Here We Go Again
As the 2024 legislative session begins, so does the trend of sweeping anti-LGBTQ+ bills being introduced across the country. So far, in just the first 17 days of 2024, 278 bills targeting LGBTQ+ people have been introduced across 32 states and Puerto Rico, with a number of legislatures not having convened this far, and several without a regular session (like Texas, where the legislature primarily meets on odd years).
Six Anti-LGBTQ+ Bills in Virginia
Here in the Commonwealth, six bills have been introduced targeting LGBTQ+ people. With the deadline to introduce bills coming this Friday, we should know by early next week whether this is the full list.
HB 8: Medical Ethics Defense Act
R. Lee Ware, Jr., a Republican delegate representing parts of Chesterfield County south of Richmond, introduced this bill with no additional sponsors. If passed, the bill would allow medical practitioners, health care institutions, and health care payers to deny medical procedures or services that violate their conscience; it also inoculates them from legal liability for doing so, and would forbid any penalization for refusing care as “discrimination,” labeling their refusal as “engaging in speech or expressive activity.” The bill would also allow any health care provider or entity to only employ, staff, contract, or admit patients consistent with their religious beliefs.
HB 670: Sage’s Law
Nicholas J. Freitas, a Republican delegate representing Culpeper, introduced this bill with no additional sponsors. If passed, the bill would require the principal at any elementary or secondary school to inform at least one parent of any minor student that either expresses they are experiencing any “gender incongruence,” or requests that they be socially affirmed as any gender other than their biological sex at birth. The bill also calls “referring to and raising the child in a manner consistent with the child’s biological sex, including related mental health or medical decisions” as abuse or neglect — essentially giving faculty and parents a free pass to deliberately misgender a Trans child, force an attempt to “pray the gay away,” or generally reject the child’s identity at home.
SB 37: Sage’s Law
John J. McGuire, III, a Republican state senator representing parts of Appomattox and Hanover Counties west of Richmond, introduced the bill with no additional sponsors. It is identical to HB 670.
HB 1229: Student Participation
Geary Higgins, a Republican delegate representing parts of Loudoun and Faquier Counties, introduced this bill with no additional sponsors. If passed, the bill would require that schools only allow students to participate in an “interscholastic, intercollegiate, intramural, or club athletic team or sport” that corresponds to their biological sex at birth. The bill also limits access to restrooms or changing rooms to individuals that were assigned the same biological sex at birth.
HB 1120: Student Participation
Delores Oates, a Republican delegate representing Warren County, and Mark L. Early, Jr., a Republican delegate representing parts of Chesterfield County south of Richmond, co-sponsored this bill. If passed, the bill would require all “interscholastic, intercollegiate, intramural, or club athletic team or sport” to expressly designate the biological sex at birth required to participate; if a student’s biological sex is under dispute, only the student’s reproductive anatomy, natural testosterone levels, and genetic makeup may be used to determine their participation. The bill also prohibits any adverse action against an institution enforcing the bill, and creates a civil cause of action for any institution, school or student who “suffers harm as a result of the violation of the bill.”
SB 68: Student Participation
Mark J. Peake, a Republican state senator representing most of the area between Roanoke and Lynchburg, introduced this bill with no additional sponsors. Similar to House Bills 1120 and 1229, the bill would require any athletic teams to be designated based on the biological sex of the participants, and “prohibits any student whose biological sex is male and who has not physically transitioned to female prior to puberty” from participating in girls’ sports. The bill also “creates a civil cause of action for students and schools that suffer harm as a result of a violation of the provisions of the bill” within a two year statute of limitation.
Things Are Different This Year
Unlike 2023, Democrats have a narrow majority in both the Virginia Senate and House of Delegates, meaning not only will the aforementioned bills have trouble passing either chamber, but Democrats will have the opportunity to send progressive bills to Republican Governor Glenn Youngkin’s desk.
In addition to LGBTQ+ issues, this will provide Democrats with their first opportunity to force Youngkin to go on record on a number of hot-button topics, including gun control and abortion, that he has previously avoided taking positions on.