GOP-Controlled State Legislature Fails To Pass Bill Legally Defining ‘Man’ And ‘Woman’ By Biological Sex At Birth

The Wyoming House of Representatives failed to pass legislation legally defining ‘man’ and woman’ based on an individual’s biological sex at birth.

The state’s legislative chamber has a Republican supermajority, consisting of 57 Republicans and five Democrats.

19 House Republicans helped block the passage of Republican state Rep. Jeanette Ward’s ‘What Is A Woman Act.’

19 Wyoming Republicans block bill to legally define "man" and "woman"https://t.co/EWIhfSNuJNhttps://t.co/EWIhfSNuJN

— The Post Millennial (@TPostMillennial) February 16, 2024

Cowboy State Daily reports:

House Bill 50 would have defined people’s sex as male or female by their biology at birth under Wyoming law, and precluded special accommodations for people who identify otherwise. Among other things, HB 50 would have required people to use bathrooms, locker rooms and other facilities as determined by their biological sex at birth.

“Today, 20 so-called ‘Republicans’ in the Wyoming House voted to kill a bill to provide legal, biological definitions of ‘male’ and ‘female,’” the Freedom Caucus wrote in its Thursday press release. Although the Freedom Caucus pointed to 20 Republicans who didn’t vote for the bill, the actual tally was 19.

In its press release, the caucus lists the 24 representatives who voted against HB 50, the 19 Republicans and all five Democratic members of the House.

WATCH:

In the Wyoming House, 20 REPUBLICANS just voted to kill a bill that would have provided legal, biological definitions for "female" and "male." pic.twitter.com/yUpz7JF3DI

— Wyoming Freedom Caucus (@WYFreedomCaucus) February 15, 2024

Here’s the list of all Wyoming House members who voted against the legislation:

• Ryan Berger, R-Evanston.
• Donald Burkhart, R-Rawlins.
• Andrew Byron, R-Jackson.
• Forrest Chadwick, R-Evansville.
• Ken Chestek, D-Laramie.
• John Eklund, R-Cheyenne.
• Steve Harshman, R-Casper.
• Bill Henderson, R-Cheyenne.
• Lloyd Larsen, R-Lander.
• JT Larson, R-Rock Springs.
• Sandy Newsome, R-Cody.
• Bob Nicholas, R-Cheyenne.
• Tony Niemiec, R-Green River.
• David Northrup, R-Powell
• Ember Oakley, R-Riverton,
• Jerry Obermueller, R-Casper
• Karlee Provenza, D-Laramie.
• Trey Sherwood, D-Laramie.
• Liz Storer, D-Jackson.
• Tom Walters, R-Casper.
• Cody Wylie, R-Rock Springs.
• Mike Yin, D-Jackson.
• Dan Zwonitzer, R-Cheyenne.
• Dave Zwonitzer, R-Cheyenne.

“During a legislative budget session, a two-thirds majority is required to introduce any non-budget legislation. The What Is a Woman Act only passed 37-24, falling five votes short of the threshold needed to advance,” Cowboy State Daily noted.

The Post Millennial added:

Additionally, the bill would have required any school district and state agency, department, office, or other political subdivision that collects vital statistics as a means of gathering information related to crime, public health, and economic status, to define an individual as male or female consistent with the persons sex at birth.

The bill had 15 Republican co-sponsors, yet it still failed to pass.

The 19 state House Republicans who voted against the bill refused to enact the following scientific definitions into law:

“The terms ‘woman’ and ‘girl’ refer to human females, and the terms ‘man’ and ‘boy’ refer to human males, ‘mother’ means a parent of the female sex, ‘father’ means a parent of the male sex, ‘female’ means a person whose biological reproductive system is developed to produce ova and/or who exhibits XX chromosomes and does not exhibit a Y chromosome, and ‘male’ means a person whose biological reproductive system is developed to fertilize the ova of a female and/or who exhibits XY chromosomes or exhibits a Y chromosome.”

While introducing the bill, Rep. Jeanette Ward said the “What is a Woman Act” has become “necessary because a biological male has pushed Wyoming women from their Wyoming sorority in our Wyoming University.”

Read House Bill 50 HERE.