Attempting to ban femme transpersons from bathrooms and sports doesn't keep everyone else safer, because transpersons are not dangerous. They are attempting to live their fullest and most authentic--and, in the case of using the restroom, most banal--lives. I have never felt unease sharing a restroom with a transperson, whether I knew it or not; trans people have always been with us.

A ban such as this does, however, accomplish 3 things:
- puts everyone, transgender or cisgender, in danger and/or fear of being policed while using the restroom. This can cause sustained anxiety, with mental health implications, and avoidance of using the restroom entirely, potentially leading to physical health implications.
- hinders the physical, mental, emotional, and social potential of all athletes, concerning themselves over the genders of themselves v. others on the playing field, when they could be striving for their personal best in leadership, teamwork, and athleticism

- distracts from real issues affecting children here in Stafford County, like the nearly 3 thousand children living in poverty (U.S. Census Bureau, Estimate of People Age 0-17 in Poverty in Stafford County, VA [PEU18VA51179A647NCEN], retrieved from FRED, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis; https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/PEU18VA51179A647NCEN, December 17, 2025.) Or the fact that negative treatment by others, such as bullying, is a strong and consistent risk factor for youth suicide (Koyanagi et al., 2019), regardless of gender identity or sexual orientation. Or the horrific maternal mortality rate here in Stafford, an average 44.3 per 100,000 live births in the years 2019-2023, higher by 10 than the national average for the same time frame (https://www.vdh.virginia.gov/data/maternal-child-health/maternal-mortality/). These are some of the truly disturbing trends on which we should be focusing our attentions, to support our youth, our neighbors, our community.

Again, I live in Stafford County, and I oppose Action 4905. It does not protect anyone, it puts Stafford residents in more danger.