I live in Norfolk and I oppose Petition 432.

There are real public health issues facing women and girls in Virginia, like domestic violence, maternal health, and poverty. This petition is a distraction from actual, documented health-related concerns in favor of baseless fear and hatred. 

 There is a nationwide effort by some politicians and interest groups to force transgender people and LGBTQ+ people out of public life. These divisive policies distract Americans from the collective issues we all face. 

Policies that seek to restrict locker rooms and bathrooms to sex assigned at birth will do nothing to protect women- no man would undergo the social censure and physical work of transition to harm women, or for that matter, to succeed in sports. Men who intend to harm women do so every single day without any such efforts. Furthermore, this policy supposes that all trans women are attracted to women, which is hardly true. Following that line of justification, what locker room/ bathroom do I use as a lesbian? Will we eventually attempt to sort locker rooms by sexual orientation? How will a policy which seeks to limit locker room usage by transgender individuals be enforced? Many cisgender women do not dress or appear traditionally feminine- will we inspect them all? Trans women deserve the same privacy and respect that all other humans deserve. 

My brother is transgender. Policies such as these will end with exactly what they're trying to prevent: men in the women's restroom. Men like my brother, who has a full beard and all the other physical characteristics of a man. 

This policy is discriminatory and impossible to enforce. It opens the door to discrimination of other groups and will do nothing to protect or promote the rights of cisgender women.