The bill is one of several proposed in West Virginia this year. Another bill, Senate Bill 195, would target transgender people as being “obscene” and would bar “transgender exposure, performances, or display” to any minor. This could have the effect of barring transgender people from being able to exist in public, as it would be difficult to avoid being seen as a transgender person by a minor. Speaking to this bill, Orr stated, “This is a blatant attempt to criminalize and erase the trans community of West Virginia.”

I honestly can’t find anything to say about these two bills that doesn’t feel overly doomer. It’s probably unenforceable showboating for election season… but plenty of cops aren’t going to know or care. Plenty of MAGA shitheads walking around getting offended by any gender nonconformity are going to see these bills for what they are: a green light to make life even worse for trans people.

It’s weird being at this intersection of “things have improved so much in the past 20 years” and “things have gotten SO drastically worse in the past 2 years”.