Virginia Regulatory Town Hall
Agency
Virginia Department of Health
 
Board
State Board of Health
 
chapter
Regulations Governing Biological Sex Specific or Separated Spaces and Activities [12 VAC 5 ‑ 660]
Action Promulgate Regulations Governing Biological Sex Specific or Separated Spaces and Activities
Stage NOIRA
Comment Period Ended on 12/17/2025
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12/17/25  9:06 pm
Commenter: Joshua Gherlone

Stop these unscientific and harmful charades.
 

There is no scientifically or statistically sound reason for rules like this. All it does is further harm multiple minorities which are already exposed to exceptional levels of societal hatred and bigotry from the highest levels. 

That's not accounting for what little this does to protect Virginians- especially the women and girls claimed to be protected by this nonsense. If a woman grows facial hair through ordinary variations in her hormonal balances, will she be targeted by this bill and spend countless hours and thousands of dollars having to defend her identity? Will girls be warned away from gaining too much muscle, or performing too well in sports, lest an overaggressive parent claim they're secretly something else? These are not wholly imaginary scenarios- Some of these have already happened in places where regulations strictly enforcing separation based on some mythically perfect "biological sex" are already in place.

Reality is not so clean and tidy either. Intersex people exist. It is entirely possible for anyone reading this to have different chromosomes than they expect, unless they have been tested and proven to match expectations. The number of intersex variations is exceptionally numerous, and regulations such as these treat their existence as little better than dirt.

The time and money spent hurting transgender and intersex people could be put towards literally anything else- like access to period products or reproductive healthcare, or maybe an effort to reduce economic hardship to ensure they don't need state assistance for those products in the first place, or even just dedicating police activity towards actual criminals. Something, anything, that would actually help women and girls to be healthier, safer, more successful- not this uninspired bigotry-as-law.

CommentID: 238800