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Wyoming Legislature enacted the "What Is a Woman Act," defining sex by biology at birth and requiring birth-sex-based accommodations

On March 14, 2025, the "What Is a Woman Act" (HB0032) became Wyoming law without Governor Mark Gordon's signature after the Legislature passed it 50-9 in the House and 28-3 in the Senate. The law creates a statutory definition of sex, man, woman, mother, and father based on reproductive biology at birth and states that sex-distinction laws governing athletics, prisons, domestic-violence shelters, rape-crisis centers, locker rooms, and restrooms satisfy intermediate scrutiny. It also requires schools and agencies that collect sex-based vital statistics to record sex assigned at birth.

Jurisdiction
Wyoming
Location
Cheyenne, Wyoming

Abuses documented

Actors

On March 14, 2025, Wyoming House Bill 0032, the "What Is a Woman Act," became law without Governor Mark Gordon's signature, enacting a state statutory definition of sex grounded in reproductive biology at birth. The Legislature had passed the measure 50-9 in the House and 28-3 in the Senate, and it took effect as Enrolled Act No. 73, Chapter No. 146 of the 2025 Session Laws of Wyoming. Gordon, who had signed a companion measure (HB0072) on March 3, declined to sign HB0032 and allowed it to become law by inaction, writing that the bill was drafted less with legal objectives in mind than to "scratch a welcome national political itch."

The new law, codified at W.S. 8-1-110, defines "sex," "male," "female," "man," "woman," "mother," and "father" by reproductive biology, declares that "equal" does not mean "same," and states that laws drawing distinctions by sex — governing athletics, prisons and detention, domestic-violence shelters, rape-crisis centers, locker rooms, and restrooms — satisfy intermediate constitutional scrutiny. It further directs public schools and agencies that collect vital statistics or identifying data by sex to record the sex a person was assigned at birth. Wyoming became the thirteenth state to enact a statutory sex-definition law of this kind.

Updates

2026-03-13 — Transgender resident challenged the act at the Wyoming Supreme Court [4]

A transgender Natrona County resident, identified in filings as KR, asked the Wyoming Supreme Court to reverse a district court's refusal to amend the sex marker on a Wyoming birth certificate, arguing in a brief filed March 13, 2026 that the "What Is a Woman Act" is discriminatory and violates the right to privacy. The Wyoming Attorney General's Office defended the act as constitutional and as controlling how the state amends birth certificates.

Why we recorded this

Equal protection and civil rights require that government not disadvantage people because of who they are. Wyoming's "What Is a Woman Act" writes a single birth-biology definition of sex into state law and directs schools and agencies to record sex assigned at birth, foreclosing transgender residents' recognition in single-sex spaces such as restrooms, domestic-violence shelters, and rape-crisis centers. By codifying a protected-characteristic distinction into the operating rules of state institutions, the law treats transgender people differently on the basis of identity and narrows their access to public accommodations.

Sources

  1. Enrolled Act No. 73 — House Bill 0032 (What Is a Woman Act) — Wyoming State Legislature primary accessed July 15, 2026
  2. Bill Digest — House Bill 0032 (What Is a Woman Act) — Wyoming State Legislature primary accessed July 15, 2026
  3. Abortion remains healthcare with Gordon veto. Two genders codified without his signature — Wyoming Public Media primary accessed July 15, 2026
  4. Transgender Woman Challenges 'What Is A Woman Act' In Wyoming Supreme Court — Cowboy State Daily primary accessed July 15, 2026

See also