I live in Fredericksburg 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. This petition is hateful to a minority group that already receives so much violent hate. Why do you want to be complicit in that?

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 Bathroom laws often target cisgender women who don’t conform to outdated ideas of femininity.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.

I fear that I would be attacked should this be allowed to pass. While I was born female, I look very masculine. This is the kind of bill that invites violence and persecution on to me. We have stories of masculine women being attacked or forced to show their genitals because someone doesn't believe they are supposed to be in the women's bathroom. How many more do we need in order to prove these bills only harm women, not help them? Am I going to have to prove myself every time I want to use the rest room?

Do you really want to protect women, or do you just hate trans people? Because from where I stand, you have no interest in actually helping women.