Committee approves bill to define "male" and "female" in Wyoming law after hours of testimony

House Bill 32, titled a "woman act," passed the Labor, Health & Social Services Committee after extended testimony and a committee amendment, with the committee forwarding the measure to the full House by a roll-call vote of 7 ayes, 1 no (absentee), and 1 excused.

The bill’s sponsor, Representative Veil (House District 38), described the measure as "simplif[ying] and defin[ing] male and female" and said the language would provide the judiciary a uniform definition to use when statutes refer to those terms. "This proposed legislation simplifies and defines male and female," she said during her presentation.

The committee heard more than an hour of public testimony, largely split between supporters who said the bill protects single-sex spaces and opponents who said it would harm transgender people and raised questions about enforcement. Dr. Rich Guggenheim,…