PLEASE OPPOSE PETITION 432!!!

I live in Great Falls, VA and I strongly oppose Petition 432.

The Petition is not about locker rooms.  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 (and the country), like domestic violence, maternal health, and poverty that you should be spending your energies pursuing and preventing.  Don't let this hateful petition distract from your important mission to protect the health and promote the well-being of ALL people in Virginia!

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. These political attacks harm us all, whether we're gay or straight, transgender or not, because they foster discrimination and distract us from the real and important issues we face.

I have a close friend who is like family that is a trans person and she experiences discrimination all the time. However, she is very brave and stands up not only for her rights to live peacefully and undisturbed, but for others facing the same senseless discrimination that our currently crazy world inflicts upon anyone who is deemed 'different'.

This petition has nothing to do with the health of Virginians and everything to do with discrimination.  No one should face discrimination because of who they are. Trans people have always been here and always will be.  Trans people cannot and will not be erased.

I urge you to stand on the right side of history and REJECT PETITION 432. 

Sincerely,

PC