I've come to understand that a petition was entered asking that the board of health restrict trans women from women's bathrooms, changing areas, and sporting events.  This petition will, if adopted, accomplish the opposite: it will empower the public to challenge and evict any women that don't fit the challenger's narrow view of what a woman is or looks like, and will empower a culture of vigilante policing that will turn people against their neighbors.

When North Carolina adopted its bathroom bill, the very first arrest was a woman with short hair - she had every right to be in that bathroom, but a stranger used the law against her anyway.  Regulations against trans women in sports have provoked invasive testing requirements in some places, and shuttered some smaller sports altogether (e.g. roller derby in Tennessee.)

There have been, to date, almost no instances of actual measurable harm in allowing transgender citizens to use their own judgement as to which facilities to use.  In fact, Washington DC has mandated that facilities be divided along self-id lines for years now, with no incidents beyond the same sort of vigilante policing that the proposed policy will turbocharge.  Transgender citizens do not go looking for confrontation, and in the absence of a policy will try to minimize the odds of altercation.

Finally, adopting a blanket policy like this will deprive business owners of the ability to tailor their policies to mores of their customers.

This policy will make us all less safe, less free, and more suspicious of one another. Please let Virginians continue to use their best judgements and do not adopt this policy.