Transgender Youth Story Archives - West Virginia Public Broadcasting

State Politicians Voice Support For Harrison County Student Athletes Protesting Inclusion Of Transgender Student

Multiple West Virginia politicians have voiced their support of student athletes protesting a transgender student’s inclusion in a track and field event.

Five students forfeited a shot-put competition on April 18 at the 2024 Harrison County Middle School Championships track and field meet in protest of a Fourth Circuit decision that House Bill 3293 violated Title IX protections for gender equality in school sports.

Attorney General Patrick Morrisey said last week that he will ask the U.S. Supreme Court to consider BPJ vs. West Virginia State Board of Education.

Parents for four of the students have since filed suit against the Harrison County Board of Education in Harrison County Circuit Court after the students were not permitted to compete in a scheduled track and field meet on April 27.

The West Virginia Secondary Schools Activities Commission (WVSSAC) rule book states in its section on sportsmanship that teams, coaches and attendants are required “to remain in or a part of a contest until its normal end as provided by the National Federation Rules of that particular sport.” Failure to do so, it goes on, “will not only involve ejection during that particular contest but shall also involve that student, coach or team attendant not being a part of that school’s team for the next regularly scheduled contest(s) or post season progression in a playoff tournament, as regulated in §127-4-3.7.3.”

Tuesday evening, Morrisey released a statement in support of the students, highlighting a brief he filed in favor of their suit.

“The only thing this decision does is teach these children to keep their mouths shut and not disagree with what they saw as unfairness,” he said. “That is outrageous and it tramples these students’ rights to freedom of speech and expression.”

Morrisey’s amicus brief argues that “the Code of State Rules’ provisions for handling a protest action do not justify the Defendants’ actions here, and the Free Speech implications of the school’s actions are deeply concerning.”

Senate President Craig Blair, R-Berkeley, also released a statement condemning Harrison County Schools’ actions on behalf of the Senate Majority Caucus.

“Despite that procedure being clearly defined in the Code of State Rules, Harrison County Schools unilaterally decided to punish these female students by prohibiting them from competing in their next track meet,” the statement reads. “By refusing to adhere to these standards, Harrison County Schools is showing a galling lack of concern for the free-speech considerations of those students, as well as the safety of those students, because of unfair competition with males.”

Congressman Alex Mooney also released a statement regarding the “attack on women’s sports in Harrison County.”

“It is completely outrageous for a school board and coaches to punish girls for standing up for women’s sports. Young women should not be forced to compete against young men. It is asinine and unbelievable that a school in West Virginia, not California, would adopt this woke nonsense,” Mooney said.

Rivers, Manchin’s Successor, Firing Up A Gas Pipeline And New Power Plant Rules, This West Virginia Week

On this West Virginia Week, Earth Day was Monday. We’ll hear from a hydrologist about the state’s rivers. We’ll learn more about why two leading candidates for governor are trading accusations in ads over transgender youth. And we’ll visit a community in southern West Virginia affected by contaminated water.

On this West Virginia Week, Earth Day was Monday. We’ll hear from a hydrologist about the state’s rivers. We’ll learn more about why two leading candidates for governor are trading accusations in ads over transgender youth. And we’ll visit a community in southern West Virginia affected by contaminated water.

We’ll also talk about what’s next for opponents of new federal power plant rules. We’ll find out who Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., has endorsed to be his successor in the Senate. And we’ll learn when a long-delayed controversial natural gas pipeline proposes to begin operating.

Curtis Tate is our host this week. Our theme music is by Matt Jackfert.

West Virginia Week is a web-only podcast that explores the week’s biggest news in the Mountain State. It’s produced with help from Bill Lynch, Briana Heaney, Chris Schulz, Curtis Tate, Emily Rice, Eric Douglas, Jack Walker, Liz McCormick and Randy Yohe.

Learn more about West Virginia Week.

W.Va. Gubernatorial Campaign Attack Ads Vilify Transgender Children

As the primary race for governor enters the home stretch, some candidate’s negative attack ads running endlessly on broadcast and social media target a minority group — transgender children.

But what is the fallout from these ads for this vulnerable group? And West Virginia children and families, in general?

The ads bombard us non-stop. The most vitriol is coming from political action committees in support of two of the Republican candidates for governor; Attorney General Patrick Morrisey and businessman Chris Miller.

The messages center on who is more pro-former President Donald Trump, and who is more anti-transgender. The campaign mantra focuses on not letting biological boys on girls sport teams, in girls school bathrooms or girls locker rooms.

West Virginia Public Broadcasting reached out to Morrisey and Miller to get their personal thoughts on transgender people and their campaign ads. Miller’s campaign office declined comment, Morrisey’s campaign headquarters did not answer repeated requests for comment.

This Chris Miller campaign ad attacking opponent Patrick Morrisey is one example of the recent anti-transgender ads circulating broadcast television and online.

Studying sex education and gender identity for more than 40 years, award winning author and filmmaker Mark Schoen said modern science shows gender identity is not a choice, but a biological cause and effect.

“It’s like, you don’t choose your race, you don’t choose your ethnicity, you don’t choose your gender identity,” Schoen said. “And to be persecuted for some biological factor. It’s like racism.”

Billy Wolfe with the West Virginia American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is a co-founder and organizer of the Appalachian Queer Youth Summit, a summer camp for West Virginia teens who are either LGBTQ+ or come from LGBTQ+ families. Wolfe said the majority of campers fall under the trans and non-binary umbrella, and the summit offers them a refuge.

“Some of them are 18, 19 years old, and it’s the first time they have felt safe,” Wolfe said. “While it’s wonderful to be part of something that makes young people feel safe and empowered. The truth is, our camp shouldn’t have to exist. These kids should be experiencing the same base level of safety and respect that any other young person experiences.”

Wheeling city council member Rosemary Ketchum is running for Wheeling mayor. Ketchum is a transgender person who said a campaign ad attack that claims “He’s for they/them, not for us,” diminishes any safety and respect for transgender people in the name of base politics.

“I think it is exploitative to children,” Ketchum said. “Ultimately, those ads are not for West Virginians, those ads are for funders. It is a very popular and successful fundraising strategy to attack marginalized communities. And they’re looking to pull money from California and Florida and other states to fund their elections here in West Virginia. They’re talking about our kids, our children, and they’re putting them on television and parading them around to look like clowns.”

One TV ad funded by a political action committee shows a young boy, about 10 years old, in bib overalls, wearing heavy makeup and a big grin. Schoen said that representation smacks of discrimination.

“It would be like, if you said that dark, Black people should be discriminated against but light, Black people are OK,” he said. “You’re discriminating against the child who’s just being themselves.”

Wolfe said the anti-trans ads, by their frequency and nature, vilify a minority of children.

“Their campaigns are built on demonizing people, and villainizing people to score cheap political points,” Wolfe said. “We know that this kind of rhetoric not only affects young people, it also leads to legislation that causes real harm. These messages are damaging. Studies show that this rhetoric is extremely harmful. It can lead to suicidal ideation and worse.”

Wolfe said the rhetoric in these ads can compound already fragile social situations.

“A lot of these kids are struggling, but they’re not really necessarily struggling just because they’re trans,” Wolfe said. “They’re struggling because of how people who are not trans are treating them. They are being treated like a threat, even though they are the ones who are at risk for violence.”

Ketchum said living in a West Virginia border city, she hears from potential West Virginians that these political transgender attack ads could actually stunt any state growth and progress.

“They say, ‘Rosemary, do you feel it’s safe for me to live in West Virginia?” Ketchum said. “Should I pull my kid out of public school if these politicians are going to pass laws that potentially make them criminals? Rosemary, should I move to West Virginia, or should I think about Ohio or Pennsylvania?’”

As to transgender students on sports teams, in bathrooms and locker rooms, Schoen said it should be handled on a case-by-case basis.

“There was an instance where a female, someone who transitioned from male to female, and then the next day switched swimming teams,” Schoen said. “I think we have to look at issues on an individual basis, we can’t just make a blanket statement about all transgender people.”

Wolfe said just a few years ago, it would have been hard to imagine so many states banning evidence-based gender affirming medical care. He said political attack ads that vilify transgender children take the voting public further away from considering the real issues that affect our daily lives.

“It would have been hard to imagine that the state would sink so many resources into passing and defending a law banning one single 13-year-old girl from being on her middle school’s track team, up to and including, I might add, asking the U.S. Supreme Court to treat the matter as an emergency, something on par with national security and terrorism,” Wolfe said. “But this is where we are, because we aren’t seeing ideas-based campaigns or solution-based campaigns. We are seeing people say vote for me. I don’t like the same people that you don’t like.”

Campaign Ads Targeting Transgender Youth And Understanding W.Va.’s Water Resource, This West Virginia Morning

On this West Virginia Morning, as the primary race for governor enters the home stretch, some candidate’s negative attack ads running endlessly on broadcast and social media target a minority group – transgender children. But what is the fallout from these ads for this vulnerable group, and West Virginia children and families in general? Randy Yohe has the story.

On this West Virginia Morning, as the primary race for governor enters the home stretch, some candidate’s negative attack ads running endlessly on broadcast and social media target a minority group – transgender children. But what is the fallout from these ads for this vulnerable group, and West Virginia children and families in general? Randy Yohe has the story.

Also, in this show, West Virginia has many rivers and creeks all over the state and they are all a bit different. Some are wide and slow moving, some narrow and turbulent. Some flow north and some flow south. On this Earth Day, Briana Heaney sat down with Nicolas Zegre from West Virginia University’s (WVU) Mountain Hydrology Center to talk about one of West Virginia’s most abundant resources – water.

West Virginia Morning is a production of West Virginia Public Broadcasting which is solely responsible for its content.

Support for our news bureaus comes from Shepherd University.

Eric Douglas produced this episode.

Listen to West Virginia Morning weekdays at 7:43 a.m. on WVPB Radio or subscribe to the podcast and never miss an episode. #WVMorning

Bathroom Ban, Arming Teachers Focus Of House Education Committee Meeting

The House Committee on Education spent the better part of a two hour meeting Wednesday discussing two bills. One would restrict bathroom use in schools based on sex, and another would help arm teachers.

Bills restricting the use of school facilities by transgender students – namely bathrooms and locker rooms – have gained popularity across the country in recent years.

House Bill 4806 as described in the meeting “would prohibit public school students the use of multiple occupancy restrooms or changing areas within schools for the gender that the students were not assigned at birth.”

Minority chair Del. Mike Pushkin, D-Kanawha, pointed out early in discussion of the bill that the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals, which includes West Virginia, had recently ruled against a similar bill in Virginia.

Pushkin invited Interim Executive Director for the American Civil Liberties Union of West Virginia Eli Baumwell to discuss the court ruling’s impact. Puskin asked Baumwell if ACLU-WV would challenge the bill in court if it passed.

“Well, it wouldn’t be proper for me to speculate on potential litigation,” Baumwell said. “What I will say is based on controlling law here in West Virginia, I think there’s an extremely high likelihood that any challenge would cause the law to be both enjoined and eventually overturned, again, based on recent controlling precedent.”

Pushkin clarified that there was no reason to believe HB 4806 would have a different result in the courts and said a legal challenge would cost the state money. He went on to question the bill’s sponsor, Del. Dave Foggin, R-Wood, about the necessity of the bill.

“Have you received complaints from children in your district or parents in your district, regarding incidents where students felt uncomfortable in the bathroom?” Pushkin asked.

“I didn’t receive complaints, because I’m just a school teacher, but our administrators, where I teach, received several complaints,” Foggins said.

Much of the discussion time was taken up by an amendment from Minority Vice Chair Ric Griffith, D-Wayne, to create an exception for students over the age of 18 who had transitioned and updated their birth certificate.

Pushkin continued his opposition to the bill up to the final vote, calling it a solution in search of a problem. He warned the bill had the potential to harm children.

“Actually, West Virginia has a fairly high percentage of children who identify as transgender, and this will harm them,” Pushkin said. “They’re the ones who are more likely to get bullied in a public restroom. So you might think you’re doing something to protect kids, but I’m not hearing anything from kids.”

The committee voted to recommend the bill to the House, with a referral to the committee on Judiciary.

Arming Educators

Also discussed Wednesday was the possibility of allowing teachers and administrators to carry concealed firearms in school.

House Bill 4299 would designate armed staff as school protection officers or SPO’s but only with a valid West Virginia concealed carry permit and after completing the training requirements for the Prevention Resource Officer Program.

Several teachers on the committee spoke strongly in favor of the bill, including Del. David Elliott Pritt, R-Fayette. He recounted the difficulty of going through active shooter drills with the only defense for him and his students being a door and chairs.

“We live in a time where evil people walk around trying to do evil things,” Pritt said. “I’ll be damned if I’m going to sit in my classroom, and the only thing between me and someone that wants to kill me or my students is a door. So I’m going to vote for it. I urge you to vote for it as well.”

Opponents to the bill cited law enforcement opposition to such measures, given the potential confusion between an active shooter and an armed staff member. Del. Anitra Hamilton, D-Monongalia, expressed concern about bringing firearms into classrooms that have proven in recent years to be unruly and contentious.

“I just don’t feel that teachers or SPOs, whoever is training periodically, even with a yearly evaluation, or yearly training, when you are under stress, and under duress, you act differently and you cannot predict that,” she said.

Hamilton instead pointed to measures already being taken to enhance and improve school building security across the state.

Committee vice-chair Del. Joe Statler, R-Monongalia, said the bill is permissive, meaning it is ultimately up to each county and school board to allow school staff to conceal carry.

The committee recommended House Bill 4299 to the full chamber, also with a reference to Judiciary.

Also Discussed

The committee also discussed and moved forward five other bills:

H. B. 4263, Modifying the definitions and pay grades of certain school cafeteria personnel.
H. B. 4331, To allow money paid to state employees to go to their estate if they pass away before their retirement date.
H. B. 4830, To address the professional development of teachers.
H. B. 4832, Relating to state superintendent’s reports regarding the finances of school districts.
H. B. 4838, Require county boards of education to provide long-term substitute teachers, upon hiring, with certain information.

Morrisey Argues In Favor Of Trans Sports Ban To Fourth Circuit

On Friday, West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey continued to defend the state’s law barring transgender athletes from participating on sports teams that align with their gender identity.

West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey presented arguments Friday to the Fourth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Virginia in a case challenging West Virginia’s law barring transgender athletes from participating on sports teams that align with their gender identity.

In 2021, the West Virginia Legislature enacted a law “to defend the integrity of women’s sports” that prohibits transgender girls and women in the state from competing on sports teams at “any public secondary school or state institution of higher education.”

The bill was signed into law by Gov. Jim Justice on April 28, 2021.

The American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of West Virginia, Lambda Legal, and Cooley LLP challenged the law on May 8, 2021, on behalf of Becky Pepper Jackson, a now 13-year-old middle school transgender girl who would be kicked off her middle school’s girls’ cross country and track and field teams if the law were enforced.

Since then, Morrisey’s office has fought to dismiss the lawsuit.

Morrisey was assisted by attorneys from Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), a Christian conservative legal organization, in filing this litigation.

In January, a federal judge in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia upheld the law, ruling that the state legislature’s definition of “girl” and “woman” in the context of HB 3293, the “Save Women’s Sports Act,” is “constitutionally permissible” and that the law complies with Title IX.

Title IX was signed into law on June 23, 1972. It prohibits sex-based discrimination in any school or any other education program that receives funding from the federal government.

Morrisey said the law protects female athletes’ safety and keeps female sports competitive for female athletes, consistent with Title IX and the Constitution.

Jackson’s legal team won a ruling from the lower court blocking enforcement of the law pending final resolution of the case. In February 2023, the U.S. Court of Appeals and the Fourth Circuit blocked the state’s effort to kick Jackson off the team as her legal team appealed the lower court’s subsequent ruling upholding the 2021 law.

In August of this year, the Fourth Circuit reinstated a preliminary injunction that allowed Jackson to continue participating on girls’ sports teams until it rules on her appeal.

The Attorney General’s Office contends that Title IX doesn’t mention transgender status. Instead, the marker is biological sex, which recognizes that there are distinct differences between males and females. Further, Title IX prohibits discrimination on the basis of biological sex, not gender identity.

“Look, I’m very hopeful that we’re going to prevail on the Fourth Circuit,” Morrisey said in a recorded statement. “I think we’re absolutely correct on the law. The district court got it right. And to us, it’s a matter of basic fairness and common sense that biological males should not be playing sports with women. We submitted 3,000 pages; 500 docket entries. This should be so straightforward. I’m hopeful the Fourth Circuit sees our way after these arguments.”

West Virginia is one of 23 states that have banned transgender girls from playing on girls’ teams in the last three years.