transgender Story Archives - West Virginia Public Broadcasting

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.”

Reporter Roundtable Looks Back And Ahead To Final Days Of 2024 Session

On this episode of The Legislature Today, we sit down a day early for our weekly reporter roundtable. Randy Yohe, Emily Rice and our newest reporter Jack Walker discuss some of the legislation that has moved so far this week.

On this episode of The Legislature Today, we sit down a day early for our weekly reporter roundtable. Randy Yohe, Emily Rice and our newest reporter Jack Walker discuss some of the legislation that has moved so far this week.

Also, the Senate Wednesday night passed a bill that would reduce overall unemployment benefits but increase initial benefits, and they approved a bill that would affect transgender people in the state. Briana Heaney has the story.

In the House Thursday, global partnerships and international politics took center stage, along with a continuing legislative effort to address the mental health crisis among the state’s first responders. Randy Yohe has the story.

And, a bill allowing suspended school employees to attend public functions at schools has now passed both education committees. Chris Schulz has more.

Finally, it was Arts Day at the Capitol, a day when artists and organizations gather in the rotunda to spread the word on the variety of arts in West Virginia. Landon Mitchell has the story.

Having trouble viewing the video below? Click here to watch it on YouTube.

The Legislature Today is West Virginia’s only television/radio simulcast devoted to covering the state’s 60-day regular legislative session.

Watch or listen to new episodes Monday through Friday at 6 p.m. on West Virginia Public Broadcasting.

Opponents Of House Bill Say It Punches Down on Trans People Instead Of Uplifting Women

The House of Delegates held a public hearing Tuesday on a bill that would restrict West Virginians’ access to the bathrooms, changing rooms, and locker rooms that match their sex. The bill sparked impassioned speeches from attendees on both sides of the issue.

Delegates and members of the public gathered to voice their opinion on House Bill 5243, a bill that attempts to define who is considered female or male.

The bill’s sponsors have named it the ‘Women’s Bill of Rights’. However under the bill there are no specific rights allotted to women.

One of the speakers against the bill was Rust Williams, an advocacy specialist with the American Civil Liberties Union of West Virginia. He said he wishes the Legislature would pass legislation that would help lift up women in the state by addressing equal pay, maternity leave, and removing sales tax on feminine hygiene products like tampons.

“Since you are either incapable or completely ignore interest in drafting bills that actually help, I thought I’d do your job for you and drafted an actual ‘Women’s Bill of Rights’,” Williams said. “This completely restores access to abortion and the full range of reproductive health care services. It removes the tax on feminine hygiene products and infant products such as bottles and diapers, you know, all the things that mothers have to pay for. It addresses menstrual equity and provides period products and all West Virginia schools, jails and prisons. It addresses equal pay, it addresses maternity leave and family leave. It updates the definition of domestic violence to include coercive control.”

Another speaker opposed to the bill was Max Varney, who identified as a “trans West Virginian” and asked legislators how their existence threatens someone.

“I was born and raised in Mingo County. I was a barefoot, holler’ child and my soul resides in the mountains,” said Varney. “I am not an offense to the public. I am not a threat to the public, nor is my existence offensive.”

Varney echoed others who spoke out against the bill by saying that it was not a bill to help women in the state but instead to restrict transgender people’s rights.

“This bill crushes the rights of transgender people. Your willingness to use women’s rights as a cover for transphobia is not shocking, but it is still outrageous and putrid. This bill is dehumanizing,” Varney said.

Nila Thompson was one of the seven attendees to speak in favor of the bill. She said this bill would prevent her from having to share a locker room with a trans girl.

Thompson told a story about a time in August of 2023 that she had to share a changing room with a trans woman.

“Not only would ‘it’ go into the changing room and not even change,” Thompson said. “But he would stand there and watch as other biological females undressed.”

She said following this her family approached the school with concerns and that they told her that if anyone felt uncomfortable, they could use the men’s changing room which was unoccupied during that period.

“The school board made it clear that my rights are not valued, but House Bill 5243 guarantees my rights, safety, privacy and protection,” Thompson said.

Lead sponsor of the bill Del. Kathie Hess Crouse, R-Putnam, said she still plans on voting for the bill, and does not plan on changing any language in the bill after hearing testimony from the 20 speakers against the bill. She said the bill is aptly named the Women’s Bill of Rights because it protects women’s privacy.

“We deserve and have the right to be called a woman and know what a woman is,” Crouse said. “Same with the man, they have that right to know what a man is, and what a man is defined as. And we have a right to our own single sex spaces. And that right should be protected.”

However many trans advocates say that placing a trans woman or trans man in the opposite genders changing room would put them at risk. CDC data shows that 43 percent of transgender youth have been bullied on school property but that trans and LGBTQ people who went to schools that had LGBTQ+ friendly policies had a lower instance of bullying.

The bill is on second reading in the House of Delegates.

Conversations From The State Legislature And Morgantown Welcomes Ukraine Veteran, This West Virginia Week

On this West Virginia Week, the West Virginia Legislative session is in full swing, and lawmakers have been considering a number of pieces of legislation. We’ll listen back to a few of our conversations with our guests this week on our program The Legislature Today. Also, we’ll hear from a man who recently arrived in Morgantown from the front lines in Ukraine.

On this West Virginia Week, the West Virginia Legislative session is in full swing, and lawmakers have been considering a number of pieces of legislation – from education, jobs, energy, hunger and more. We’ll listen back to a few of our conversations with our guests this week on our program The Legislature Today.

We also hear from a man who recently arrived in Morgantown from the front lines in Ukraine.

Liz McCormick 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.

Morrisey Argues Against Gender Affirming Care Through Medicaid

West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey does not think the state’s Medicaid plan should cover gender-affirming surgery.

On Thursday, West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey said his office argued a case before the Fourth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals involving the state’s decision not to cover gender-affirming surgeries under its Medicaid plan.

That case is an appeal from an order last year from a federal district court. It said the state’s choice not to cover gender-affirming care under Medicaid violates the U.S. Constitution’s Equal Protection Clause.

The original class-action lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia on behalf of three Medicaid recipients. Christopher Fain, a Medicaid participant; and Zachary Martell and Brian McNemar, a dependent and state employee, respectively.

Usually, three-judge panels decide cases on appeal, but the Fourth Circuit set the argument before the entire court in this case and a related case out of North Carolina.

For now, gender-affirming care is covered under the state’s Medicaid program.

FAIN-CROUCH-OPINION Download

‘A House In The Clouds’ Documentary Highlights Life Of LGBTQ Artist In West Virginia

Douglas Imbrogno and Bobby Messer’s Film “A House In The Clouds: The Artistic Life of Robert Singleton” is a documentary about the life of Robert Singleton — a gay man who grew up in Appalachia and survived loss, discrimination, and trauma to ultimately become an award winning artitst. Imbrogno said it’s not a story of a superhuman, but a story of a life well lived, despite hardships.

Douglas Imbrogno and Bobby Messer’s Film “A House In The Clouds: The Artistic Life of Robert Singleton” is a documentary about the life of Robert Singleton — a gay man who grew up in Appalachia and survived loss, discrimination, and trauma to ultimately become an award-winning artist. Imbrogno said it’s not a story of a superhuman, but a story of a life well lived, despite hardships.

“This creative soul has been, has been battered, and had many losses in his life has found his way to equilibrium. And I describe him as a jovial soul,” Imbrogno said.

Imbrogno says it’s important that these kinds of West Virginia stories are told, because often there is a lot of bad news coming out of the state.

“I think that’s quite an inspirational thing to share, because so much of the news is filled with bad actors and human beings behaving badly. Here’s an example of how life can be well lived,” he said.

Imbrogno and Messer said the film also comments on the attempts to brand trans youth as damaged souls with parallels in the film to what many trans people face today. Imbrogno says he wants to take viewers to the beauty Singleton reflects in his painting and his home in the mountains of West Virginia.

“I want them to feel the mountains. I want them to be up in the clouds with Robert’s artwork, to see his development as an artist from landscapes to abstraction to these spiritual ethereal paintings that he’s doing these days,” said Imbrogno.

The film premieres at 7 p.m. on Sunday at the Juliet Art Museum inside The Clay Center in Charleston. Tickets are available at the Clay Center box office. There are two showings in October in Thomas, West Virginia. Streaming is not yet available for the film.