House committee passes 'What is a Woman Act'

CASPER — The House Labor, Health and Social Services Committee on Wednesday passed the “What is a Woman Act,” which seeks to codify the definition of a male and female based on biological sex. 

HB 32, sponsored by Rep. Jayne Lien, R-Casper, passed the nine-member committee by a 7-1 vote roughly an hour after the meeting began and after extensive public testimony for and against the bill.

Rep. Mike Yin, D-Jackson, was the sole no vote, and Rep. Clarence Styvar, R-Cheyenne, was excused from voting. 

The bill specifies that distinctions based on sex must be enforced by athletics, prisons or other detention facilities, domestic violence shelters, rape crisis centers, locker rooms, restrooms and other areas where safety or privacy are implicated. Lien gave an example of prisons. Male and female prisons must be “of the same nature” but they are to be separated. 

The specific laws this bill would affect are unclear. 

When asked by Yin, Lien said the bill would allow for appropriate restrooms or locker rooms in any state-run building in a “protective and safe manner” and that it would protect the state from lawsuits. 

“If we do not codify into law male and female, and we do not give the judiciary system the opportunity to understand the clear intent of what a male and a female is we open ourselves up for a lawsuit from an individual that ends up harmed from one person to another that might be in the wrong restroom, wrong prison, wrong state school for young women and young men,” Lien said. 

The bill also requires that any school district, public school, state agency or political subdivision that collects information including male and female distinctions are to identify people based on their sex at birth. 

A nearly identical bill last year, also titled “what is a woman act,” failed to meet the two-thirds vote needed to be introduced and moved forward during the 2024 Budget Session. 

Former Casper Rep. Jeanette Ward, who brought the 2024 bill, testified in favor of the bill on Wednesday. 

“I am proud of Representative Lien for carrying this bill forward, which simply defines male and female as society and science has understood these terms forever until about five minutes ago,” she said. 

Wyoming Equality Director Sara Burlingame and Wyoming Equality Communications Coordinator Santi Murillo spoke against the bill. 

“There are unintended consequences,” Burlingame said. “Namely no one has addressed how this would be carried out. Who will the state hire to check the genitals of children and adults?” 

Murillo, a trans woman, asked the male legislators and men in the room if they would be comfortable with her using the same restroom they use. 

“If I am to use the men’s restroom, men’s locker rooms, that puts me in a level of danger,” Murillo said. “There’s discussions that [the bill] doesn’t affect the LBGTQ community but when you talk about the trans individuals that it will affect — it does affect us.” 

The committee prior to voting amended the bill at the request of Lien. The amending language will stand in a courtroom when judges seek to solidify the definition of male, female and biological sex, according to Lien. 

The previous language defined female as a person with XX chromosomes and male as a person with XY chromosomes. The bill will now be sent back to the House, where the entire chamber will get to vote on the bill multiple times. 

If the bill passes the House, it will be sent to the Senate and the process with a committee will repeat. If the bill passes both chambers and no further amendments are proposed, the bill is sent to the Gov. Mark Gordon — who can sign or veto the bill.