Abigail Spanberger // Ezra Deutsch-Feldman
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Virginia’s Governor Abigail Spanberger joined thousands of constituents for the state’s largest LGBTQ gathering on Saturday. It was there she made an announcement about trans rights in the state that she says brought her to tears, radio station WVTF reports.
She revealed that, in July, she successfully killed a vestige from her Republican predecessor Glenn Youngkin: a Board of Health rule that had been in the works, which would have banned transgender women and girls from many women’s bathrooms, locker rooms, and sports teams. The anti-equal rights measure was triggered after a trio of anti-trans activists—Réka György, Lily Mullens, and Carter Satterfield—petitioned the state to target “males claiming or pretending to be females and gaining access to female-only athletic competitions and private spaces.”
Spanberger said the testimony of families of transgender youth had moved her to act. “I want to make members of the LGBTQ+ community know that you have a governor that values your community,” Spanberger told the cheering crowd.
“There’s no legal authority to move forward with rulemaking and prior administrations may have tried to create lanes and we’re not doing that,” she continued later. WVTF further reports that those close to the situation said the Governor intentionally kept it under wraps for the rest of the summer to avoid “additional fights” on the matter.
State Senator Danica Roem celebrated the rule’s takedown on Bluesky, calling Youngkin’s policy an attempt “to single out & stigmatize trans constituents.”
It sends a message to campaigns across the country, said Tyler Hack, who is the executive director of the Christopher Street Project, a group fighting for candidates that support trans rights. Hack told Erin in the Morning that Spanberger was proof that winning elections did not necessitate sacrificing transgender rights and equity.
This comes as Democratic candidates in states like Texas, Ohio and Iowa have begun creeping away from the party line and expressing anti-trans sympathies or even anti-trans votes, although these defections are still the vast minority of blue candidates nationwide.
Conservatives are pouring major funds into anti-trans ads against Democrats. Last year, in September alone, Spanberger’s GOP opponent, then-Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears, spent $2 million on the tactic.
“Spanberger showed how Democrats win amidst Republican attacks: she went live on the air, answered them head-on, explained that she will fight for the safety of every child, and refused to let Republicans define the conversation,” Hack said.
“She neutralized the attacks and ended up with a double-digit approval rating on trans issues.”
This year, Elon Musk’s America PAC dumped $100 million into attack ads during a last-minute spending blitz, which has fixated on transgender people.
Kellen MacBeth of Equality Arlington—who also sits on the state’s LGBTQ advisory board—described the move as a meaningful victory amidst an especially brutal midterm election cycle for transgender Americans.
“We are very grateful that Governor Spanberger put a stop to the Board of Health’s efforts to use the power of the state to discriminate against and harm transgender Virginians,” Macbeth told Erin in the Morning via email.
On Sept. 16, community groups around the Commonwealth, led by Equality Arlington and the Arlington Gender Identity Alliance (AGIA), launched a “Right 2 Play VA” initiative to pressure the Virginia High School League (VHSL) to reinstate equal rights policies after caving to the demands of the Trump Administration. They are collecting signatures for a petition from Virginia residents to send to the League.
“The LGBTQ+ community, and transgender and nonbinary Virginians in particular, need to see that our state and elected officials are working to protect their right to exist in a hostile world,” MacBeth said.
“We are looking forward to the Governor and other statewide officials continuing to fight for transgender Virginians: through the repeal and revision of Youngkin’s anti-trans model school policies and ensuring that no students are banned from playing sports simply because of who they are.”
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