I strongly oppose this proposed change because it’s baseless. There is no scientific or medical evidence in support of it. Instead, it’s based on the individual experiences of a small number of people whose own motivations are not considered. The proposed change harms people simply for the sake of harming people.

Without evidence or any sort of basis for this change, the sole underlying purpose of this change is animus towards trans women. This kind of discrimination has no place in the regulations adopted by this Board. These attacks on the rights of trans women, under the guise of protecting women and children, actually undercut the rights of women and children. As we’ve seen on a larger scale, anti-trans hate emboldens people (and in particular men) to insert themselves into situations that have nothing to do with them simply to attack women based on their belief in the trans orientation of an individual. That very example has played out at a Walmart in Florida, with the cisgender female employee having been fired after being on the receiving end of an altercation with a male customer, and a hotel in Boston, with two cisgender females having been kicked out of the hotel by a male security guard who challenged their use of the women’s restroom.

This regulation is not about protecting women and children; it’s about control. I ask that the Board deny this petition.