RICHMOND, Va. (WDBJ) – Governor Glenn Youngkin has issued an executive directive instructing the Virginia Board of Health to draft new regulations on women’s sports and sex-separated spaces.
The order calls for two rules: one to prevent biological males from competing on female-only sports teams, and another to restrict them from entering locker rooms or other areas where women and girls may be undressed.
Youngkin said the move is meant to protect the “health and safety of women and girls” and comes in response to what he described as unsafe and irresponsible policies.
Recent controversies have fueled the debate. Parents in Fairfax County filed a federal complaint after a male student who identifies as female allegedly entered a girls’ locker room. Separately, the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights found Loudoun County Public Schools violated Title IX after a biologically female student who identifies as male recorded boys in a locker room.
The issue has also surfaced locally. Earlier this year, female swimmers at Roanoke College and Virginia Tech petitioned the state after competing against men in women’s sports. One athlete said, “Ten members of my women’s team were willing to leave the sport to stand up to this man on our team. But we never should have had to.”
Reaction to the directive has been divided. The Family Foundation, a Virginia faith-based nonprofit, called it “monumental progress for protecting girls’ sports and spaces.” But Southwest Virginia Pride said the order would bar transgender people from accessing bathrooms, locker rooms, and sports teams aligned with their gender identity, calling it “a harmful and exclusionary message” to transgender Virginians.
The order is not yet in effect. The Board of Health’s next step is to publish a public notice of the proposed rule change, which would begin the formal regulatory process.
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