LGBTQ+ rights are at stake in a race for a seat on the highest court in Wisconsin. At a campaign event earlier this month in Prairie du Chien, conservative Wisconsin Supreme Court candidate Brad Schimel signaled his openness to enforcing a ban on same-sex marriage in the state if the U.S. Supreme Court overturns Obergefell v. Hodges, the landmark 2015 decision that legalized marriage equality nationwide.
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Asked by an attendee whether he would support “biblical marriage” in Wisconsin and what would happen if the U.S. Supreme Court returned the issue to the states, Schimel responded, “We have a constitutional amendment that’s still on the books,” according to a recording obtained by The Advocate. When pressed on whether he would enforce it, he said, “If the United States Supreme Court modifies the Obergefell decision, then our constitutional amendment goes back into place.”
Schimel also affirmed his support for business owners who want to refuse services to same-sex couples based on religious beliefs. When the attendee asked whether Schimel would do anything to protect “those of us who don’t want to hire or offer services” to people whose marriages “violate our religious beliefs,” Schimel responded, “Your religious rights need to be protected.”
Schimel’s campaign did not respond to a request for comment from The Advocate.
Schimel’s comments are in line with his long history of opposing LGBTQ+ rights, a record that has drawn sharp criticism from equality advocates. As Wisconsin’s attorney general from 2015 to 2019, he repeatedly fought against LGBTQ+ protections, including advocating for businesses to be able to refuse service to same-sex couples and defending organizations that sought to criminalize homosexuality.
A long history of anti-LGBTQ+ positions
During his 2014 campaign for attorney general, Schimel pledged to defend Wisconsin’s ban on same-sex marriage and initially said he would refuse to uphold a 2009 state law granting domestic partnership benefits to same-sex couples. He later reversed his position on the benefits law, but his commitment to enforcing the state’s same-sex marriage ban remained steadfast, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported.
When the U.S. Supreme Court declined to review lower court rulings striking down Wisconsin’s ban in 2014, Schimel’s office was responsible for paying $1.1 million in taxpayer funds to cover legal fees for the couples who had successfully challenged the prohibition, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Schimel also used his position as attorney general to support legal efforts allowing businesses to discriminate against same-sex couples. The University of Wisconsin-Madison Badger Herald reports that in 2017, he publicly backed the Colorado baker in Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission, who refused to create a wedding cake for a same-sex couple. That same year, in a television interview with Wisconsin Eye, he lamented that a Wisconsin case involving a photographer who refused to serve same-sex couples didn’t go further in the courts, arguing that business owners should have the right to deny services to LGBTQ+ customers. He even went as far as comparing LGBTQ+ individuals seeking services to “Nazi skinheads” trying to force a Jewish business owner to serve them, the Badger Herald reported.
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Schimel’s anti-LGBTQ+ advocacy extended beyond marriage equality. He attended a conference hosted by Alliance Defending Freedom, an organization designated as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center, which has worked to recriminalize homosexuality and supports laws allowing discrimination against LGBTQ+ individuals. Schimel’s office attempted to conceal records related to his attendance, and when pressed, he defended the group, saying it was not hateful but instead sought to ensure “LGBTQ+ rights did not interfere with the rights of other people,” according to the Associated Press.
Advocates warn against Schimel’s potential influence on the court
LGBTQ+ rights groups have condemned Schimel’s candidacy, warning that his history and rhetoric make him a dangerous choice for Wisconsin’s highest court. Abigail Swetz, executive director of Fair Wisconsin, said Schimel poses a direct threat to LGBTQ+ Wisconsinites and their fundamental rights.
“Brad Schimel would be a dangerous addition to the Wisconsin Supreme Court because he poses a threat to our rights, both for the rights of Wisconsinites in general and for the LGBTQ+ community in particular,” Swetz said in a statement to The Advocate. “Every bill passed into law, and every decision made by a court has an impact on the LGBTQ+ community, and that is why we need to have a court we can rely on to protect our rights as Wisconsinites – our rights to safety, health, and the freedom to live as our authentic selves and love who we love.”
Swetz also called out Schimel’s use of anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric on the campaign trail, accusing him of deliberately exploiting misinformation to drum up votes. “I am also frankly disappointed in Schimel’s use of harmful and blatantly hateful rhetoric in his campaign, language that targets some of the most marginalized members of our community,” she said. “In the most generous frame possible, he is woefully misinformed about the LGBTQ+ community and our needs, but I think it’s more insidious than that, and he is instead preying on that misinformation to drive votes, and I think that’s just wrong.”
Human Rights Campaign Wisconsin state director Wendy Strout echoed those concerns. “Wisconsin deserves leaders that represent Wisconsin values,” Strout told The Advocate in a statement. “But Schimel, with his support for antiquated, discriminatory policies like an 1849 abortion ban or asking SCOTUS to overturn marriage equality, is not that. Voters should feel confident in telling him’ no thanks.’”
Schimel’s Controversial Remarks on the Wisconsin Supreme Court
Schimel has also come under fire for his recent remarks about the Wisconsin Supreme Court’s liberal justices, all women. The AP reports that during a November 12 radio interview, the day after oral arguments in a case challenging the state’s 1849 abortion ban, Schimel accused the court’s liberal majority of being “driven by their emotions.”
“There were times that when that camera went on several of the liberal justices, they were on the brink of losing it,” Schimel said on WSAU-AM. “You could see it in their eyes, and you could hear it in the tone of their voice. They are being driven by their emotions. A Supreme Court justice had better be able to set their personal opinions and their emotions aside and rule on the law objectively. This is — we don’t have that objectivity on this court.”
The four liberal justices, in a statement on Friday, denounced Schimel’s remarks as “an antiquated and distorted view of women.” They accused him of suggesting that women are unfit to serve as judges due to their emotions and endorsed Dane County Circuit Judge Susan Crawford as the candidate who would uphold fairness and justice.
The election, set for April 1, will determine who fills the seat being vacated by liberal Justice Ann Walsh Bradley. The Wisconsin Supreme Court currently holds a 4-3 liberal majority after years of conservative control.
Editor's note: This story has been updated to correctly report that the election is on April 1.
