The governor of West Virginia, Patrick Morrisey (R), signed a bill defining “man” and “woman” based on reproductive biology and erasing nonbinary and trans identities into law.
“West Virginia will not bow down to radical gender ideology,” Morrisey said in signing the bill.
Related:
The bill, S.B. 456, made national headlines for a provision that allowed for child genital examinations, which was removed just before it was signed into law.
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The West Virginia Senate and House of Delegates both passed S.B. 456 last week, and Democrats criticized it saying that it would allow any official – including teachers – to conduct exams on minors’ bodies without their parents’ consent. The bill not only defines terms around gender and sex, it also says that all multi-occupancy facilities like restrooms and changing rooms have to be designated as either exclusively for those assigned male at birth or those assigned female at birth, which means that schools will have a role in enforcing it.
On Monday this week, each chamber passed a version of the bill with an amendment only allowing a child’s “treating health care provider” to examine a child’s genitals without the consent of their parents.
But on Tuesday, after state Democrats held a press conference about the bill and several others, lawmakers in both chambers of the West Virginia Legislature amended the bill to say that no one is authorized to examine a child’s genitals for the purpose of enforcing the law, West Virginia Watch reports.
The bill was amended to say that “a minor’s sex would be verified using their birth certificate.”
“Biological sex of a minor would be determined at the time of the minor’s birth,” West Virginia Senate Majority Leader Patrick Martin (R) said.
The House of Delegates then passed the amended version of the bill again on Tuesday.
“It’s common sense that women’s spaces, like bathrooms, locker rooms, domestic violence shelters, and rape crisis centers should be kept private for women only,” he said, even though the bill would result in excluding one class of women from those facilities while allowing a class of men – trans men – to use them.
State Democrats criticized Republicans for focusing on the issue.
“They are more focused on genitals than jobs,” said Del. Shawn Fluharty (D).
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