I live in Charlottesville and I oppose Action 4905.

The Board of Health has no business scrutinizing children's bodies and documentation to determine their gender or bodily characteristics. There is a significant privacy risk and risk of abuse that is much more dangerous than kids sharing a locker room.

As a social worker, I know that there are real public health issues facing women and girls in Virginia, like domestic violence, maternal health, and poverty. Peeing in a stall next to a transgender person is not a public health crisis. 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.

I know many transgender youth, and all they want is to be treated just like every other kid - including in school, sports, and public places. These kids are way more likely to be victimized than to harm others, and policies like this significantly increases that risk. 

I have spent my career working with youth who have been sexually abused. Knowing what I know about who causes sexual harm, I can affirm that youth are way more at risk by having to be "inspected" by an adult to prove which locker room they should use, than by being in a locker room with a trans youth. This policy would harm ALL children, by placing them all at risk of undue scrutiny by adults.

Our girl athletes deserve to be treated with respect and to be given the same privileges tha boys' athletics receive. This will have the effect of making girls sports even more disadvantaged compared to boys. The fact that the proposed regulation only targets girls sports shows that it is about control and discrimination, not any purported safety issues. 

This proposed regulation has nothing to do with the health of Virginians and everything to do with discrimination. Let kids play sports and keep adults out of their undergarments.