Wisconsin Assembly passes transgender girls high school sports ban; Gov. Tony Evers promises to veto the Republican-backed bill

MADISON - Assembly Republicans passed legislation Thursday that would ban transgender girls and women from competing on high school and college women's sports teams and bar doctors from providing gender-transition treatment for minors.

Lawmakers approved the three bills in a 63-35 vote, with all Democrats voting against the measures and nearly all Republicans voting for the measures.

Rep. Todd Novak, R-Dodgeville, was absent Thursday and did not vote but told Channel 3000 he would have joined Republicans in supporting the measures.

The bills are moving quickly, hitting the Assembly floor a week after heated public hearings that drew hundreds to the Capitol.

Gov. Tony Evers plans to veto transgender bills; Robin Vos says Republican lawmakers think legislation is 'right thing for Wisconsin'

Democratic Gov. Tony Evers has promised to veto the bills. Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, R-Rochester, told reporters the Assembly is pursuing the legislation anyway because Republican lawmakers "think they're the right thing to do for Wisconsin" and suggested the opinions of medical experts will change.

"If you go back in history, the way to treat mental illness 50 to 100 years ago was a lobotomy. And at the time that was settled science, that's just the way it was supposed to be," Vos said.

"That was just the way it was supposed to be. We can go back to example after example after example where the human mind has been opened to say there are different ways of doing things and it shouldn’t necessarily be a one-size-fits-all solution because we have settled science.”

Democrats pushed back on Vos' claims during an Assembly floor session Thursday and said allowing transgender athletes to compete in sports that match their gender fosters acceptance and belonging.

"The fact that legislators are creating an environment that pushes specific groups of children out of existence and sports teams in service to a political agenda is objectively terrible, it's discriminatory and it's cruel," said Rep. Lee Snodgrass, D-Appleton.

One bill would bar health care providers from conducting or making referrals for certain medical practices to help minors transition. No criminal penalties are outlined in the legislation, but violations would result in a mandatory license revocation.

Experts say that receiving gender-affirming care — the social, psychological and medical support that people receive when their gender identity does not match their sex assigned at birth — is crucial in supporting mental health for transgender people.

Republican proposals would harm transgender and nonbinary youth, LGBTQ community says

At the Capitol hearings, advocates representing the LGBTQ community testified that the proposals would harm transgender and nonbinary youth in Wisconsin and worsen the mental health challenges and stigma they face.

Republicans argued the bills would ensure competitiveness in women's sports and prevent transgender individuals from regretting medical procedures — though reviews of research find regretting a gender transition is uncommon.

GOP lawmakers made similar remarks during Thursday's floor session.

"Men have major physical advantages. They're bigger, they're stronger, they're faster," said Rep. Joel Kitchens, R-Sturgeon Bay. "Title IX was created so that women can have the same access to the same advantages, the same character building that takes place [in sports] that men always have experienced."

In a letter circulated last week, state 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 seriously considered attempting suicide and nearly a quarter attempted to take their own life.

"Let’s show respect to every single individual in the state, let’s stop interfering with their access to the medical care that they need," Rep. Lisa Subeck, D-Madison, said earlier this week before voting against one of the bills in committee. "It’s time to stop pretending that politicians know better than physicians and know better than the experts. We don’t."

WIAA opposes Republican bill that looks to ban transgender girls from competing in sports designated for women

Two of the bills, which would ban transgender girls and women attending publicly-funded K-12 schools, University of Wisconsin System campuses and state technical colleges from competing in sports designated for women, were also introduced in 2021. The bills passed the Assembly on party line votes, but the full Senate never voted on the measures.

The Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association opposes the policy, and UW-Madison officials previously warned that the university's teams would be out of compliance with NCAA policies if the legislation is enacted.

Molly Beck and Tyler Katzenberger can be reached at molly.beck@jrn.com and tkatzenberger@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Wisconsin Assembly passes transgender girls high school sports ban