices in fairness, inclusion, and access to play and facilities.
If implemented, the proposed action by the Board of Health will:
Decrease trust in Virginia government by politicizing the Board of Health and its regulations
Reduce transgender women’s participation in athletics with negative impacts on their physical and mental health
Violate the privacy of all women by subjecting them to gender inspection/verification before using bathroom/changing facilities
Promote state-sanctioned discrimination based on gender identity in direct violation of the Virginia Human Rights Act
Fail to actually protect any women in Virginia
We urge the Board of Health to halt their proposed regulatory action.
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