MADISON, Wisc. — The Republican-controlled Wisconsin Assembly passed a law Thursday that would ban gender-confirming care of minors and ban transgender athletes from participating in sports competitions at the high school and college levels.
The three transgender-related bills passed by a vote of 63-35, with all Democrats voting against the measures and almost all Republicans voting in favor of the measures. Wisconsin’s Democratic Gov. Tony Evers has vowed to veto the legislation.
“We continue to see harmful anti-LGBTQ rhetoric in Wisconsin – rhetoric that encourages hate and violence and that we know only harms our children who already face significant mental health issues,” Evers said Thursday on X, formerly known as Twitter. “We will stop these attacks and we will do it together.”
Two of the bills would ban transgender girls and women from participating on high school and college sports teams. Instead, students would be required to play on teams corresponding to the gender they were assigned at birth.
The third bill would ban doctors from performing gender reassignment treatments on minors, such as performing gender-affirming surgeries or administering hormones and puberty blockers.
The bills are moving quickly, coming to the House floor a week after heated public hearings drew hundreds to the Capitol. The legislation now moves to the Republican-controlled state Senate. If the test is passed, the package ends up on Evers’ desk.
The highly controversial legislation comes amid a spate of bills targeting the LGBTQ+ community that restrict the rights of transgender youth across the United States. Republican lawmakers faced intense pushback and criticism from the LGBTQ+ community and their advocates, leading to discrimination lawsuits in many states.
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Assembly Speaker: GOP lawmakers say legislation is ‘right’ for Wisconsin
Assembly Speaker Robin Vos told reporters the Assembly is pursuing the legislation because Republican lawmakers “believe it’s the right thing for Wisconsin” and suggested medical experts’ opinions are changing. Vos also compared gender-affirming surgeries to lobotomies before Thursday’s debate.
“If you look back in history, 50 to 100 years ago the treatment for mental illness was a lobotomy. And that was established science back then. “That was exactly how it was supposed to be,” Vos said. “We can draw on example after example where the human mind has opened up to say that there are different ways of doing things and that it shouldn’t necessarily be a one-size-fits-all solution because we have science to back it up are.”
Democrats rejected Vos’ rhetoric during a House session Thursday, saying allowing transgender athletes to participate in sports consistent with their gender promotes acceptance and belonging.
“The fact that lawmakers are creating an environment that displaces certain groups of children and displaces sports teams in service of a political agenda is objectively terrible, discriminatory and cruel,” said Wisconsin State Rep. Lee Snodgrass.
Advocates say the proposals would harm transgender, nonbinary youth
At hearings at the Capitol, advocates for the LGBTQ+ community testified that the proposals would harm transgender and non-binary youth in Wisconsin and worsen the mental health issues and stigma they face.
Republicans argued that the bills would ensure competitiveness in women’s sports and prevent transgender people from regretting medical procedures – even though research has shown that it is unusual to regret a gender transition. Republican lawmakers made similar comments during Thursday’s meeting.
“Men have great physical advantages. They’re bigger, they’re stronger, they’re faster,” said Wisconsin state Rep. Joel Kitchens. “Title IX was created so that women would have equal access to the same benefits and the same character education that takes place [in sports] Men have always experienced this.”
In a letter distributed last week, Wisconsin Superintendent of Public Instruction Jill Underly cited data from the state’s 2021 Youth Risk Behavior Survey that found more than half of LGBTQ youth have seriously considered attempting suicide and nearly one Quarter tried to take his own life.
“Let’s show respect to every single person in the state and stop hindering their access to the health care they need,” Wisconsin Rep. Lisa Subeck said earlier this week before voting in committee against one of the bills true. “It’s time to stop pretending politicians know better than doctors and know better than the experts. We don’t do that.”
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Several state groups oppose the legislation
Several groups in Wisconsin have spoken out against the law, including the American Civil Liberties Union, the Medical College of Wisconsin, the Wisconsin chapter of the American Pediatrics Academy and the Wisconsin School Social Workers Association.
The Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association (WIAA) also opposes the ban on transgender girls and women from participating in sports designed for women. And University of Wisconsin-Madison officials previously warned that the university’s teams would violate NCAA guidelines if the law goes into effect.
The WIAA’s current transgender athlete participation policy requires transgender athletes to undergo hormone therapy before they can play on the teams of their choice. The association’s guidelines are based on the NCAA’s existing guidelines for transgender athletes.
Nearly dozens of states have passed bills targeting transgender youth
Since 2022, Republican lawmakers have introduced dozens of bills aimed at preventing transgender youth from participating in school sports consistent with their gender identity, according to the LGBTQ+ advocacy group Human Rights Campaign.
“By the end of the 2022 legislative session, a record 17 bills targeting transgender and non-binary children have been signed into law. 19 states ban transgender athletes from school sports,” the advocacy group said in a news release Thursday.
And at least 22 states have passed laws restricting or banning gender-affirming medical care for transgender minors.
Research has shown that gender-affirming surgeries are rare among minors. Fewer than 3,700 surgeries were performed on patients ages 12 to 18 in the United States from 2016 to 2019, according to a study published in August.
Experts also say that gender-affirming care — the social, psychological and medical support people receive when their gender identity does not match the sex assigned at birth — is critical to supporting the mental health of transgender people.
Contribution: The Associated Press
Molly Beck and Tyler Katzenberger can be reached at [email protected] and [email protected].
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