We’ve repeatedly used this space to debunk some of the myths and scare-tactics surrounding transgender individuals. However, the falsehoods persist and they’ve taken root in the Legislature, which has proposed multiple anti-transgender bills. One in particular is steadily advancing: HB 2007, to ban gender-affirming surgeries and gender-altering medications for anyone under 18.
We won’t waste our limited space reiterating everything we’ve covered before. Instead, we’re dedicating today’s space to the legislative malfeasance surrounding HB 2007 — lousy legislative legwork, the quiet part said out loud and blatant lying.
During questioning by HB 2007’s opponents, House Judiciary Chair Moore Capito admitted, “There was no testimony provided in committee that there are surgeries taking place … We do not have any data.” Delegate Geoff Foster, the bill’s lead sponsor, confessed he hadn’t spoken to any doctors while drafting HB 2007 — though he’d talked to a few after the bill was introduced.
Then Foster said the quiet part out loud: After doctors repeatedly told him these surgeries weren’t happening, “that’s why we added the hormone issue as well.”
When they discovered they were trying to ban something that didn’t happen, the bill’s proponents went for the instant-gratification of attacking evidence-based, medically approved hormone therapy. Why? Because Foster thinks hormone therapy causes a “100%” chance of infertility. And how did Foster come to this conclusion? He searched the internet. Didn’t talk to any doctors — just Googled it.
We’re not going to knock internet research. It’s a valuable tool — if you know how to use it to find credible information. But we don’t trust that our legislators can use it properly. Plus, we’d like to think the people running our government would put more effort into crafting our state’s laws than just searching Google.
Then there was the blatant lying: Delegate Mike Honaker claimed the genitalia of 5- and 6-year-olds had been “mutilated” by gender-affirming surgeries. Delegate Sean Hornbuckle asked for Honaker’s source. Members of the Judiciary committee said they had received no such testimony — the claim was “fictional,” as one member said.
What frustrates us almost as much as seeing the effort legislators have put in to targeting and scapegoating transgender people is seeing how little effort they are putting into legislation that will actually help West Virginia.
We’ve been keeping a running (though not comprehensive) list of bills. Of the 31 we have singled out as “good,” 22 haven’t been touched since they were first introduced. These include modifying the definition of “sexual contact” to eliminate the marital exemption to sexual abuse; putting ready-to-use glucagon in schools for low blood sugar emergencies; allowing stronger regulation of toxic “forever chemicals” (PFAS); reintroducing Raylee’s Law (first introduced in 2019) to prevent abusive parents from homeschooling their children; creating a “stay-in-state” tax credit for college graduates to slow West Virginia’s brain drain; establishing a program to address food deserts; and many more.
We’d bet that few, if any, of the bills mentioned above ever make it out of committee, let alone pass into law. Because the majority of legislators are more interested in national culture wars — focusing on problems that don’t exist here — than in governing and improving the state of West Virginia.
