West Virginia Gov. Patrick Morrisey signed SB456, defining sex by birth and barring transgender people from single-sex spaces

On March 12, 2025, West Virginia Gov. Patrick Morrisey signed Senate Bill 456, known as the "Riley Gaines Act," adding a new article to Chapter 5 of the West Virginia Code that defines "man" and "woman" by a person's sex assigned at birth. Signing the measure — the first of his legislative priorities to reach his desk — Morrisey said that "women's spaces, like bathrooms, locker rooms, domestic violence shelters and rape crisis centers should be kept private for women only."

The law requires a range of sex-segregated spaces — bathrooms, locker rooms, domestic-violence shelters, rape crisis centers, dormitories, and correctional facilities — to be designated according to birth-assigned sex, and state code no longer recognizes nonbinary people or those who do not identify as male or female. The Legislature passed the bill by wide margins in both chambers and amended it to clarify that it cannot be construed to authorize examination of a minor's genitals. It took effect June 9, 2025, ninety days after passage.

The act adds West Virginia to a growing group of states that have narrowed the legal definition of sex to birth-assigned status and restricted transgender residents' access to single-sex facilities and spaces.