I live in Midlothian, Virginia 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 a cis gendered woman and a mother nothing about banning trans people from public life makes me safer or healthier. It does however increase the danger I might receive from bigots who look at my 6 foot tall self and decide I look too masculine to have been born female. These kinds of calls to ban transgender women from anything only service to make all women less safe from harassment. Generally these bans will make all women less safe and are an outright violation of the rights and protections my transgender daughter deserves. Transphobes are in the minority but they are very loud and threatening. These social issues are a made up panic used to divide our country and stir up a false narrative to distract from actual issues that we face and no one is doing anything about. Trans people have always existed and thankfully will always exist. They deserve the same respect, privacy and protections as everyone else. 

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.