Youngkin Orders Ban on Biological Males in Female Sports

Gov. Glenn Youngkin issued Executive Directive 14 instructing the Virginia Board of Health to draft statewide regulations to bar biological males, including transgender-identifying males, from competing in female sports and using female-only locker rooms and other sex-separated spaces to “secure the health, safety, privacy, dignity and respect” of women and girls. Youngkin cited incidents including a sex offender who exposed himself in an Arlington girls’ locker room and an August petition from three female collegiate athletes who said they were harmed by males competing in female sports. The Board of Health voted unanimously to advance a Notice of Intended Regulatory Action under the Virginia Administrative Process Act, the next step in state rulemaking. Youngkin thanked former President Donald J. Trump, the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Department of Education and said the directive responds to policies that prioritize gender identity over biological sex. The directive is statewide, arrives amid lawsuits by school districts such as Fairfax County Public Schools challenging federal gender-identity guidance, and has drawn mixed public reaction as the formal regulatory process moves forward.