CHEYENNE, WY — Today, Independent Women applauds the Wyoming Legislature for its passage of House Bill 0032 and House Bill 0072, modeled after Independent Women’s Stand With Women legislation, which moves Wyoming one step closer to codifying ‘male’ and ‘female’ terms in state law and protecting women’s hard-earned rights and spaces. If signed into law, this Stand with Women legislation would preserve the legal existence of women as distinct from men and safeguard the existence of single-sex spaces, such as locker rooms, sleeping quarters, and jails.
Members of the Wyoming Kappa Kappa Gamma Sorority have already experienced the harms of males demanding access to female spaces as they were denied their right to single-sex sisterhood. Previously, Independent Women Ambassadors and Westenbroek v. Kappa Kappa Gamma plaintiffs Hannah Holtmeier, Maddie Ramar, and Allie Coghan joined Wyoming lawmakers for a press conference to champion Stand with Women legislation, including House Bill 0032 and House Bill 0072.
Holtmeier and Coghan both provided testimony in support of HB0032.
“I share my experience today to qualify why it is so important for the Wyoming legislature to pass House Bill 0032. If passed into law, this bill would help protect women’s hard earned rights and spaces. By defining common sex-based words – words like ‘woman’ and ‘female’ already used in 252 unique Wyoming statutes—this bill will help safeguard female opportunities and private spaces from attack by those who seek to manipulate the definition of words to achieve policies that lack political support. You must support this bill and stand with the over 280,000 women and girls in Wyoming,” said Holtmeier during her testimony.
“The lesson I learned, and what I’m advocating for, is that when men enter into women’s spaces, they take valued positions, memberships, and opportunities from very deserving women. I’m reminded every day of how important this fight is, and that I’m not doing this for me. I’m doing this for future generations, my niece and my cousin, so that they can enjoy all of these things that I got the chance to enjoy and not have to fight for it,” Coghan said during her testimony.
Representative Jayme Lien, Wyoming House of Representatives District 38 and sponsor of HB0032, What is a Woman Act, said, “I am honored to be a part of the process to help protect women’s rights in private spaces. Codifying into law the definition of sex gives our judicial branch a very clear definition to help define the over 200 WY laws that reference sex. I am grateful for Representative Ward who carried this last session and am grateful to have carried this forward.”
Representative Martha Lawley, Wyoming House of Representatives District 27 and sponsor of HB0072, Protecting Women’s Privacy in Public Spaces Act, said, “I am thankful for the work of the Wyoming Legislature in addressing the serious issue of protecting women and girls’ privacy and safety in bathrooms, locker rooms, showers, and overnight lodging. This is a very important issue to the people of House District 27 and to many other people throughout Wyoming. I urge Governor Gordon to join us in these efforts and sign this legislation.”
Independent Women previously urged the Wyoming Senate to bring House Bill 0032 up for consideration in a letter to Wyoming Senate President Ogden Driskill, highlighting the need to stand with over 280,000 women and girls in Wyoming. Independent Women’s letter came on the heels of President Donald Trump’s Day-One Executive Order that restores biological reality and protects sex-based rights, building upon national momentum to stand up for women-only spaces.
Until sex-based words are defined in statute, Wyoming women will continue to lose out to men. Independent Women looks forward to working alongside Governor Gordon to see these pieces of legislation signed into law that would ensure women are not erased.
Kansas, Tennessee, Idaho, Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Nebraska, Arkansas, Alabama, Iowa, and soon to be Montana have also adopted legislation inspired by Independent Women’s sex-definition model, impacting the lives of nearly 19 million women and girls.
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