Dear Members of the Virginia Board of Health,

My name is Emilia Hubin. I live in Chesapeake, and I am writing to strongly oppose Petition 432.

This petition is not about locker rooms or safety. It’s about using the language of public health to label transgender people as harmful—simply for existing. As a transgender woman, Navy officer, and licensed EMT, I know firsthand the real health threats facing women and girls in Virginia: maternal mortality, mental health crises, chronic underfunding of women’s healthcare, and the trauma of intimate partner violence. None of those are solved by banning people like me from public spaces.

When I walk into a public restroom, I’m not a threat—I’m a woman trying to safely exist like anyone else. What is threatening is this wave of politicized cruelty that attempts to erase people like me under the false pretense of protecting others. Petition 432 does exactly that.

I have served my country for nearly 21 years. I’ve deployed overseas, volunteered as a mental health crisis responder, and dedicated my life to protecting others. I’ve also faced direct discrimination and institutional backlash because of my gender identity. I know how it feels to be told by people in power that you’re a problem to be managed—not a person to be protected. That kind of message doesn’t promote health. It harms it.

We deserve better. All Virginians—trans or not—deserve to live free from harassment, with access to public spaces, health care, and dignity.

Petition 432 has nothing to do with health and everything to do with fear and discrimination. Please reject it and send a clear message that public health is about protecting all people, not targeting some.

Trans people have always existed. We are your neighbors, your patients, your service members, your family. We are not going anywhere. And we will not be erased.

Stand on the right side of history.

Sincerely,
Emilia Hubin
Chesapeake, VA