Julie Britton, director of the YWCA Charleston Resolve Family Abuse Program, testifies to a legislative template that would limit the ability of the transgender persons on Monday, February 24, 2025, in protection for domestic violence for women in Charleston, W.VA. Bennett |.
At the request of governor Patrick Morrisey, the West Virginia House of Delegates is considering an invoice that aims to prevent transgender people from accessing women’s bathrooms, changing rooms and other rooms. The measure would also define gender -based terms of women and men with organic sex.
Morrisey has priority, which is a general prosecutor fought against participation of transgender athletes in school sports.
“One of the purposes of the bill [is] To try to protect safe, individual sexual rooms and places where women historically had privacy, ”said Curtis Ra Capehart, the governor of the governor, who spoke to the members of the Justice Committee of the Justice Committee on Monday.
The bill, House bill 2006There are no criminal punishments for schools, university institutions or domestic violent centers that are affected by the space restrictions of women.
The West Virginia Coalition of Homes Violence rejects the measure and says: “It refuses individual freedom under the guise of protecting women and is related to our survivors and empowerment values.”
“Most women who are looking for protection were misused by their intimate partners, not by men who dress up as women in order to gain access to survivors in need of protection,” said the coalition in a press release. “The protection of women and girls is best provided by realizing that most of the forms of violence in their houses are committed to them.”
Julie Britton, who monitors protection programs in the Ywca Charleston readers program -abuse program, said that the restriction of the ability to serve transgender women who are looking for protection is a “death sentence” for these people.
“There are no alternative facilities, and if we are not available, the only other option would be a homeless shelter or the streets,” she told the legislators. “I don’t know if we are worried about the security of women to bring trans women to the street.”
Del. Shawn Fluharty, D-Ohio, questioned how the measure could legally progress-especially the focus on the restriction of transgender persons access to bathing rooms after a decision by the US Courts of 2020 in the USA In favor of a transgender manGavin Grimm, who was looking for access to a bathroom for public school.
The legislation states that the enforcement could not violate the judgment of the Supreme Court. Capehart said that the Morrisey government is of the opinion that the Grimm case could be overridden.
In response, Fluharty said: “One of the first laws from the governor’s office are the bathrooms. And I try to understand the political consideration here and why this is such an critical legal regulations from the governor’s office. “
The legislation is similar to a legal process that is known as “known as”Women’s rights“This legislature looked at the former governor Jim Justice last year. The top -class measure did not make the governor’s desk on the last night of 2024 when the legislator dealt with budget negotiations.
Almost down budget Negotiations on the last day of the session meant that the delegates’ house had no time to coordinate the measure.
Public input on measure questioned
The house changed his auditing process this year, End the long -term rule to request public hearings for invoices if you are requested. Members of the public may, by an invitation by the chairman or deputy chairman of the committee, to state the committee’s invitations to invitations from the committee.
Del. Evan Hansen, D-Monongalia, said that the Agenda of the Justice Committee, to which a top-class bill about gender was also, was not published with 24-hour announcement, although Republican leaders said they would allow public input.
“We were told that we will be in the foreground for 24 hours so that there were no more public hearings for invoices with great public interest, they could know that they could come into the room to testify or testify. That didn’t happen to this calculation, ”said Hansen.
The chairman of the Justice Committee, del. JB Akers, said that he had not confirmed that capeherat could participate in the meeting until Sunday evening.
“The 24-hour termination is an aspiration rule,” said Akers R-Kanawha. “I posted the agenda last night within a less than half an hour and confirmed that Mr. Caphart would be the witness who would appear today.”
Akers rejected Hansen’s application to postpone the auditing for one day in order to enable additional public entries.
