I live in Prince William County, and I oppose Petition 432.

As a Christian minister, I believe that all people are created in the image of God. The Board of Health has no business labeling groups of people harmful based on who they are. 

There are real public health issues facing women and girls in Virginia, like domestic violence, maternal health, and poverty. Don’t let this hateful petition distract from your important mission to protect the health and promote the well-being of ALL people in Virginia.

Across our races, backgrounds, and genders, we all deserve to be treated fairly and with dignity. There is a nationwide effort by some politicians and interest groups to force transgender people and LGBTQ+ people out of public life. These political attacks harm us all, whether we’re gay or straight, transgender or not, because they foster discrimination and distract us from the real problems we face. 

Trans women are not and have never been a public health threat to the physical and psychological health of cisgender women and girls. Predatory men are the threat to girls and women. Instead of scapegoating trans women, please address the public health crisis that is abuse and sexual assault perpetrated by men. It shouldn't surprise anyone that the "solution" to weeding trans women out of sports and the public sphere is to perform crotch checks on girls whose gender identity is called into question. That is abuse, and abuse of all forms must stop.

Trans people are not a danger or a threat. They are being used as pawns to cover for the abuses of men.