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Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears pulled no punches in her attack on her Democratic opponent in Virginia’s gubernatorial race, former Rep. Abigail Spanberger, when a Thursday night debate turned to the topic of transgender issues and locker rooms.
“We know that girls want to have privacy,” Earle-Sears said. “[Spanberger] voted for men nude in girls locker rooms, in bathrooms, and in girls’ sports.”
Turning to Spanberger, she asked, “Are you going to change in a gym where men are nude in the locker rooms? Are you going to do that?”
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Virginia candidates respond to questions about transgender bathroom access. (Getty Images)
Earlier this month, Gov. Glenn Youngkin issued an executive directive ensuring bathrooms, locker rooms and other intimate spaces remain separated by sex assigned at birth. The directive also instructs the state Board of Health to bar biological males from competing on female athletic teams.
When asked, point-blank, whether she would rescind that directive, Spanberger sidestepped the question and refused to give a definitive answer.
“My answer is that in each local community decisions should be made between parents and educators, and teachers in each community. It shouldn’t be dictated by politicians,” Spanberger responded. “I’m a mother of three daughters in Virginia public schools, and nothing is more important to me than their safety and their experience in schools,” Spanberger added in response to questions about her stance on transgender issues.
VIRGINIA LT. GOVERNOR ON WHY HER STATE IS AT RISK OF LOSING FEDERAL FUNDING OVER TRANSGENDER BATHROOMS
Virginia Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears speaks to the crowd during a rally held to announce she will seek her party’s nomination for Virginia governor in 2025 at Chick’s Oyster Bar in Virginia Beach, Virginia, Sept. 5, 2024. (Kristen Zeis/The Washington Post via Getty Images)
“Nude men in locker rooms – that’s what this is about,” Earle-Sears maintained.
“There should never be nude men in locker rooms,” Spanberger eventually said.
“We finally have her saying that! But you voted for that!” Earle-Sears shot back. “Are we in agreement now?”
“I’m going to answer the question my opponent refused to answer,” Earle-Sears said. “I will not rescind the governor’s executive order.”
Throughout the debate, Earle-Sears sought to address Spanberger directly, but Spanberger would not bite.
Rep. Abigail Spanberger, D-Va., speaks at a campaign rally on Nov. 4, 2023, Virginia Beach, Virginia. (AP Photo/Bryan Woolston, File)
In addition to Spanberger’s evasiveness on Thursday night, the Democratic Party candidate similarly side-stepped questions about transgender issues while on the campaign trail leading up to the debate.
When Fox News Digital previously reached out to Spanberger in August, about her views on transgender students’ access to bathrooms, the former Virginia congresswoman did not address the issue directly.
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“As a mom of three daughters in Virginia public schools, a former federal law enforcement officer, and a candidate for governor, Abigail’s priority is ensuring that all of Virginia’s kids are safe and supported,” a representative for Spanberger said at the time. “While Abigail’s opponent, Winsome Earle-Sears, stokes division and backs the Trump administration’s threats to strip funding from Virginia schools, as Virginia’s next governor, Abigail will work to protect public school funding, address the Commonwealth’s chronic teacher shortage, and contend with our last-in-the-nation math recovery ranking.”
Outside of Youngkin’s executive directive, issues related to transgender bathroom and sports looms large across the commonwealth. In August, five Northern Virginia school districts were found by the Department of Education to be in violation of Title IX for failing to roll back policies allowing transgender students. Last month, a federal judge dismissed lawsuits brought by two of the districts, seeking to challenge the Trump administration’s finding that places restrictions on the districts’ federal funding unless they make a change.
Meanwhile, a case involving two Virginia boys who were suspended and found liable by their school for sexual harassment, after being caught on camera complaining to each other about a transgender classmate using their locker room, is also currently playing out in federal court right now.
