I live in Fairfax County and I oppose Petition 432.

This petition is not about locker rooms. 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. 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.

I am a transgender woman. I have medically transitioned. When I use a restroom or a locker room I'm there for the same reason as anyone else. Increasing scrutiny and policing bodies does not only harm trans people, it will make these spaces demonstrably less safer for everyone who do not meet certain aesthetic or beauty standards. There are reports of cis women being accused of being trans and accosted in these spaces in other states that have taken similar actions. Trans women are at statistically higher risk of being assaulted when they are excluded from these spaces. 

When I was a kid, long before I transitioned, I played basketball in youth leagues. It was an opportunity for me to socialize with friends, learn collaboration, work through obstacles and push towards a shared goal as a team. For adults to rob trans kids of this same opportunity simply for being who they are (while the entire push is based on a religious organization wishing to exert bigotry) is quite frankly vile. Trans kids deserve every opportunity their cis peers have--full childhoods, this includes sports.

This petition has nothing to do with the health of Virginians and everything to do with discrimination. No one should face discrimination because of who they are. Trans people have always been here, and always will be. Trans people cannot and will not be erased.