I live in Fairfax Virginia, and I oppose Action 4905.

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 violence, economic hardship, and reproductive health access.  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. Bathroom laws often target cisgender women who don’t conform to outdated ideas of femininity. In fact, trans masculine people have been assaulted and murdered in women’s rest rooms. These political attacks harm us all, whether we’re LGBTQIA+ or straight. These are assaults on women's rights as the same forces who seek to restrict trans feminine people from public life have a goal of taking away all rights women have fought for over centuries.

This proposed regulation 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.

I find it morally repugnant that anyone could even consider this legislation. On top of the direct harm done to trans women, this will create a damaging environment for cis women who will need to conform to stricter gender presentations to be safe. Everyone suffers when the state gains the power to intervene on who is allowed in what spaces. 

I know several trans women who are upstanding, loyal Americans and who do not deserve the ire of people who have never met them. Many of these women face the same danger using a male restroom that cis women do, and this regulation would be a legitimization of violence and will only force trans women into dangerous situations - not to mention the violence cis women will be subjected to in turn. It is intended to control women's bodies and subject them to extreme, state sanctioned violence, harassment, and sexual assault. It is inhumane, undemocratic, and an assault on every value Americans hold dear.

The regulation of spaces proposed by this goes against the ideals of liberty and personal freedom, and its draconic enforcement fits better in a fascist regime than a democratic one. Choose wisely which you want America to be.