Wisconsin Assembly to take up transgender youth bills

MADISON — The state Assembly is set to vote Thursday on bills that would ban gender-transition treatment for minors and prohibit transgender women and girls from competing on women's sports teams, following party-line committee votes this week.

The bills are moving quickly, hitting the Assembly floor a week after heated public hearings that drew hundreds to the Capitol. They were listed on a proposed Assembly calendar released late last week.

At the hearings, 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.

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.

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 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."

Republican lawmakers reintroduced two bills that 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. The same two bills passed the Assembly in 2021 on party line votes, but the full Senate never voted on the measures.

"We're not here to traumatize anyone. We're here to create space for everyone," said Republican Rep. Barbara Dittrich of Oconomowoc, an author of the bills, during a hearing last week. "Having worked all those years as a female athlete to get to your top spot, and you're unseated by a biological male, there's trauma involved with that, too."

Dittrich has suggested having schools create co-ed teams to allow trans students to participate in sports.

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.

A third 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.

Health care providers currently require parental consent before gender-affirming care can proceed for children under the age of 18.

There are about a dozen organizations registered in opposition to the bill. A coalition of medical groups composed of the Children's Hospital of Wisconsin, the Wisconsin Medical Society, the Wisconsin chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics, the Medical College of Wisconsin, UW Health and the Wisconsin section of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists urged lawmakers to vote against the proposal, saying it would "restrict access to gender affirming care that is safe, effective and medically necessary."

"Removing the ability for youth and their families to access this affirming care in Wisconsin will negatively impact these young people’s well-being," a coalition of health care groups wrote in a joint statement.

Democratic Gov. Tony Evers has pledged to veto measures that put restrictions on LGBTQ individuals in Wisconsin.

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: GOP transgender youth bills are scheduled for a vote