2 minPolitics
Virginia Governor's Office Withholds Records on Dropped Women's Sports Rule
The office of Virginia Governor Abigail Spanberger denied access to records regarding the withdrawal of a rule that would have excluded men from women's sports.
The office of Virginia Governor Abigail Spanberger denied a Freedom of Information Act request concerning the decision to withdraw a rule on women's sports. The request sought documents about the abandonment of a procedure aimed at barring men from women's sports. The office stated that no records were found or that they do not exist, and that all materials located were withheld citing several exemptions.
According to the office, fewer than 100 documents were found, many of which are duplicates. Exemptions were cited for correspondence with an attorney, for materials covered by executive privilege, and for working papers. Virginia law allows such withholding at the discretion of the relevant agency, but non-confidential portions of documents must be disclosed. However, it remains uncertain whether any partial release of the records will occur at all.
A narrower follow-up request concerning staff emails also yielded no results. The office reported that the sought records could not be located or do not exist, so no documents on the internal discussion of the decision were obtained.
The rule was developed under Governor Glenn Youngkin, and the procedure had already reached the pre-publication notice stage. A petition to create it was filed in April 2025 by three individuals, and the Board of Health approved it in August 2025 by a vote of 14 in favor and none against. The public comment period ended on December 17, 2025.
The Board of Health withdrew the petition on July 30, and the official notice of withdrawal was published on August 24. In September, Spanberger stated that she lacked the legal authority to continue developing the rule. The reasons for abandoning the procedure therefore remain open, and the public has no access to documents that would explain how the decision was made.
Source: foxnews.com
8
