So far in 2024, West Virginia has introduced twenty-nine bills targeting transgender minors and drag performances. All of the proposed bills range in categories from healthcare to education. In this article, I will be focusing on three of the bills proposed in West Virginia’s StateLegislature and provide information of which state senators proposed the bills. Educating people about the existence of the LGBTQ+ community is not harmful, and no teacher is going out of their way to explain what people who are part of the community are doing in bed. Most of the education bills are claiming to “protect” children, targeting transgender and non-binary students, and not allowing students to use bathrooms they align with. Needless to say, the bills discussed today are mainly against transgender people, and they all have the common theme of being education centered.
Starting this article we have HB3847, also known as “Relating to nondiscrimination at institutions of higher education,” which compared to all of the other bills on this list, is not the one that is the most concerning at least when it comes to public schools. This bill is to prohibit discrimination in the WV higher education institutes based on gender identity, sex, race, religion, and sexual orientation. This comes after a Supreme Court ruled against affirmative action for all universities and it ended race-conscious admissions for many universities. The weird thing about this bill these legislatures proposed is that they completely forgot to mention Fairmont State University in the bill. It only mentions Concord, Glenville, Marshall, Shepherd, West Liberty, and WVU. There was no mention of Fairmont State anywhere in the document for the bill. This bill wouldn’t require the colleges to have a diversity statement when it comes to their admissions and would require what they call diversity training. The people who sponsored this bill are Chris Pritt (R) and Mike Devault (R).
HB5036, also known as “Creating the Parent’s Bill of Rights” is a bill that would allow parents to have the right to basically everything parents have the right to make decisions about currently. I don’t know why they are even proposing this considering parents already have the right to make decisions. The decisions parents will have the right to make for their children include education, medical care, and legal issues. From the outside, this bill doesn’t look too bad until you read further and realize it also gives parents the right to restrict their kids from learning anything about the LGBTQ+ community. I have to state again that no one is instructing kids about what the LGBTQ+ community does in bed. When it comes to suits the bill states, “A parent may bring suit against the state, any agency or locality thereof, any government official, or any person acting under color of law based on any violation of this article and seek appropriate relief, including, but not limited to, injunctive relief, monetary damages, reasonable attorneys’ fees, and court costs.” If a bill is passed against transgender healthcare for minors, this bill would not allow parents to have the right to get the healthcare their children may need. The people who sponsored this bill are Scot Heckert (R), Kathie Crouse (R), Dave Foggin (R), Laura Kimble (R), Margitta Mazzocchi (R), and Todd Kirby (R).
B4806 also known as, “Require bathroom use in schools based upon biological sex,” has atitle that honestly explains itself, but it seeks to ban transgender and gender non-conforming students from using bathrooms that align with their gender identity. It would not only ban bathroom usage, but also locker rooms, changing rooms, and shower room usage. According to the bill, there can be accommodation for students who refuse to do so, but we all know that most schools probably won’t attempt to meet the accommodation. The one thing I thought was weird was that they had to specify that medical professionals or any trained first responders were allowed to go into the bathrooms. The people who sponsored this bill are Dave Foggin (R), Matthew Rohrbach (R), Scot Heckert (R), Larry Kump (R), Geno Chiarelli (R), Michael Hornby (R), Elias Coop-Gonzalez (R), Charles Sheedy (R), Bryan Ward (R), Laura Kimble (R), and Todd Longanacre (R).
I am ending this similarly to how I end Good Gay News. Please remember you are loved, cherished, and appreciated by many people. Ignore the negative things people say about you and the community; know things will improve. To the transgender students on the campus or reading this, remember you are loved and that you have people fighting for your rights.
