Casper lawmaker pushes to define ‘man,’ ‘woman’ in statute

CHEYENNE — Another attempt to define gender in Wyoming state law will be pursued in next year’s legislative session as Rep.elect Jayme Lien, R-Casper, sponsors the “What is a Woman Act” bill for the general session.

The bill first came about nearly a year ago, when Rep. Jeanette Ward, R-Casper, sponsored it for the 2024 budget session. However, the bill was short-lived after it failed to get the necessary two-thirds introductory vote in the House of Representatives.

Lien told the Wyoming Tribune Eagle that she asked Ward, who lost her reelection campaign this year, if she could carry the bill in her place.

“Knowing the importance of identifying men and women in law … I am honored to carry it forward in the 2025 session to allow the Legislature the chance to codify in law what is a woman,” Lien wrote in an email.

House Bill 32, the proposed What is a Woman Act, which has 12 co-sponsors in addition to  Lien, defines “man,” “woman,” “male,” “female,” “father” and “mother” based on biological terms.

The freshman lawmaker said one topic that came up to her repeatedly on the campaign trail was protecting private spaces in Wyoming, such as domestic violence shelters, locker rooms, restrooms “and other areas where safety or privacy are important for both women and men.”

“The objective is to protect the health, safety and privacy of all Wyomingites,” Lien said.

At least two other bills related to “protecting female spaces” are expected to be filed for the 2025 general session.

Rep. Martha Lawley, R-Worland, announced in a November op-ed she would bring forward one bill that protects female only spaces and another that bans transgender athletes from participating on K-12 school and collegiate sports teams. The latter has been designated as House Bill 60.

Lawley told the WTE her intention wasn’t to exclude transgender individuals but rather to strike a balance between protecting biological women and creating alternative avenues for the transgender community.

“This is not about a statement against the transgender movement,” Lawley said in a previous interview. “Its goal isn’t to make a point. It is really trying to solve real issues.”

Background

When Ward first filed her “What is a Woman Act” bill in 2024, the 10th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals was deciding a case in which six sorority sisters argued their parent organization, Kappa Kappa Gamma, violated its own rules by allowing its first openly transgender member to join the chapter at the University of Wyoming.

The case was appealed after it was dismissed last August by U.S. District Judge Alan B. Johnson, who said KKG’s ability to define “woman” is a “bedrock right as a private, voluntary organization — and one this Court may not invade.”

The 10th Circuit ended up rejecting the appealed case in May for lack of subject matter jurisdiction.

Last year, Ward told the WTE that “clearly … some legislative guidance is needed on this very basic biological fact.”

“Naysayers will claim that this bill is unnecessary and that it panders to a ‘national agenda.’ Unfortunately, this bill IS necessary in Wyoming,” Ward said in a recent email to the WTE. “A biological male has pushed women from their sorority at the University of Wyoming. Wyoming high school girls are forced to share their spaces with boys, and I know this from firsthand accounts. Female inmates risk being housed with males.”

Ward said she expects the “What is a Woman Act” to pass “easily” through the Wyoming House of Representatives. Following the general election, the Wyoming Freedom Caucus, a group of hardline Republicans, gained control of the lower chamber. The group has advocated against issues including gender-affirming care and allowing transgender participation on sports teams.

In November, the Wyoming Freedom Caucus applauded the UW volleyball team’s decision to pull out of its match against San Jose State University, which reportedly has a transgender team member. Ward, an outspoken member of the Wyoming Freedom Caucus, questioned whether the governor will sign this bill into law, should it pass through the Legislature.

“I’ll be watching closely to inform the public which Senators (and Reps) value the privacy and safety of women,” said Ward. “But what will the governor do? Will the Legislature have to override his veto?”

‘Waste’ of time, money

Wyoming Equality Executive Director Sara Burlingame criticized Lien’s bill as “a waste of taxpayer time and money.”

“Budget, budget, budget, budget,” Burlingame said in a text to the WTE. “They should focus on bread-and-butter issues and not their fundraising disguised as policy tactics. Growing government big enough to tell us how to be the right kind of woman (is) more culture war nonsense.”

Rep. Mike Yin, D-Jackson, reflected a similar sentiment in his criticism of the bill, saying there are other, more pressing issues that legislators should focus on, such as the state’s growing maternity deserts.

“We have an OB-GYN desert,” Yin said. “Freedom Caucus didn’t want to do anything about it, and yet again, they’re doing nothing about it — instead, they’re trying to create more controversy than solving problems.”

He said there was once a time when some states defined the symbol pi as equaling exactly four, “but there’s a good reason states aren’t dictionaries.”

“This is just yet another attempt at not solving any actual problems and only trying to create social controversy,” Yin said. “Because they don’t want to actually focus on actual problems in the state of Wyoming.”

American Civil Liberties Union of Wyoming Advocacy Director Antonio Serrano said this bill limited how Wyomingites choose to identify themselves. This type of legislation tells them “that there’s something wrong with who they are” and “would have a detrimental impact on the ability for trans women and men to authentically live life.”

“That this bill is back for a second year is disappointing. Voters from all sides of the political spectrum just want our legislators to get good things done on their behalf, not stoke the ‘culture wars’ at the expense of our civil rights,” Serrano said. “It’s time for our legislators to mind their own business and focus on matters of the state.”

The 2025 general session begins Jan. 14.

This story was published on December 19, 2024.