On Wednesday, West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice, a Republican, signed yet another anti-trans measure into law. As has been the trend in recent months, this legislation focuses on the new Republican mission: keeping trans youth—and specifically, transgender girls and women—out of girls’ sports. In the case of West Virginia, the law bans transgender girls and women from competing on sports teams associated with public schools at the high school or state college level. Like other bills, this legislation defines gender based on sex assigned at birth instead of one’s actual gender identity.
"I'm absolutely all in,” Justice said at a news conference earlier as this week, as reported by CNN, “because I do not think that from the standpoint of our girls, that we ought to allow a situation to where, you know, for whatever reason may be, we end up with a superior athlete that could just knock our girls right out of the competition.” This language, of course, affirms the transphobic belief that transgender girls are not girls and that only cisgender girls are “girls.” And as Daily Kos continues to cover, West Virginia is hardly alone in making strides in these legislations.