Dear Members of the Virginia Board of Health,

I write to you as a competitive swim coach, someone who cares deeply about fair, safe, and inclusive participation in athletics, and as a concerned citizen. I urge you to oppose the proposed regulation “Regulations Governing Biological Sex Specific or Separated Spaces and Activities [12?VAC 5?660].”

Why this regulation is misguided and harmful:

• It discriminates on the basis of gender identity. The proposed restriction barring transgender women from women’s sports and women’s facilities is fundamentally inconsistent with the principles of fairness, inclusion, and non?discrimination.
• Very few transgender individuals actually compete in collegiate or school sports, so this is targeting a tiny minority. According to NCAA leadership, there are fewer than 10 openly transgender athletes among the more than 510,000 student?athletes competing nationwide across all divisions, which is about 0.0019% of all NCAA athletes.
• At the high school level in Virginia, the numbers remain extremely small. Per the Virginia High School League (VHSL), from 2022 to December 2024 there were 31 waiver or appeal requests related to transgender students wishing to compete on teams that did not match their sex assigned at birth, and 28 of those requests were approved. 
• Because participation is so rare, a blanket prohibition imposes disproportionate harm. A policy like 12?VAC 5?660 would effectively bar a vanishingly small number of people from sports and facilities, while broadly depriving transgender Virginians of equal opportunity.
• Athletics is about more than competition. As a coach, I have seen firsthand how sports build community, self?esteem, discipline, and mental and physical health. Excluding transgender women from women’s teams or facilities does not protect women, it punishes vulnerable individuals, undermines inclusion, and erodes trust.
• It undermines public confidence in impartial governance. Using public-health and regulatory power to enforce a policy rooted in identity prejudice, rather than evidence of harm, weakens trust in government, especially among marginalized communities.

Given how extraordinarily rare transgender athletes are in both Virginia high schools and U.S. colleges, and how much good inclusive athletic policy can do, I believe the Board should reject regulation 12?VAC 5?660. Instead, I urge you to support fair, evidence-based policy that ensures access and dignity for all Virginians, including transgender women.

Thank you for your consideration.