MORGANTOWN – Members of the transgender community and their allies assembled in front of the WVU Mountainlair Wednesday to “Stand for Trans Folk.”
Pale pink, blue and white transgender pride flags fluttered in the warm wind, and signs in the same colors proclaimed such messages as “Gender affirming care saves lives,” “Y’all means all in WV,” and “Trans rights mean human rights.”
One speaker, who asked only to be identified as Alex, said, “Campus is my safe space. … The Legislature wants to ruin that. … Our identity should not be up for debate.”
Alex said these issues, and people’s perceptions, shouldn’t be based on fear. “All we really want to do is live our lives. We don’t want to groom people. We don’t want to force people to be trans. We want to be recognized. We want to exist without being confronted for our identities.”
Matthew Kolb, secretary of the West Virginia Mountain Party, helped coordinate the event and said it was a response to bigotry and legislation across the nation. “It’s obvious to those of us who have been paying attention that the goal of all the legislation and all of the rhetoric is to see an elimination of transgender people from society.”
It’s easy to find social media posts about transgender agendas being pushed in schools. Kolb said he graduated from high school in 2020 and never heard it discussed in school or college, and there’s been no pushing of transgender ideology in teacher education courses he’s taken.
Two bills dealing with LGBTQ+ issues gained attention in the Legislature. HB 2007 focuses on irreversible gender-affirming surgery and gender-altering medication. It passed the House 84-10 and is in Senate Health, where it is up for consideration on Thursday. It also must go through Judiciary before moving to the full Senate.
This issue is a subject of debate even in more progressive countries. According to news reports, Sweden, the first country to introduce legal gender reassignment, decided in February 2022 to halt hormone therapy for minors except in rare cases. The National Board of Health and Welfare said mastectomies for teenage girls wanting to transition should be limited to a research setting.
“The uncertain state of knowledge calls for caution,” Board department head Thomas Linden said in a statement in December.
Also, the Swedish National Agency for Medical and Social Evaluation said that systematic documentation and follow-up of care “does not take place to a sufficient extent and that the scientific data is insufficient to assess the effects of puberty-inhibiting and gender-sensitive hormone therapy of children and young people.”
The second bill, commonly referred to as RFRA, or Religious Freedom Restoration Act, is HB 3042. Its true title is Equal Protection for Religion Act and it passed the House 86-12 and the Senate 30-3.
It says no state action may substantially burden a person’s exercise of religion unless it’s essential to a compelling government interest or is the least restrictive means of furthering that compelling government interest. A person whose exercise of religion has been burdened may go to court over the situation.
At Stand for Trans Folk, Morgantown City Council candidate Marly Ynigues turned out for support. She said, “We do a lot of talk about being a welcoming community. I want to make sure that we’re standing with our trans neighbors when times are tough. … We should make sure that everyone is represented, everybody has a voice.”
Belle Irwin, who carried a sign reading “Country roads are for everyone,” said, “I’m very worried about the future of this wonderful, great mountain state of West Virginia. I want queer people like myself and others to feel safe here.”
The policies being pushed at the Capitol are scary and unsafe, Irwin said. “I need an accepting place.” Irwin doesn’t want to be forced to leave. “I want to stay in west Virginia. Its my home. I was born here. I love this state.”
Tweet David Beard @dbeardtdp Email dbeard@dominionpost.com
