The Senate passed a bill Wednesday that would ban drag performances in public and another that targets transgender people using locker rooms that match their gender identity. (Photo by Will Price/West Virginia Legislative Photography)
Hours before the Crossover Day deadline, West Virginia senators passed two bills targeting LGBTQ+ people on Wednesday.
Senate Bill 590 Would ban drag shows and other “adult cabaret performances” on public property or in places where they could be viewed by minors.
Under Senate Bill 1083Transgender people who change according to their gender identity in a locker room would be guilty of indecent exposure and be registered as sex offenders.
Senate Bill 590
Senate Bill 590 passed with only two no votes by Democrats Mike Woelfel, D-Cabell, and Joey Garcia, D-Marion.
The bill bans “adult cabaret performances” on public property. It defines “adult cabaret performances” as those in which “topless dancers, go-go dancers, exotic dancers, strippers, male or female impersonators provide entertainment that appeals to the prurient interest.”
During Wednesday’s discussion, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Sen. Tom Willis urged senators to pass the bill “on behalf of children who should not be exposed to this type of entertainment.”
Garcia questioned whether the bill would ban dance team performances at universities and whether “appeals to prurient interest” were subjective.
Willis responded that judges are responsible for interpreting laws, and “I think that’s sufficiently objective to do that.”
Garcia argued that lawmakers should not pass such a broad bill and expect judges to interpret what it means.
“People often think about how they dress for expression,” Garcia said. “It looks like it’s actually a bill that’s presented as being about protecting children. In reality, it’s more about judgment.”
“Do people now have to worry about what they’re going to wear in public, about how it’s going to make someone else feel, whether it’s going to turn other people on? I think that’s a dangerous path to take,” he said.
Under Senate Bill 590, a first offense would be a misdemeanor, punishable by fines of up to $2,500 or 30 days to six months in jail. A second offense would be a felony punishable by a fine of up to $25,000 and/or one to five years in a state correctional facility.
Senate Bill 1083
Under Senate Bill 1083, transgender people who undress in a locker room that does not correspond to their sex assigned at birth could be charged with indecent exposure and registered as sex offenders.
The bill passed Wednesday without discussion a no vote by García.
Current state law defines indecent exposure as when a person intentionally exposes their sexual organs or anus or the sexual organs or anus of another person or engages in an overt act of sexual gratification when the person knows that doing so is likely to cause offense or alarm.
Sen. Ryan Weld, R-Brooke, read from a letter Tuesday from the West Virginia Prosecuting Attorneys Association, which opposed the bill because it would create a novel offense within the indecent exposure law that would be defined with different elements.
“A distinct new crime cannot be included in the indecent exposure statute when the conduct being criminalized does not require indecent exposure at all and instead relies on an entirely separate set of entirely different elements,” Weld said as he read from the letter. “(It) risks creating confusion among law enforcement and prosecutors and in jury instructions to be used at trial. It also raises concerns about appellate review.”
Weld unsuccessfully proposed an amendment that would remove the bill’s locker room formula from the indecent exposure law and move it to a novel section called “conduct that causes offense or alarm.”
Under the failed amendment, a transgender person changing in a locker room that matches their gender identity would be guilty of insulting or causing alarm.
Willis opposed the amendment, saying it unnecessarily diluted the bill’s policy objective.
“I want to point out that the policy behind this bill is to keep biological men out of women’s locker rooms and to keep members of one gender out of the locker rooms of the other biological sex,” Willis said. “I think this amendment unnecessarily dilutes that policy goal. I have seen the prosecutors’ letter and respectfully agree with it.”
SB 1083 is the latest example of the Republican-led Legislature passing legislation targeting transgender people.
During the 2025 session, legislators agreed and Governor Patrick Morrisey signed a bill defining the following “Men” and “Women” in State Law – Transgender people are not allowed to utilize facilities that match their gender identity in certain locations.
Other Bills That Became Law during the 2025 session forbidden hormone treatment for children diagnosed with gender dysphoria and It is mandatory for teachers to tell parents When a child requests to be addressed by a different name or with different pronouns that differ from the student’s biological gender.
Civil rights group opposes proposed legislation
In a statement Wednesday, Fairness West Virginia, a statewide civil rights organization, wrote that Senate Republicans are blaming LGBTQ+ people for the problems instead of solving real community problems.
“The bills senators passed today are dangerous,” the organization wrote. “Instead of helping the people of McDowell County get clean drinking water, they plan to arrest drag queens. Instead of stopping our schools from closing, they want to lock up innocent transgender people for using a locker room.”
The group added that sexual misconduct should be punished, but said the draft laws passed did not provide for this.
“Instead, they label trans climbers and drag artists as dangerous criminals simply for existing,” they wrote. “West Virginians have had enough.”
The bills will next be sent to the House of Representatives for consideration.
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