Virginia Regulatory Town Hall
Agency
Virginia Department of Health
 
Board
State Board of Health
 
chapter
[12 VAC 5 ‑ ]
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5/22/25  4:25 pm
Commenter: Chesh

I oppose—you’re going to put men in women’s bathrooms if this petition succeeds.
 

I strongly oppose this petition—it’s poorly thought out and inflammatory.  Firstly, how is this going to be enforced?  Are male security guards going to be asking to look into women’s pants to confirm whether they have a vagina or not?  You can’t look at ID gender markers—those can be changed.  Are security guards going to be escorting out anyone who looks too “masculine” to be in the women’s bathroom?  What about women who have shorter hair or wear more unisex clothing?  What about women who have cancer and have lost their hair due to chemotherapy?  This has already happened in New York City—a woman was forcefully thrown out of a public bathroom because she “appeared to be a man” even though she was assigned the female sex at birth and has always been a woman.  It was a male security guard who went into the bathroom, was waiting for her outside her stall, and grabbed her the second she opened the stall door.  Further, what about transgender men?  People who were assigned female at birth, and transitioned to being male.  Most have full-on beards and body hair and visibly appear to be masculine.  These people would have to go into the women’s bathroom if this petition goes through.  If you support this petition, you’re saying you want male security guards to be checking you or your children’s genitals and for people who visibly appear to be men to be forced to use the women’s bathrooms and locker rooms.  Think this through, don’t just go along with what you’re told.

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