By Valerie Richardson - The Washington Times - Monday, January 29, 2024

A version of this story appeared in the Higher Ground newsletter from The Washington Times. Click here to receive Higher Ground delivered directly to your inbox each Sunday.

Four states have adopted measures declaring what it means to be a woman, and West Virginia soon could become the fifth.

Gov. Jim Justice, a Republican, threw his support Monday behind the Women’s Bill of Rights. The legislation establishes only two sexes for purposes of state law and defines “male” and “female” based on biological sex at birth.

The governor said he was confident that House Bill 5243 would quickly clear West Virginia’s Republican-led House and Senate.

“I’m really proud of our House and our Senate, and as soon as it gets to me, you’ll see me sign it with a great big smile on my face, and it won’t take but seconds,” Mr. Justice said at a press conference in Charleston.

The measure looms as the next frontier for conservatives seeking to strengthen the bulwark against the gender identity movement after enacting laws restricting gender transition procedures for minors and male-born athletes in female sports.

The Ohio legislature’s veto override last week brought the number of states with Save Women’s Sports laws to 24, while 22 states have prohibited gender change surgeries for those younger than 18.

The flip side of that winning streak? Nearly all the low-hanging fruit has been picked.

Any gains on those issues would likely need some Democratic buy-in, given the 23 Republican trifectas, or states with Republican governors and Republican-controlled legislatures. Such Democratic support has been thin, especially outside the most conservative states.

In the meantime, Republicans have the Women’s Bill of Rights.

Joining Mr. Justice at Monday’s event were Riley Gaines, Independent Women’s Voice ambassador, and May Mailman, director of the Independent Women’s Law Center.

Ms. Mailman said the legislation is needed to ensure that bureaucrats and judges don’t interpret “woman” in state law to include men who identify as women.

The measure doesn’t change state law but provides definitions that can be used to prevent, for example, state prisons from admitting male-to-female transgender inmates into women’s facilities. Other single-sex spaces include locker rooms, bathrooms and domestic violence shelters.

Ms. Gaines said the words “woman” and “female” appear in at least 120 West Virginia statutes.

“That means there are 120 opportunities for unelected bureaucrats and officials to go through the back door and reinterpret this word to mean what they want it to mean,” she said.

“But the Women’s Bill of Rights gives meaning to these terms,” she said.

Critics on the left accused Republican legislators of pushing an anti-transgender agenda. They pointed to other recently introduced bills restricting gender-transition medical treatment for minors and barring biological males from women’s prisons.

“West Virginia legislators have decided it’s worth their limited session to introduce a bill invalidating non-binary and trans-masc people by REQUIRING gendered terms in regard to reproduction,” LGBTQ activist Allison Chapman said on X. “Disgraceful and a waste to their constituents and tax dollars.”

Democratic state Delegate Kayla Young said, “This is an anti-trans law.”

The bill, introduced by Republican Delegate Kathie Hess Crouse, makes it clear that there are “only two sexes, and every individual is either male or female” and that those with Differences in Sexual Development, also known as intersex, “are not a third sex.”

Intersex people usually have inconsistencies in sex traits or reproductive anatomy that define a person as male or female. Being born intersex is not the same thing as a transgender person, who does not identify with the body’s biological sex.

Ms. Mailman said the West Virginia bill “not only clarifies the legal meaning of women, it also proclaims the state’s important interest in ending sex discrimination and maintaining separate single-sex spaces where those spaces advance privacy, safety, fairness or equal opportunity.”

She pointed to the Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority, which last year allowed a male-to-female transgender student to join its University of Wyoming chapter.

Six Kappa Kappa Gamma alumnae sued the national sorority last week over its decision to “add individuals who identify as women.”

“In Kappa, the membership criteria clearly state that members shall be women, but a few leaders reimagined women to include men,” Ms. Mailman said.

The result was that the sorority sisters “were forced to initiate a biological male and pretend that they’re comfortable walking around in their towels while a male watches,” she said.

The Women’s Bill of Rights model legislation was drafted and released in 2022 by the right-of-center Independent Women’s Voice and Independent Women’s Law Center in collaboration with the left-tilting Women’s Liberation Front in reaction to the transgender movement.

In April, Kansas became the first state to enact Women’s Bill of Rights-inspired legislation after the Legislature overrode Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly’s veto.

Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee, a Republican, signed a similar measure in May.

Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt and Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen, both Republicans, signed executive orders last year enacting the Women’s Bill of Rights protections.

In 2021, Mr. Justice signed legislation barring biological males from female scholastic sports. The American Civil Liberties Union challenged the law on behalf of a transgender middle school athlete, but a federal judge ruled in favor of the state in January 2023.

Correction: The story has been updated with regard to the legislation’s impact on existing state law.

• Valerie Richardson can be reached at vrichardson@washingtontimes.com.

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