The West Virginia Senate passed Senate Bill 299, which would ban hormone treatment for children diagnosed with gender dysphoria, on Thursday, March 6, 2025. (Will Price | West Virginia Legislative Photography)
The West Virginia Senate passed two bills Thursday focused on transgender youth as the Republican-led body has prioritized bills related to biological sex.
One measure would ban hormone treatment for children diagnosed with gender dysphoria, nearly eliminating any options in West Virginia for gender-affirming care for youth.
The other bill would mandate that teachers tell parents when a child requests to be referred to by a different name or pronouns that are different from the student’s biological sex.
“It’s a shame we have to have a bill like this, but this is happening in our schools,” said Sen. Amy Grady, R-Mason. “Schools should provide acceptance, but it’s not a school’s job to provide validation.”
Both bills, which now go to the House of Delegates for consideration, passed overwhelmingly in the GOP-heavy Senate.
The Senate earlier this week passed legislation that says gender must be defined by a person’s biological sex, prompting Sen. Joey Garcia, D-Marion, to say that it was “biological sex week here in the state Senate,” while lawmakers had yet to prioritize the state’s foster care crisis or teacher pay. Garcia was a no vote on both measures.
“I see this as an attack on really vulnerable people in our state,” he said.
Senate Bill 299, which passed with a vote of 32-2, would mostly close a narrow exemption that lawmakers carved out in 2023 when they passed a strict ban on gender-affirming care for minors, including a ban on gender-affirming surgeries for this age group. Current state law allows children diagnosed with severe gender dysphoria to receive medical therapy, including hormonal treatment, if a child is considered at risk for self-harm or suicide following testimony that it could lead to an increase in child deaths.
Supporters of the bill argued that minors shouldn’t be allowed to make a potentially irreversible decision.
“This decision affects the rest of your life, potentially your ability to find a spouse, potentially to have children or to have grandchildren,” said Sen. Tom Willis, R-Berkeley. “I hope you perceive this bill for what it is — a compassionate attempt to protect minors until you’re at the age where you can make an informed decision about something that could affect you for the rest of your life.”
Garcia said the exemption was important to saving lives. Roughly 100 youth in the state are currently receiving gender-affirming care, and the measure, introduced by Sen. Chris Rose, R-Monongalia, would halt their medical care in August if signed into law.
“This is a family decision, which is really how this should be between a family and a doctor or a medical professional,” Garcia said. “We had psychologists, we had practitioners who talked about the patients that they see and how this has saved lives over the last couple of years. It’s not a whole lot of people … but I think every life is precious.”
The bill includes exceptions that would permit individuals with sex development issues or someone who has already undergone gender-affirming care surgery to continue receiving hormonal treatment.
Bill would force teachers to out students to their parents
Senators also passed Senate Bill 154, which says that public school teachers must notify parents if a student requests an accommodation that is intended to affirm a change in the student’s gender identity that is different from the child’s biological sex.
The measure also prohibits public schools from requiring students to participate in sexual orientation instruction. Teachers would be permitted to respond to student questions during class regarding sexual orientation or gender identity as it relates to any topic of instruction.
Grady, an elementary teacher who sponsored the bill, said that a student requesting a name change was a step in a child’s decision to transition, which could lead to the child seeking gender-affirming care.
“We as teachers and school staff should not be able to make medical decisions for our students. That’s a parent’s right,” she said. “It’s a shame that we have some schools that have become a meeting ground for activism and target our kids.”
The measure would also permit parents who aren’t alerted about their child’s gender-related requests to bring legal action against the public school.
Garcia, the only senator to vote no on the measure, said the bill could be used to target LGBTQ+ teachers with false accusations.
“The blurred lines in this bill and the complaint and investigation procedure is what makes this subject to targeting and abuse,” Garcia said. “This is singling out this situation with conversations that might happen in a classroom and, honestly, conversations that might be taken out of context. What if somebody makes something up?”
“There’s a lot of people’s lives who could be ruined in the meantime,” he added.
The House of Delegates on Thursday advanced a bill, Senate Bill 456, that would define the terms of “woman” and “man” in state law using biological sex. The measure is a priority bill for Gov. Patrick Morrisey, and the Senate approved the bill Tuesday.
The bill would also limit transgender individuals’ access to women’s bathrooms, locker rooms and domestic violence shelters.
Del. Kayla Young, D-Kanawha, attempted to amend the bill to say, “Nothing in this section may be construed to permit the inspection of the genitalia of any adult or any child without parental consent.” The amendment was rejected.
Fairness WV, an LGBTQ+ advocacy organization, opposes the bill, saying that lawmakers are “inventing fake problems that don’t exist.”
“Every West Virginian woman should be concerned about what happened on the House floor today,” said Andrew Schneider, executive director for Fairness WV. “And I can’t help but wonder why our lawmakers are so obsessed with inspecting the genitals of people who just need to go to the bathroom? Frankly, their obsession with what’s in everyone’s pants is just plain weird.”
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