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Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers Vows to Veto Anti-Trans Legislation
Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers Vows to Veto Anti-Trans Legislation
Lawmakers are considering bills to ban gender-affirming care for youth and bar trans girls and women from female school sports teams.
Wisconsin Democratic Gov. Tony Evers promised again this week to veto any anti-transgender bill that legislators pass.
“We’re going to veto every one of them,” Evers said Wednesday when meeting with opponents of such legislation, the Wisconsin Examinerreports. He received “cheers and applause,” the paper notes.
The governor had also made this vow last week in a social media post, writing, “And my message to LGBTQ folks — especially our trans kids — is this: you are welcome, you are wanted, and you belong here. And I’ll veto any bill that makes Wisconsin a less welcoming, less inclusive, and less safe place for you to be who you are.”
Evers made his Wednesday comment while legislators were hearing testimony on anti-trans bills — one to ban gender-affirming care for trans youth and two that would bar trans girls from competing in girls’ school sports, with one applying to K-12 schools and the other to the University of Wisconsin system and technical colleges. He spoke to the trans-supportive activists in an overflow room where people were lining up for the hearing.
The testimony “ran into the night,” and “lawmakers at times had heated disagreements and attendees were reminded to not make disturbances including clapping or booing or they would be removed,” the Examiner reports.
The gender-affirming care legislation, Assembly Bill 465, would ban the administration of puberty blockers, hormones, or gender-confirming surgeries to minors. Genital surgery, however, is not performed on minors in Wisconsin and is not recommended for them anywhere. If the bill becomes law, doctors could lose their licenses for violation.
State Rep. Scott Allen, a Republican and coauthor of the bill, claimed such care is experimental — which it’s not — and said he values trans Wisconsin residents. But he said the legislation would give young people time to “consider the long-term consequences of gender transition and make an appropriate choice for them when they become a legal adult,” according to the Examiner.
Democratic Rep. Lisa Subeck clapped back at him, The Cap Times reports. “When I want advice about medical care, I’m not coming to any of my colleagues, I’m going to my doctor … to the experts,” Subeck said. “Why do you think you know better than all of these medical professionals?”
Gender-affirming care for trans minors is endorsed by the American Medical Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics, and every other major medical group.
Allen also offered misinformation about a Swedish study of suicide risk among trans people, claiming it showed that gender-affirming care increases this risk, Wisconsin Watchreports. However, the study covered the years 1973 to 2003, when trans people were even more marginalized than they are today and gender-affirming care less widely available. It also did not compare suicide rates of those who’d received the care and those who hadn’t.
Wisconsin residents with trans children spoke up on the topic of suicide. “I have real-life experience with the loss of a loved one through suicide and I would never wish that on anyone, and I also have the lived experience of my son losing all suicidal ideation thanks to him being able to be on puberty blockers,” Dan Werner of Madison said, according to The Cap Times. His transgender son, Charlie, accompanied him to the hearing.
Democratic Rep. Ryan Clancy, who also has a trans son, spoke against the bill as well, notes Substack columnist Erin Reed. “I would call the authors ghouls and empty husks of people, but I won’t, because the authors of this legislation are not in this building, they’re across the U.S.,” he said. He was referring to model bills crafted by the Alliance Defending Freedom and other right-wing groups and adopted by numerous states. “Gender-affirming care saves lives,” he said. “This legislation endangers them.” He called AB 465 an “absolutely garbage bill” and added, “The idea that the science is not settled on this is, frankly, bullshit.”
Republican Rep. Barbara Dittrich, a coauthor of the sports bills, testified that her legislation is “not a matter of transphobia or hate” but of fairness — a remark that drew laughs, the Examiner reports. “There’s a whole army of women in Wisconsin sports that are fed up with giving their titles and awards to those who were born biological males,” she said, mentioning former University of Pennsylvania swimmer Lia Thomas, a trans woman. However, trans women account for only a small number of elite athletes, and they don’t dominate women’s sports.
The Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association, which regulates high school sports, has stated its opposition to restrictions on trans girls, noting that it already has a policy requiring trans girls to have had testosterone suppression treatment for a year before they can compete on girls’ teams. The association has “received no complaints, only a small number of concerns” about the policy, spokesman Todd Clark told The Cap Times via email.
“While the WIAA staff and the member schools encourage thoughtful and open dialogue on how to improve policies, we do not support a legislative end-run around membership processes,” Clark wrote.
Twenty-three states restrict trans athletes' participation in school sports, and 21 ban all or most gender-affirming care for trans youth, according to the Movement Advancement Project.
Pictured: Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers and young volleyball players
