A bill telling Wyoming’s government and courts to treat males and females according to their biological sex rather than their gender identity has cleared its first committee hearing, and now advances to the state House of Representatives.
The “What Is A Woman Act,” or House Bill 32, seeks to define terms like “woman,” “man,” “girl,” “boy,” “mother” and “father” according to people’s biological sex, rather than their gender identity across Wyoming’s governmental systems.
It also urges courts to judge state laws separating the sexes under a more favorable standard than they would laws that implicate a constitutional right.
The House Judiciary Committee advanced the bill Wednesday to the House floor on a vote of seven lawmakers in favor, one opposed and one excused.
The committee’s lone Democrat, Rep. Mike Yin of Jackson, voiced the lone nay vote.
Opponents said the bill is overbroad, inconsiderate and technically impossible to enforce.
Proponents said it’s necessary to protect women and girls in their private spaces and sports teams, and to protect males from awkward situations as well.
Gays Against Groomers
Before the bill advanced, a national lobbyist against the gender-transitioning of kids publicly criticized Wyoming’s top LGBTQ advocacy group.
Dr. Rich Guggenheim, director of legislation for Gays Against Groomers testified in favor of HB 32.
Gays Against Groomers is a group of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people who lobby against medical and social interventions geared toward transitioning kids from one gender to another, or otherwise sexualizing them.
As the first state to let women vote and elect a female governor, Wyoming is “hallowed ground” for women’s rights, Guggenheim said.
“Gender ideology and queer theory seek to compel our speech and strip women of their right to consent and say no to men in their bathrooms, locker rooms or on their fields and courts, and in their prisons,” he said.
Gays and lesbians fought hard for the right to serve in the military and marry, among other freedoms, he said.
Guggenheim took a dig at Wyoming’s top LGBTQ advocacy organization, Wyoming Equality, saying the group advocates for “regressive, anti-gay gender stereotypes … a modern-day form of conversion therapy,” by entertaining the transition of gender non-conforming kids.
This ideology has “reduced women to nothing more than a feeling,” Guggenheim said. “I just want to ask you, again, to define women, because we cannot protect what we cannot define.”
Wyoming Equality Executive Director Sara Burlingame responded to Guggenheim's jab Wednesday in a text message to Cowboy State Daily.
"No, we don't do (what he claims)," she wrote. "Wyoming Equality continues to advocate for parental rights, including parents' rights to be kept informed by schools of ANY mental health issues, with the obvious exception of (if) they suspect it would lead to physical or verbal abuse."
She harkened to the 2017 assault in Natrona County when a man attacked his junior-high-aged son with a knife because the man believed the son was gay. Unfortunately, said Burlingame, not all parents are safe.
"We don't encourage gender transition, we encourage the continued independence of Wyoming citizens and our right to live free of government interference," said Burlingame.
Who’s Gonna Peek?
Burlingame spoke against the bill to the committee.
She pointed to Trump-nominated U.S. Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch’s 2020 opinion in Bostock v. Clayton County, as an argument against the bill.
The opinion says employers can’t fire people for being gay or transgender because, in the U.S., federal law banning workplace sex discrimination, gender identity and sexual orientation are included in the term “sex.”
That finding has not been expanded nationwide to other areas of U.S. law, such as those pertaining to schools.
Burlingame also pointed to what she characterized as the impracticability of enforcing this bill, if it becomes law.
“How would this be carried out? Who would the state hire to check the genitals of children and adults?” she asked. “Is that the role of the state? Do we want to use state money to compel someone to do something they don’t want to do with their own bodies?”
Burlingame said the bill poses a burden for taxpayers and an overreaching government.
Into The Bathrooms
Santi Murillo, communications coordinator for Wyoming Equality, is a female-presenting transgender person who is small of stature and frame.
Murrillo sat next to Burlingame and asked about bathrooms.
“Would you (men) feel comfortable with me in your restroom?” asked Murrillo. “I’ve been in this beautiful building with you all, using the women’s restroom with no problem.”
Graysen Sanchez Hall, a male-identifying transgender person, posed the question from the other angle.
Sanchez Hall has many male-appearing characteristics.
“If I walk into the women’s restroom, I’m pegged as a man. That makes women uncomfortable. I don’t intend to make women uncomfortable,” said Sanchez Hall. “I use the men’s restroom.”
Into The Sorority
Hannah Holtmeier, who was a University of Wyoming student and Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority member in 2022 when a transgender member was inducted, urged lawmakers to pass the bill.
She said when men “infiltrate” women’s spaces, it affects those women, and also takes a toll on their loved ones.
“My dad (got) one call he never imagined he’d be getting from me,” said Holtmeier, describing how she dissolved into tears just before calling her dad to tell him a male had been inducted into her sorority.
Holtmeier and other Kappa sisters later sued the sorority. Their litigation stalled out months ago, but is set for a hearing later this month.
What Exactly?
The bill passed, but not before Yin grilled its sponsor, freshman Rep. Jayme Lien, R-Casper, on just what it will impact.
Wyoming has no cross-sex bathroom or facilities bans in place, though the Legislature is contemplating some in the current session.
Lien said the bill simply defines male and female for the courts.
The legislator who brought an ultimately failed version of this same bill last year, former Rep. Jeanette Ward, R-Casper, gave a similar defense of it to Yin when he posed the question to her.
Though the public comments on the bill were animated, the committee didn’t debate it.
Roll Call
The seven lawmakers voting in favor of the bill were all Republicans: Reps. Ken Clouston (Gillette), Joel Guggenmos (Riverton), Paul Hoeft (Powell), Darin McCann (Rock Springs), Pepper Ottman (Riverton), Jacob Wasserburger (Cheyenne) and Committee Chair Rep. Rachel Rodriguez-Williams (Cody).
This story has been updated to include a post-publication comment by Sara Burlingame
Clair McFarland can be reached at clair@cowboystatedaily.com.
