We are 'codifying discrimination against a class of people'
The Democrats repeatedly expressed concern about the enforcement of these policies and warned against the health dangers trans students face when they are actively discriminated against.
Despite personal stories and the urgent testimony of clergy, medical professionals, educators and counselors, the GOP-majority state assembly passed four bills placing restrictions on the transgender community last week. Two would keep trans kids from joining women’s sports teams, another would prevent minors from accessing gender-affirming medical care and a fourth would require parents’ permission for a student to go by different names or pronouns.
“We are actually being asked to carve out an exception to anti-discrimination law,” said State Representative Angela Stroud in denouncing the bills. “We would be, for the first time in the modern civil rights era, legally codifying discrimination against a class of people.”
The four bills racked up close to 24 hours of testimony in three separate public hearings, much of it coming from the transgender community.
AB100 would prohibit transgender women from participating in women’s sports in the K-12 system while AB102 accomplishes the same thing at the college level. Republicans held tight to a recurring example of a “6-foot-something, 200-plus pound male” physically dominating in women’s sports, though the instances of anything like that happening are extraordinarily rare.
Representative Dave Murphy suggested that it is a question of biology, “not a question of how somebody feels who they are”.
Representative Joy Goeben refused to honor the gender identification of one trans person and “dead-named” an athlete by saying, “Aiden is a 10th-grade male who has chosen to be a female, to be named as Ada, but despite what he feels, he ran that event as Aiden, a 10th-grade boy.” Dead-naming is the act of using a transgender person’s previous name and not their preferred one.
When a Democrat representative introduced himself and their preferred pronouns, some Republicans could be heard chuckling.
Assembly Speaker Robin Vos refused to acknowledge the representative’s pronouns, calling it “unnecessary” and accusing the Democrats of virtue-signalling.
The Democrats repeatedly expressed concern about the enforcement of these policies. Representative Francesca Hong called it “dangerous gender policing,” while Representative Angela Cruz warned against the health dangers trans students face when they are not supported or when they are actively discriminated against.
Kids need a safe space, Dems argue
AB103 requires a legal name change and permission from parents (or legal guardians) for a student to use a name or pronouns that do not match their official school record. This bill, Democrats argued, undermines the trust between a student and their teacher or counselor, forcing those trusted adults to choose between denying the child’s request to be called by a different name and/or pronoun, or outing that child to their parents. They reiterated the importance of that safe space and the role those trusted adults play in a student’s life.
State Rep. Lee Snodgrass issued her support for the trans community in a 2023 video.
“All kids need a village to learn how to communicate their questions and thoughts and explore who they want to be,” pleaded Representative Ann Roe.
Calling back to the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s, Representative Supreme Moore Omokunde reminded the floor that many African Americans, including his own father, chose to take on names that identified with the lands from which they were kidnapped and human trafficked.
“They all wanted the opportunity to define themselves in perhaps the most cardinal way possible when they shrugged off a name that no longer spoke to who they were,” Omokunde said.
Over and over again, Democrats said the assembly should focus on education-related issues; mental health resources; school funding and school meals and called the bills political gamesmanship during a Supreme Court election.
Democrats shared personal stories of their loved ones, and from constituents, about the life- changing and sometimes life-saving gender-affirming care they received.
“Through this bill politicians are aiming to substitute their judgement ahead of the judgement of physicians and patients, and in this case because we’re talking about kids, folks who are under 18, the judgement of their families and their mental health providers,” declared Representative Lisa Subeck.
A recent Trevor Project survey revealed that nearly 46 percent of trans people have had suicidal ideation and that number goes up any time anti-trans legislation is introduced. But Representative Shae Sortwell seemed entirely unmoved by the testimony, choosing instead to tout his own Christian zeal.
“They don’t need the lie from the woke left that they will be happier if they mutilate their bodies,” he said. “They need to understand who they are before the Almighty.”
All four bills passed the Assembly and will now go to the Senate for public hearings. Governor Evers has previously vetoed these bills, and likely will again. The Governor has pledged his support for the LGBTQ community and has said that he will not pass any laws that would make life harder for those individuals in the State of Wisconsin.
