New WV Obscenity Bill Would Jail People For "Transgender Exposure" To Minors

This anti-trans bill goes a step further than anti-drag bills and outright bans minors from being "exposed" to transgender people.

Anti-drag bills have proliferated in 2023. States like Arizona, Montana, and several others have seen bills proposed to ban drag being seen by minors or drag in public. One state, Nebraska, would even say that people who are under 21 years old cannot see drag. Arizona’s bill says that drag events can’t happen before noon on Sunday. All of the bills include language on how they define drag that leaves people wondering if these laws will also target the transgender community. A new bill being proposed in West Virginia, however, goes a step further: it outright bans any “transvestite or transgender exposure, performance, or display” if minors are present.

There have been increasing escalations in anti-drag bills recently. Nebraska’s bill states that a performance is banned if “the main aspect of the performance is a performer which exhibits a gender identity that is different from the performer’s gender assigned at birth using clothing, makeup, or other physical markers.” Transgender people could easily be read into that law and thus banned from doing any sort of public performance. These bills also make no distinction between a live and recorded performance, leaving some to wonder if movies like Mrs. Doubtfire would be banned. Several Shakespearian plays utilize drag. What about transgender comedians, transgender musicians, and plays in which transgender people are cast?

Needless to say, things are scary and uncertain in the states in which drag laws are being proposed.

Four Senators in West Virginia today just decided to clear up any uncertainty: yes, they absolutely do intend to include bans on transgender people being in front of minors in anti-drag bans. West Virginia SB 252 explicitly targets the trans community in a bill that defines any “transvestite or transgender exposure to minors” as obscene matter. See these lines from the bill:

The bill modifies 61-8A-1 (Definitions of Obscene Matter To Minors) and directly includes “transvestite or transgender exposure, performance, or display” as obscene matter. Section 61-8A-2 then defines the penalties for exposing minors to “obscene matter” (“transgender exposure” included in this new bill):

What does this mean for transgender teachers? Transgender parents? Earlier in the same bill, they ban “obscene matter” within 2,500 feet of any school - this would in effect treat all transgender people like sex offenders when it comes to schools. Are teachers going to be fired because they are giving minors “transgender exposure?” Are plays with transgender people in them going to be cancelled? Are parents walking their children to school going to be targeted?

I am a transgender parent myself. I sing and dance and monologue to my son on a regular basis. I am active in his school and I have an amazing relationship with his teacher. I proudly wear a transgender flag pin when I desire to represent my community in a more formal way. Would laws like this see me as “transgender exposure to minors?” Will I be able to hike and travel with my son through West Virginia, a state I have loved to visit for its natural beauty? What does a bill like this say to trans and queer West Virginians?

It’s disconcerting to see weekend news of drag queen events being stormed by far-right militant organizations like the Proud Boys and then to see these laws proliferate afterwards. Republicans sometimes try to distance themselves from these groups, but it is clear that there are major figures in the Republican party who intend to steer the party and any states they control into an oppressive new era of anti-LGBTQ+ enforcement. The intimidation tactics being used in an extralegal fashion are resulting in Republican politicians not condemning but supporting these goals.

Some might argue that these bills have no chance of passing, or that they will be struck down as unconstitutional. I want to emphasize that this isn’t just a single Republican proposing it - several bills like it have been proposed all over the country. While this is the most extreme version of these bills, four senators have sponsored it: Senator Michael Azinger, Senator Bill Hamilton, Senator David Stover, and Senator Vince Deeds.

It feels like we are approaching new territory every day we see new anti-trans legislation. Criminal bans on gender affirming care are being proposed in many states that would ban our care up to, in some cases, the age of 26. Now we are seeing attempted bans on gender-nonconformity and bans on simply being trans in public. Are we going to return to the days of the three-article rules which resulted in people getting arrested for “impersonating men/women” in public? Stonewall was a fight in part as a result of these kinds of laws being imposed on the gay, trans, and drag communities. It is unthinkable that we could return to those days yet again. I hope that we never do.