CHARLESTON, W.Va. – The American Civil Liberties Union of West Virginia (ACLU-WV) will join a public hearing at 8:30 a.m. Thursday, Feb. 8 on HB 5243 (the inaccurately named “Women’s Bill of Rights”) to call it out for what it really is: an attack on trans rights and an insult to all women.
The erroneously named bill doesn’t provide any rights to women and was never meant to. While being discussed in the House Judiciary Committee, Chairman Delegate Tom Fast revealed just how explicitly this bill isn’t about women’s right by ruling an amendment to add language about equal pay was “not germane” — a procedural term used to rule out amendments that aren’t relevant to the purpose of the bill.
“Women in the Mountain State want things like health care, parental leave, affordable childcare, and transparent and equal pay,” ACLU-WV Community Outreach Director Mollie Kennedy said. “This bill delivers none of that and instead attacks transgender women. It’s an insult to all women - cisgender and transgender.”