OAN Staff James Meyers
11:13 AM – Tuesday, February 25, 2025
Wisconsin’s Democrat governor is facing criticism after defending a proposal to alter gendered terminology into more “inclusive” terms, such as referring to mothers as “inseminated persons” and referring to paternity as “parentage” — in certain areas of state law.
Tony Evers’ (D-Wis.) administration budget recommendation for the 2025-2027 fiscal period calls for other gendered terms to be changed as well, which includes the terms “wife” or “husband” being changed to “spouse.”
The recommendations also calls for the term “father” to be changed to “parent,” and “mother” to be replaced with the phrase “parent who gave birth to the child.”
The budget was introduced on Tuesday by the state Senate’s Joint Committee on Finance.
Wisconsin radio host Dan O’Donnell noted the language change in a post on X, calling it “beyond parody.” Senator Mike Lee, (R-Utah), quickly commented on the post as well, responding: “red flag!”
Additionally, in response, the Republican Governors Association (RGA) issued a statement in relation to the language modifications.
Evers’ “latest left-wing push” is extremely “offensive to mothers,” RGA executive director Sara Craig declared. “Being a mother is the greatest privilege I will have in my lifetime, and every mother I know feels the same. If Tony Evers can reduce motherhood to an ‘inseminated person’ then our society is lost.”
Wisconsin Senate President Mary Felzkowski also slammed the move, asserting that it is a “disgusting” attempt by Democrats to “erase women, the institution of marriage, and the family unit.”
“It is disgusting to see the Evers Administration’s attempt to erase mothers and fathers,” Ms. Felzkowski said Monday in a statement. “It is becoming clear the governor not only wants the government to raise children, as we learned in the State of the State address, but that he wants to erase the concept of ’mom and dad’ altogether.”
Meanwhile, other critics accused the governor of seeking to hide the politicized changes by putting them in without comment into the massive 2025-2027 biennial budget message.
“Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers is trying to change state law to replace the term ’mother’ with ’inseminated person,’” Rep. Tom Tiffany, Wisconsin Republican, posted on X. “He is attempting to sneak it into a thousand-page budget bill. This isn’t just crazy — it’s an insult to women who give birth and raise children.”
The move also comes as a sort of cultural battle over gendered language — a topic that has been debated over the last few years.
After taking back the White House, President Donald Trump issued an executive order called “Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government.”
In the order, President Trump makes it official government policy “to recognize two sexes, male and female,” saying they are “not changeable and are grounded in fundamental and incontrovertible reality.” The order also explicitly states that “’sex’ is not a synonym for and does not include the concept of ‘gender ideology.’”
In early February, Trump also signed another executive order, called the “Keeping Men out of Women’s Sports.” The order is in place to keep biological males from competing in women’s sports and on female sports teams.
Last Friday, the 47th president threatened Democrat Governor Janet Mills (D-Me.), saying he will pull federal funding if her state does not comply with his executive order. The exchange went viral, with both telling one another they would see each other in court.
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