Woman Calls Male Legislator 'Madame' During 'What Is A Woman Act' Debate

The Wyoming Senate will debate a bill called the “What Is A Woman Act” after a vetting committee advanced it by a unanimous vote Thursday, but not before some fireworks between a male legislator and a Casper woman who addressed him as “Madame Chairman.”

Also called House Bill 32, the bill proposes to link terms like “man,” “woman,” “boy” and “girl” across Wyoming law to a biological definition of male and female: whether the person’s body is organized to produce ova or sperm.

If it becomes law, it would also order the judicial branch to review laws distinguishing between the sexes under a standard called “intermediate constitutional scrutiny,” which is friendlier to the government than the tougher standard of strict scrutiny.

Critics have called that latter provision a violation of separation of powers principles. Other critics of the bill attacking it from a social perspective have called it intolerant and said it will invite invasive genital checks.

Proponents say it’s necessary to protect women and girls from invasions of privacy and lost opportunities, and to and restore order to a society fraught with confusion.

‘Madame Chair’

For one witness who testified against HB 32 Thursday via a virtual link to the Senate Agriculture Committee, the meeting was a chance to make a point about another semi-related bill.

Committee Chair Tim French, R-Powell, invited Casper woman Britt Boril to testify.

“Thank you, Madame Chairman,” answered Boril.

French, who is not transgender and who appeared startled, retorted, “You can call me Mr. Chairman if you want.”

“Well, I cannot be compelled to use your preferred pronouns, as you all have voted,” Boril answered.

She was referencing Senate File 77, which has cleared both the state House of Representatives and Senate. That bill proposes to let people sue government agencies that make them use people’s preferred pronouns. It will head to the governor’s desk after the two chambers reconcile opposite changes they both made to it.

“Well, I prefer to be called Chairman French,” said French. “That’s my preferred pronoun.”

Boril said that Senate File 77 prevents the government from compelling her to use anyone’s preferred pronoun.

Though she’d only been testifying a few seconds, French informed Boril she was almost out of time.

She then claimed the bill flouts biological fact, ignores intersex and “two-spirit people,” and puts women in danger of invasive sex checks “through government overreach.”

The bill contains a carveout for intersex people, saying people with medically recognized disorders or differences in sex development shall be given legal protection and accommodations under the federal Americans with Disabilities Act.

Boril urged lawmakers to pivot away from “culture wars.”

“Please stop this hateful rampage to put women and trans people in deliberate physical danger,” said Boril. “Please for the love of our great state, do your jobs.”

French countered again: “We are doing our job we work hard at it every D — starts with a D — day.”

Some in the meeting room applauded his statement.

Colorful Testimony

Boril’s wasn’t the only testimony that assumed a colorful tone Thursday.

HB 32’s sponsor Rep. Jayme Lien, R-Casper, told the Agriculture Committee she’s glad it was routed through that group because agriculture people “understand, as breeders, what that looks like.”

Campbell County resident Chelsie Collier testified in favor of the bill, referring to a controversy in her community from last year in which a woman spotted a male identifying as a transgender woman in the women’s locker room at a public recreation center.

“This is a threat to my privacy to have a biological male changing in the women’s restroom,” said Collier, who said she helps her small children change in that locker room.

Roll Call

Sen. Barry Crago, R-Buffalo, was excused as not present during the vote on the act.

The four lawmakers who were present all voted in favor of it. Those were Republican Sens. Bob Ide (Casper), Troy McKeown (Gillette), Laura Pearson (Kemmerer) and French.

Clair McFarland can be reached at clair@cowboystatedaily.com.