The Virginia Board of Health has the full support of Governor. Glenn Youngkin (R-VA), took the next step toward putting regulations in place to prevent transgender-identifying biological males from participating in women’s sports and from changing in women’s locker rooms.

The board unanimously voted on Thursday in favor of a notice that would protect “the health of women participating in organized athletic teams and competitions for females only in Virginia, and to protect the heath of females who use designated female spaces in which females may be seen in an undressed state.”

The vote on Thursday comes after three female college athletes from Virginia unanimously approved the petition “to prevent biological males in female-only sports and certain spaces designated for women” that was presented by them. Thursday’s vote was the next step in the regulatory process after the petition approval.

Reka Gyorgy, a former Virginia Tech collegiate swimmer and one of the Virginia women athletes who presented the petition to Virginia State, is a member of this group. In a statement she gave to the Washington Examiner, Reka Gyorgy called the NOIRA voting a “huge victory”.

“It is a great win for women and girls in Virginia and I am so glad that the changes are taking place now. Gyorgy stated that it was a step closer to achieving my goal, which is the reason I speak out publicly to save women’s and girls’ sports.

Youngkin released an executive directive before Thursday’s voting, encouraging the Board of Health “to move forward and take all necessary steps” to promulgate the regulations that will ensure the health, safety and privacy of all people, including women and girls.

The Executive Directive highlights the Governor’s commitment in protecting women and girls’ safety and health, and directs the Board to continue with this ongoing regulatory measure,” Youngkin Press Secretary Peter Finocchio said to the Washington Examiner.

Youngkin’s call for a change to Virginia’s statutes coincides with a federal campaign to prevent biological males from taking part in women’s sport. The state is a hotbed of debate as the Trump Administration has threatened to freeze federal funding for Northern Virginia school districts that do not follow the Trump administration’s bathroom policy. Fairfax County Public Schools and Arlington Public Schools sued over the move.

Youngkin stated in a press release that “the health and safety of girls and women in sex-separated spaces, and those participating in athletic events is seriously compromised due to irresponsible policy. This includes policies which allow known sexual offenders to hunt small girls in public changing rooms.” This must stop. “I want to thank President Donald J. Trump and the U.S. Department of Education and Justice for their strong and common sense approach in protecting women and girls.”

In July, the University of Pennsylvania pledged to ban transgender-identifying athletes from participating in the university’s athletic programs that do not align with their sex and to erase swimmer Lia Thomas‘s records. This was part of a deal with the Department of Education of President Donald Trump.

Gyorgy stated that in her petition biography, she was inspired in part to start the petition because of an uncomfortable encounter in a changing room with Thomas who is transgender. She felt that “her privacy had been taken away” and that she also missed the finals for the 2022 Women’s Swimming and Diving NCAA Championship 500-yard Freestyle Finals by one place after placing 17th at a competition Thomas won.

Thirteen of the 15 members of the Board were present on Thursday and voted for NOIRA.

The vote of Thursday does not represent a final decision, but rather a notice that the Virginia Board intends to add these regulations into Virginia Statutes. NOIRAs do not usually include the actual text of the regulations, but rather inform the public about the changes that are being considered by the state.

Next, the executive branch will review the NOIRA. After that, there will be 30 days of public comments before the Virginia Department of Health can move on to the next stage of the process. This is the drafting of a proposed regulatory.