Glenn Youngkin tried to use Virginia’s health regulators to restrict transgender people. His successor found that they had no authority to do so.

With no news release and little ceremony, Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger’s administration has killed an anti-transgender regulatory effort launched during the waning months of former Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s term.

The proposal would have used the Virginia Board of Health to bar transgender women and girls from women’s-only athletic teams and competitions, bathrooms, locker rooms, and other spaces where people may be undressed. The state’s regulatory docket records the outcome in bureaucratic language: “Withdrawn.” The action was terminated July 30, after its public comment period had ended and 321 comments had been submitted. No preliminary regulation was ever drafted.