Madeleine Biondi, Staff Writer
Gov. Abigail Spanberger withdrew a regulation-making process that began last year aiming to ban transgender women from women’s sports, bathrooms and locker rooms.
Despite removing the policy on July 30, Spanberger issued no notice to the public about the action, which was discovered on a government website and publicized by RadioIQ. Ending the policy process halted an overall ban on transgender athletes, while other college and high school level regulations heavily restrict it.
Spanberger stated to RadioIQ that the Department of Health’s process was not in line with its authority as determined by Attorney General Jay Jones.
The Department of Health’s process began in April 2025 when three female swimmers, Réka György, Lily Mullins and Carter Satterfield, petitioned the Virginia Board of Health to ban transgender women from sports and using facilities.
The petition stated, “The public health of Virginians, particularly of women and girls, demands that the Department of Health take action to prevent further harm, both physical and psychological, from males claiming or pretending to be females and gaining access to female-only athletic competitions and private spaces.”
The Virginia State Board of Health unanimously voted in a 2025 meeting to move forward with regulation-making after accepting the petition, according to Virginia Regulatory Town Hall. A Virginia Department of Health analysis concluded that 54% of the petition’s online commentators disagreed ahead of the meeting, according to WTVR Richmond.
Former Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s board approved the petition and assigned the Department of Health to manage its progression into policy. Two months later, Youngkin issued Executive Directive 14 to ban transgender women from both women’s sports and locker rooms, according to the Library of Virginia.
“I would support a bill that would put clear provisions in place that provide a lot of local ability for input, based on the age of children, based on the type of sport, based on competitiveness,” Spanberger said to ABC 7 during her 2025 campaign.
Eli Coston, VCU’s Associate Chair for the Department of Gender, Sexuality, and Women’s Studies, said that university guidelines often restrict transgender inclusion dramatically even without a ban, and that inclusion requires legislative work on multiple levels.
“The move was done rather quietly, so I think it came as unexpected to many, even within the political sphere,” Coston said. “Most trans girls still can’t participate in sports as they would enter more competitive levels, such as high school or college athletics.”
In 2003, the International Olympic Committee designated specific restrictions on transgender college athletes, permitting their inclusion depending on a chromosomal screening and administrative approval for their sport, according to Coston. The committee states that its regulations are based on scientific research and feedback from the Olympic Movement, according to its website.
The National Collegiate Athletic Association manages the enforcement of these restrictions, while monitoring is done locally by the school’s athletics department. Its website states that regulations allow transgender women to practice but not compete in their sport.
Since 2025, the Virginia High School League has restricted transgender girls from playing but allows transgender boys to petition for inclusion, according to its website.
Executive Director and co-founder of local nonprofit He She Ze & We and member of the Richmond LGBTQ chapter Shannon McKay spoke on a live podcast on the fewer than 10 NCAA transgender athletes and said bans serve to perpetuate fear rather than regulate.
“Trans people don’t dominate sports and usually most trans kids don’t even participate because parents are afraid,” McKay said.
Since VCU adheres to the IOC guidelines, transgender women are prohibited from women’s teams, and transgender men are permitted to play on men’s teams.
The Education Department removed official protections for transgender students established under Title IX on Sept. 28, making biological sex the only category for sex-based discrimination and eliminating gender-based discrimination definitionally.
While Spanberger’s legislation prevents a ban on transgender women in sports and the use of facilities, no Virginian legislation to dictate their inclusion currently exists.