Virginia Regulatory Town Hall
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Virginia Department of Health
 
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State Board of Health
 
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[12 VAC 5 ‑ ]
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5/7/25  2:40 pm
Commenter: Anonymous

I Do Not Feel Safer With This Petition
 

I am a biological woman and I do not approve this rule, nor do I feel any safer with it. Frankly, I would feel more anxious if it were to be put into place. This petition is clearly meant to attack transwomen rather than protect women from anything. 

I have many reasons why I don't like this petition, but first and foremost, how would you "prove" a biological female? Are women supposed to be safer when they can be called into question at any time and be forced to "prove" their womanhood? Yeah, no thanks. This blatantly jeopardizes women, cis and trans. The methods to "prove" womanhood would likely be highly invasive, and even if there was some workaround to a genital inspection, no woman should be interrogated when just trying to do their business. 

I have never felt bothered by transwomen in the bathroom because they have never bothered me. We all come in to use the restroom or use the mirrors, then leave. There is no reason to barr every transwomen ever from using the restroom they belong in.

I also have no issue with transwomen in female sports. There is no inherent advantage transwomen have in sports because the estrogen taken during transition quite literally weakens and changes the muscle mass. It's a little complicated to summarize here, but it would mean that the strength and training needed to build muscle as a transwoman taking estrogen would be much more similar to a biological woman's muscle and training regimene than a man's. It still ultimately comes down to training and discipline. 

No one becomes trans to compete in women's sports. Trans athletes are just trans people who want to compete in sports, and they should have the right to do so. If you are so concerned about women's safety, I strongly reccomend other measures than enforcing rules that only really discriminate transwomen and no one else. 

CommentID: 234678