BILL APPROVED – State Senate Bill 154, prohibiting sexual orientation instruction in public schools, passed in a 33-1 vote Thursday afternoon. -- Photo Courtesy/WV Legislative Photography

CHARLESTON — The West Virginia Senate passed bills Thursday prohibiting use of hormone therapies for children diagnosed with gender dysphoria and requiring school staff to inform parents when a student seeks transgender preferences.

The Senate passed Senate Bill 154, prohibiting sexual orientation instruction in public schools, in a 33-1 vote Thursday afternoon, followed by a 32-2 vote on Senate Bill 299, modifying state regulations on pubertal modulation, hormonal therapy, and gender reassignment.

SB 154 aims to restrict instruction related to sexual orientation and gender identity in public schools. Among other provisions, it prohibits public school employees from knowingly providing false or misleading information to parents and/or guardians regarding a student’s gender identity or intention to transition.

The bill mandates that school employees report student requests for accommodations when affirming a gender identity different from their biological sex to school administrators, who must then inform the student’s parents. The bill includes a three-step process for penalizing teachers who do not comply with the proposed law, and a process for aggrieved parties to file civil lawsuits.

State Senate Education Committee Chairman Amy Grady, R-Mason, is the lead sponsor of SB 154. A fourth-grade teacher and the mother of three children, Grady said it was important for teachers to communicate with parents regarding the mental health of their children while not imposing their own personal beliefs on students.

“We, as teachers and school staff, should not be able to make medical decisions for our students. That is a parent’s right,” Grady said. “There are some that do this gender affirmation, whether it’s through social transitioning or the teaching of gender identity. It’s not education. It’s not what we’re there for. A school should create an environment of acceptance, but it’s not the school’s job to provide validation.”

“So, it’s biological sex week here at the West Virginia state Senate,” said state Sen. Joey Garcia, D-Marion, the lone nay vote on the bill.

A vocal opponent of the Senate’s focus on bills dealing with transgender children, Garcia argued that the bill could create trust issues between teachers and students, who might not be willing to talk to teachers about other issues, such as abuse at home. He also argued that the bill was too broad and vague, which could cause teachers to be unfairly targeted if someone believes they are not following the law.

“The different prohibitions that we have in this bill are so blurry, the blurred lines in this bill and the complaint and investigation procedure is what makes this subject to targeting and abuse,” Garcia said. “What if they’re just targeted? What if somebody makes something up? What if hearsay is a part of the complaint process? Yeah, it might get dismissed, but there’s a lot of people’s lives who can be ruined in the meantime.”

SB 299 would further limit the use of medication gender affirming care for minors by banning the use of hormone treatments for children diagnosed with severe gender dysphoria that puts them at greater risk of attempted suicide. Such therapies can only be administered on the advice of at least two medical and mental health professionals as well as parental consent.

“This bill eliminates an exception permitting the prescribing of gender-altering medication for severe gender dysphoria,” said Senate Health and Human Resources Committee Chairwoman Laura Wakim Chapman, R-Ohio.

The bill closes an exemption that was included two years ago in House Bill 2007, prohibiting physicians from providing irreversible gender reassignment surgery or medication for gender-affirming care, such as hormones or puberty blockers, to a person who is under 18 with certain exceptions.

HB 2007 included guardrails to limit use of medication gender affirming care to adolescents who have been diagnosed with severe gender dysphoria by multiple physicians in order to address psychological issues and prevent self-harm and as long as the medication is limited to the lowest doses necessary.

“The votes for the bill in 2023 were mixed. Unfortunately, it passed,” Chapman said. “Now today, we have the opportunity to undo the wrong that was done two years ago. That bill is based on bad medicine.”

Referring to the previous vote on SB 154, Garcia accused the Republican Senate supermajority of being hypocritical by stepping into medical decisions being made for children based on parental involvement and physician guidance.

“On the last bill, there was a remark that teachers are not allowed to make medical decisions for young people. But the West Virginia Legislature is, apparently,” Garcia said. “This is a very, very narrow exception with respect to severe gender dysphoria. There have to be two medical doctors or mental health professionals that make this diagnosis and basically state that there is a risk of death by suicide or self-harm.

“It’s not a matter of just pushing this on a child or an adolescent and saying, hey, make this decision,” Garcia continued. “This is a family decision, which is really how things should be between a family and a doctor or medical professional. But we intervene here.”

State Sen. Chris Rose, R-Monongalia, is the lead sponsor of SB 299. He said that minors under the age of 18 should not be empowered to go through these medication gender affirming care procedures.

“We don’t trust children to drive a car till they’re 16. We don’t trust people to vote till they’re 18 or buy a firearm or serve in the military. And the human brain…does not fully develop to age 25. So why are we allowing permanent harm to be done to children at age 3, age 5, age 8, age 10,” Rose asked. “These are children that are dealing with mental health issues. No one in this body will refute that. But the social transitioning is what is the problem that has created this mess.”

State Sen. Jack Woodrum, R-Summer, voted for HB 2007 two years ago, but he said he would support SB 299 now after having a change of heart on the issue and reviewing new data on questions about gender affirming care.

“I was one of the people that voted for this exception. I voted for it. I thought it was…the conservative thing to do,” Woodrum said. “This law has taken on a life of its own as it’s went. It’s turned into something that it’s not…But I also say we can’t make good decisions on bad information.”

State Sen. Tom Willis, R-Berkeley, said he disagreed with Garcia’s assertion that there was a conflict between voting for SB 154 and SB 299.

“I understand how it may seem like the two conflict, but they don’t. And this bill is essentially fulfilling the basic role of government, which is to disincentivize evil,” Willis said. “It’s evil to fail to protect the personages of our minors in West Virginia. And so, I think they’re logically consistent.”

Both SB 154 and SB 299 now head to the House of Delegates, which will consider Senate Bill 456, Defining “men” and “women,” today. Also named the Riley Gaines Act, SB 456 defines the terms “sex,” “male,” and “female” in State Code, basing those definitions on biological sex at birth. The bills also aim to limit spaces to biological males and females, prohibiting transgender individuals from using facilities based on the gender they identify as.