CHARLESTON — West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey says he has signed the Women’s Bill of Rights, along with nine fellow attorneys general.
The document affirms the legal basis for maintaining single-sex spaces such as rape crisis centers, domestic violence shelters, athletic teams, locker rooms and sororities.
The Women’s Bill of Rights has been signed by more than 11,000 citizens across the country, as well as state attorneys general, state legislators, U.S. Senators and members of Congress. The document, sponsored by Independent Women’s Voice, Independent Women’s Law Center and Women’s Liberation Front, seeks to codify the “common” definitions of woman, girl and mother.
“This Bill of Rights not only protects women’s rights, but it also guarantees equal opportunity for both sexes,” Morrisey said. “It’s as simple as common sense: males and females are biologically different, and laws should reflect that. Just follow the science.”
According to the Women’s Bill of Rights, the coalition affirms among other things that “there are legitimate reasons to distinguish between the sexes with respect to athletics, prisons or other detention facilities, domestic violence shelters, rape crisis centers, locker rooms, restrooms and other areas where biology, safety and/or privacy are implicated.”
Morrisey joined his colleagues from Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, South Carolina, Texas and Utah in signing the Women’s Bill of Rights.
The document defines the terms “sex,” “woman,” “female,” and “mother” for purposes of state and federal law. It outlines biological differences “that warrant the creation of separate social, educational, athletic, or other spaces in order to … allow members of each sex to succeed and thrive.”
“When it comes to sex, ‘equal’ does not mean ‘same’ or ‘identical’” and “separate is not inherently unequal,” according to the document.
Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch explained her rationale for signing the document.
“Feminism, once understood as the way to promote equality for women, is today disintegrating in an identity crisis of its own making,” Fitch said. “But it is not only legitimate for women to have a space of their own in which to grow and thrive, it is good for society to carve out that safe space for women to engage with one another in athletics, education, fellowship, and sometimes even in healing.”
