As a Christian and a Virginian, I write in strong opposition to the petition submitted by The Family Foundation that seeks to amend health regulations to declare transgender women a threat to public health and to allow their exclusion from sports teams and public facilities.

This petition is not about protecting health or safety. It is about advancing discrimination under the guise of public policy. Transgender people, including transgender women, are not a public health threat. Rather, they are our neighbors, our fellow citizens, and in many cases, our children, friends, and family members, deserving of the same rights, dignity, and protections as anyone else.

From a Christian perspective, I am especially grieved by the misuse of Christian faith to justify policies that promote fear, exclusion, and cruelty. Jesus teaches us to love our neighbors, to welcome the marginalized, and to protect the vulnerable. Nowhere in the Gospels does Jesus model the kind of scapegoating this petition promotes. In fact, He consistently stands with those whom others seek to cast aside.

I have Christian friends whose son is transgender. Their journey as a family has been filled with faith, courage, and deep love; and unfortunately, also with pain caused by those who attack or shun them simply for supporting their child. The idea that this young man, or anyone like him, constitutes a threat to public health is not only scientifically baseless but morally offensive. The real threat to health and wellbeing is the stigma, isolation, and violence that transgender individuals face because of discriminatory policies and rhetoric.

The petition’s proposal to label transgender women as a threat to the “physical and psychological health” of cisgender women is dangerously broad and wholly unsupported by medical evidence. Leading medical organizations, including the American Medical Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics, and the American Psychological Association, affirm that transgender people are not a threat and that affirming their identity is essential to their health and well-being.

Framing the mere presence of trans women in public spaces as a public health crisis is a cruel distortion of what health policy should be about. It risks emboldening further harassment, discrimination, and even violence against transgender people, especially youth who are already at increased risk of depression, suicide, and homelessness due to rejection.

Public health policy must be rooted in evidence, not ideology. And for Christians, our public witness must be rooted in love, not fear. The call to “do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with our God” (Micah 6:8) requires that we stand against policies that demonize a vulnerable population.

I urge the Virginia Board of Health to reject this petition. Not only would its adoption enshrine discrimination in our public health regulations, it would also do real harm to real people…many of whom are children, teenagers, and families just trying to live in peace and safety.

Let us be a Commonwealth that affirms the dignity and humanity of all our residents, including our transgender neighbors.