To Whom It May Concern,

I live in Norfolk 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. 

As someone is cisgender and has transgender friends and also played sports in an extracurricular activity, I know the importance of collaboration and supporting one another. The whole idea of sports is to improve a young person’s mental fitness as well as their physical health, not to mention that social skills also contributes to that. So teaching kids to ostracize their peers based on prejudice and hate would not only hurt someone’s early development but it takes the fun out of the game, and no one would want to play anymore. That’s not something we want, do we? Plus, it would encourage bullying among the team, especially toward some of their cis peers who might not fit into convenient gender norms you expect them to. So, if you are against kids bullying each other, then you would see why Petition 432 would be extremely harmful.

In short, 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. 

Whether you have loved ones in your life who happen to be trans or have not met a trans person before yet have no reason to be afraid of them, then I think you and your colleagues should consider saying NO to Petition 432.