I live in Arlington, Virginia and I oppose Action 4905.

The Board of Health has no business labeling groups of people harmful based on who they are. It is unconscionable to deploy state resources against a minority group based on public animus. As a Jewish person, I cannot stand by while this happens to any minority group.

There are real public health issues facing women and girls in Virginia, like domestic violence, maternal health, access to reproductive health services, and poverty. 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.

Targeting a group of children and labeling their participation in school activities as somehow harmful to other children, based not on scientific evidence but on fear stirred up by a national political campaign, will not improve the health of students in Virginia. In fact, it could cause active harm to the mental and physical health of LGBTQ+ students.

I was mercilessly bullied as an overweight child; my peers viewed my body as somehow unacceptable. 40 years later, I still bear the scars of that bullying. I can only imagine what it must be like for trans children. So I am writing to urge you to support school policies that affirm and support all children.

Careful and compassionate thought can resolve this issue. The simple and relatively inexpensive step of offering private changing areas for students participating is school sports would not only support the mental health of trans and LGBTQ+ children, it would would offer universal accommodation to students who, for reasons from modesty to disability, are not comfortable changing in front of their peers. 

There is a nationwide effort by some politicians and interest groups to target transgender people and LGBTQ+ people and force them 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 problems we face. 

This proposed regulation 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. 

Kind regards,

A 58-year old Arlington mother