The Wisconsin State Assembly will vote this week on bills banning gender transition medical interventions for children and barring men from competing in women's sports.
The Thursday votes come after protests and public testimony last week in Madison ahead of the consideration of the bills.
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One bill would ban doctors from prescribing puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and gender transition surgeries to children, while another would disallow students of the opposite sex competing in sex-specific sports in high school and college.
“Children who struggle with gender identity deserve help, not harm. The current process of puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and surgery are harmful and irreversible. Children should not be rushed into this process," Republican state Rep. Scott Allen, author of the gender transition bill, said in a press release. “Despite what opponents of this bill claim, there are no long-term studies that show how these irreversible procedures actually help, while there is plenty of evidence and stories that speak of their harm."
Republicans in the state argue the bills would protect women's sports and ensure the safety of children from going down an irreversible path of transition, a model of care that has been receiving significant skepticism from many Western countries due to its experimental nature, lack of evidence, and safety concerns.
Despite the concerns, advocates at the capital cited many American medical organizations that both oppose the bills and push heavily for child gender transition.
"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,” Democratic state Rep. Lisa Subeck said. “Why do you think you know better than all of these medical professionals?”
Backers of the ban in Wisconsin argue that American medical professionals are both ideologically and monetarily driven in their push to transition children while at the same time suppressing studies of the regret rate of patients who go down the path. Transgender advocates have downplayed the experiences of detransitioners such as Chloe Cole who maintain doctors coerced her and her parents into transition, threatening her own suicide.
“To suggest that there should be no one outside of the medical industrial complex that should weigh in on matters that affect our young people is in my estimation bordering on absurd,” Allen told Subeck in response.
Gov. Tony Evers (D-WI) vowed to veto the bills if they get to his desk, saying, “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.”
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Although Republicans hold a majority in both legislative houses, there is likely not enough support to overcome the Badger State's two-thirds supermajority in both houses for an override. While Republicans do hold 22 out of the state Senate's 33 seats, it is two members short of a supermajority in the Assembly, holding 64 out of 99 seats.
Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) also added her voice in opposition to the bills, writing on X, "Trans kids deserve to feel safe and welcome in Wisconsin, not discriminated against. They deserve the freedom to just be kids, play sports, and get the health care they need, all without politicians butting in."