Virginia State Board of Health to prohibit trans women from playing on women’s sports teams

RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) -- There is mixed reaction after the Virginia State Board of Health voted in favor of writing a new state regulation that is meant to ban transgender women from playing on women’s sports teams. 

The vote came after three college swimmers, including Roanoke College swimmer Carter Satterfield, asked the board to write a new rule that would also ban transgender women from any spaces where women might undress. 

“Men and women, biologically, are different,” Satterfield told 8News. 

“At the core of this petition is a desire to label a specific group of Virginians as harmful based solely on their identity,” said Narissa Rahaman, Executive Director of Equality Virginia, an LGBTQ rights advocacy group. 

Satterfield said when she was a sophomore on the Roanoke College swim team, her mental and physical health was put at risk when a transgender woman, who previously swam on the men's team, joined the women’s team. 

“Competing against someone that biologically has an advantage over me was so disheartening. We were miserable, we watched him swim every day, Faster than us, stronger than us, and we were depressed, anxious, and we were told we didn’t matter,” Satterfield said. 

However, Rahaman says the petition from Sutterfield and her fellow athletes isn’t about safety, but rather an effort to “demean, isolate, and exclude” transgender women. 

“As a cisgender woman and a former and recovering triathlete, I have frequently competed alongside and shared bathrooms and changing facilities with transgender women. I have never once felt that a race wasn't fair or that my physical and psychological health was at risk,” Rahaman said.

As for what’s next, VDH will draft the actual regulation, which will then go through a potentially years-long process before it can be adopted.