On Thursday, Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin instructed Virginia’s state health board to devise regulations protecting the sanctity of women’s sports and locker rooms from trans-identifying men.
“The health and safety of women and girls in sex separated spaces and participating in athletic competitions is in serious jeopardy due to irresponsible policies, including those that allow known sex offenders to hunt little girls in public locker rooms,” Youngkin said in a statement. “It is an embarrassment and a tragedy that certain individuals continue to turn a blind eye to these clear violations of the law and of the health, safety, privacy, dignity, and respect of Virginians. This must stop.”
According to the governor’s executive directive, the Virginia Board of Health (BOH) is tasked with adopting “regulations under the Administrative Process Act, in accordance with federal and state law” that will prevent males — including those who “identify” as “trans” — from “participating in organized female-only athletic teams and competitions in Virginia” and “using designated female spaces where females are likely to be in a state of undress.”
The order seemingly came in response to the BOH accepting a petition filed in August by three female athletes, who “formally request[ed] the Virginia Board of Health add and/or amend regulations within 12 VAC 5” to make the aforementioned changes. The BOH “will consider publishing the Notice of Intended Regulatory Action (NOIRA) for this regulation” on Thursday, “the next step under the Virginia Administrative Process Act,” according to Youngkin.
As noted by the governor, Thursday’s executive directive comes on the heels of several trans-related scandals rocking Northern Virginia school districts.
In mid-August, Loudoun County Public Schools suspended two Stone Bridge High School boys after a March 2025 recording surfaced showing them questioning why a trans-identifying female was in the men’s locker room. As described by Youngkin, the U.S. Department of Education (USED) “concluded LCPS violated Title IX and that the division retaliated against the boys, giving the district 10 days to enter into a resolution agreement that includes rescinding the suspensions.”
“A federal judge temporarily has halted at least one suspension while the case proceeds,” the governor wrote.
Another incident reportedly occurred in Fairfax County Public Schools, in which a complaint recently filed with USED alleges that a male watched girls undress in the women’s locker room at West Springfield High School in early September 2025. As summarized by local media, “when a girl complained” about the incident to school faculty, “a teacher said there was nothing they could do.”
Fairfax County has garnered significant attention after it recently declined to charge Richard Cox, a Tier III sex offender, for allegedly exposing himself to women and girls in local recreational facilities’ locker rooms. As Catherine Gripp wrote in these pages, the county’s “refusal to charge Cox comes despite an Arlington detective’s testimony that Cox was in possession of child pornography and Fairfax County children’s swim class schedules, Cox’s previous alleged admission of his own compulsions to expose himself, and witnesses claiming that he exposed himself to women and girls in Fairfax County recreation centers’ locker rooms, ABC 7 News’ Nick Minock reported.”
The egregious scandals have become prominent topics in Virginia’s 2025 gubernatorial race, which has Republican Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears facing off against former Democrat Rep. Abigail Spanberger.
As noted by Gripp and further reported by The Federalist, “Spanberger has previously refused to condemn men’s access to sensitive women’s spaces.” The former congresswoman also declined The Federalist’s request for comment on whether she supports allowing men such as Cox to “identify” as “trans” as a means of gaining access to women’s spaces.
[READ: Could Parental Rights Be The Deciding Issue In Virginia’s Gubernatorial Race (Again)?]
Early voting in the commonwealth began on Sept. 19, with Election Day set for Nov. 4. Races for lieutenant governor, attorney general, and the state’s House of Delegates will also be on the ballot.