In Case You Missed It: Defining Male, Female, and Sex – Laws or Pending Bills at the Federal Level and in Iowa, West Virginia, and Wyoming

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Benjamin S. Levine

June 10, 2025

A recent trend exists in the United States of legislation defining what it means to be “male” and “female.”

On January 20, 2025, President Trump issued an Executive Order (“Defending Women From Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government”)  that sought to define various terms, such as “male,” “female,” “sex,” as well as “gender ideology” and “gender identity.”

Iowa
On February 28, 2025, Iowa Governor, Kim Reynolds, signed a bill (SF 418) into law that removes “gender identity” from its state civil rights laws (the Iowa Civil Rights Act), which prohibit discrimination against protected classes.  Iowa is the first state to remove civil rights from a previously protected class.  The law goes into effect on July 1, 2025.

Federal Bill
In late March 2025, U.S. Senator Roger Marshall (R-Kansas) introduced a bill (S. 1147 and companion bill H.R. 2378), the “Defining Male and Female Act of 2025,” which attempts to codify legal definitions of, among other things, “male” and “female.”

Definitions:

• Male: “a person belonging, at conception, to the biological sex characterized by a reproductive system with the biological function of producing sperm.”
• Female: “a person belonging, at conception, to the sex characterized by a reproductive system with the biological function of producing eggs (ova).”

The law would restrict the rights of transgender, gender non-conforming, and non-binary identifying individuals.  The bill has been referred to the Committee on the Judiciary.

Similar legislation—recognizing gender as solely binary and defining “male” and “female”—has recently been codified at the state level in West Virginia and Wyoming.

West Virginia
West Virginia Governor Patrick Morrisey recently approved Senate Bill 456 (“Sex Definitions and Preservation of Single-Sex Spaces”).  The law went into effect on June 9, 2025.  The purpose of the legislation, according to the bill, is to “reaffirm the longstanding meaning of sex, male, and female in state law,” and “preserve women’s restrooms, multiple occupancy restrooms or changing rooms, and sleeping quarters for women in facilities where women have been traditionally afforded privacy and safety from acts of abuse, harassment, sexual assault, and violence committed by men.”  See W. Va. Code §5-32-1.

Definitions:

• Male: “an individual who naturally has, had, will have through the course of normal development, or would have but for a developmental anomaly, genetic anomaly, or accident, the reproductive system that at some point produces, transports, and utilizes sperm for fertilization.”
• Female: “an individual who naturally has, had, will have through the course of normal development, or would have but for a developmental anomaly, genetic anomaly, or accident, the reproductive system that at some point produces, transports, and utilizes ova for fertilization.”
• Sex: “the state of being either male or female as observed or clinically verified at birth. There are only two sexes, and every individual is either male or female: Provided, That individuals with congenital and medically verifiable ‘DSD conditions’ (sometimes referred to as ‘differences in sex development’, ‘disorders in sex development’, or ‘intersex conditions’) are not members of a third sex and must be accommodated consistent with state and federal law.”

The legislation does not recognize the existence of non-binary people and would ban transgender people from using certain facilities (e.g., bathrooms and locker rooms) that match their gender identity.

Wyoming
Governor Mark Gordon recently signed House Bill 72 (“Protecting privacy in public spaces act”) into law.  The law goes into effect on July 1, 2025.  The law regulates access to public changing areas, restrooms, and sleeping quarters, including prohibiting transgender people from using such spaces that match their gender identity.

Definitions:

• Female: “a person who has, had, will have or would have had, but for a congenital anomaly or intentional or unintentional disruption, the reproductive system that at some point produces, transports and utilizes eggs for fertilization.”
• Male: “a person who has, had, will have or would have had, but for a congenital anomaly or intentional or unintentional disruption, the reproductive system that at some point produces, transports and utilizes sperm for fertilization.”
• Sex: “a person’s biological sex, either male or female.”

Employer Takeaways
Employers should continue to monitor the current trend of legislatures defining the terms “male,” “female,” and “sex” and understand how these codified definitions affect employers’ obligations not to discriminate based on protected classes, including sex, sexual orientation, and gender identity or expression.

In addition, federal law currently interprets Title VII as protecting sexual orientation, gender identity, and gender expression.  In June 2020, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Bostock that Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 protects gender identity and expression (though that decision did not address bathrooms).  See our article here discussing that decision.

Seek legal counsel to address your questions.  We can help.

The author of this article, Benjamin S. Levine, is a member of the Bars of New Jersey and Pennsylvania.  This article is designed to provide one perspective regarding recent legal developments, and is not intended to serve as legal advice in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Iowa, West Virginia, Wyoming, or any other jurisdiction, nor does it establish an attorney-client relationship with any reader of the article where one does not exist.  Always consult an attorney with specific legal issues.