Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway alongside other Wisconsinites at a city celebration for Transgender Day of Visibility. Photo by Baylor Spears/Wisconsin Examiner.

Wisconsin Democrats and city of Madison leaders recognized transgender visibility day in Wisconsin Monday, introducing legislation that would provide protections for people and raising the transgender pride flag. 

This year’s International Transgender Day of Visibility comes amid a political environment in which trans people have been targeted by new proposed federal and state restrictions. Wisconsin Republican lawmakers spent significant time in March on a slate of bills focused on transgender kids and would have limited their ability to play sports, access gender affirming medical care and change their names and pronouns in school. The bills are among more than 800 anti-trans bills that have been introduced nationwide this year.

Participants in the Madison celebrations said the point of the day was not to focus on the negative and harmful actions being taken, however, but to focus instead on the positive experiences of being transgender. 

Sen. Melissa Ratcliff (D-Cottage Grove), co-chair of the Transgender Parent and Nonbinary Advocacy Caucus, said during a press conference that the purpose of the day is to “elevate the voices of our trans and non-binary communities, emphasize the joy of living life as your authentic self and to visualize the world in which all our trans and non-binary children, co-workers, neighbors, parents and elected officials throughout Wisconsin and the world are loved, accepted and safe.”

Democrats holding the press conference proposed a handful of bills. One would extend Wisconsin’s nondiscrimination laws to include transgender and nonbinary people by prohibiting discrimination on the basis of gender identity or gender expression.

Another bill would create an exception to current law for those seeking a name change for gender identity reasons. Under the current state statute people seeking a name change petition must publish notice of their petition in a local newspaper, including in the area where the petition will be heard, once per week for three consecutive weeks before they may petition the court.

A third bill would declare March 31, 2025 as Transgender Day of Visibility in Wisconsin and recognizes the achievements of several transgender people and organizations who have made contributions to Wisconsin.

In addition to the bills, Gov. Tony Evers, who has committed to vetoing any anti-trans legislation that makes it to his desk, signed a proclamation declaring Monday Transgender Day of Visibility.

Rep. Christian Phelps (D-Eau Claire) said the bills are important because lawmakers need to send a positive message to young Wisconsinites who may be paying attention. He said that when he was young he remembers feeling discouraged as a gay teen when the state passed a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage. 

“Thirteen-year-olds across Wisconsin are listening to political actions and messages that are being sent out of the Capitol,” Phelps said, adding that children should know there are elected officials and allies and leaders who are fighting for transgender, non-binary and gender-expansive people of all ages across Wisconsin.

“That’s the message that we want people to take out of the Capitol and into their communities and to see [protections] passed in the state law as well,” Phelps said. 

When asked about plans to discuss the legislation with Republicans and the potential for garnering support across the aisle to pass any of the bills, the lawmakers sounded doubtful. Republicans hold majorities in the Assembly and Senate and support from them would be necessary for any of the Democratic legislation to be taken up.

“I don’t think they will sign on to this legislation. I certainly wish that they would take a look at it and hear our voices here today and see the love and support of so many community members,” Sen. Melissa Ratcliff (D-Cottage Grove) said. 

Clancy called it a “valid question” that Democrats get every time they hold a press conference. 

“Will Republicans sign on to this? And every time the answer is somewhat the same…,” Clancy said. “Republicans, two weeks ago, sat on the floor of the Assembly just feet from here for hours. They said that trans people should not exist, should not have basic rights. They have had the opportunity to weigh in on this, and I would welcome any of them moving across the aisle, breaking ranks from their, frankly, hateful leadership and joining in on these things.” 

The city of Madison also recognized Transgender Visibility Day by raising the transgender pride flag outside of the city municipal building.

Mayor Satya Rhodes Conway said the city was raising the flag to celebrate trans people, because the city respects individual rights and “rejects hate.” 

“The safety and the livelihoods of trans people are being threatened, and the issue of the fact of trans people is being used to divide our country in a hateful and really disappointing way, but here in Madison, we refuse to go backwards, and we refuse to let hate divide.” 

Asked about communicating the message of acceptance to those who disagree, Rhodes-Conway said that she thinks it’s important people recognize that diversity makes the Madison community stronger and invited people to “learn about the things that maybe make them nervous or scared and to be a part of the incredible diversity.” 

Rhodes-Conway also urged people to educate themselves.

“Folks can educate themselves and each other and a lot of the fear and resistance comes from lack of knowing, and so I just encourage people — there’s a lot of resources,” Rhodes-Conway said. “Please don’t ask the trans people in your lives to educate you. There’s a lot of resources out there and our libraries, our fantastic resources, and people can educate themselves about the history.”

Dina Nina Martinez-Rutherford, the first out transgender member of the Madison Common Council, said that transgender people are all “part of an unbroken legacy of resilience” and “authenticity.” 

Martinez-Rutherford said that she never expected to feel “so much love and community” when first elected in 2023 and never expected when she first started transitioning in 2007 to be in a position to advocate for people. 

“We raise the transgender flag today for it to be a symbol that Madison is welcoming and that you belong here,” Martinez-Rutherford said. “Let it be a beacon of hope, a reminder that we will not be erased.”

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The late Jonathan Brostoff, photographed during his time as a state representative in the Wisconsin Assembly. The Assembly and state Senate approved a resolution in Brostoff's memory March 18, 2025. (Photo by Greg Anderson)

Editor’s note: If you or someone you know is contemplating suicide, call or text 988 or chat 988lifeline.org.

On a day of contentious legislative debates and an annual ceremonial custom to recognize Wisconsin’s tribal communities, members of the Wisconsin Legislature united to remember a former colleague this week.

More than one lawmaker made clear it was an event they fervently wished would not have been necessary.

Former State Rep. Jonathan Brostoff took his own life on Nov. 4, 2024, with a gun he had purchased just an hour earlier. He was 41 years old. Brostoff served in the Assembly for eight years, leaving in 2022 after he was elected to the Milwaukee Common Council. 

Tuesday, the Wisconsin Assembly and Senate each voted unanimously to pass a resolution in Brostoff’s memory. The votes were cast in each chamber in a two-part secular memorial service of sorts, with heartfelt eulogies from Brostoff’s former colleagues. Many wore green ribbons in recognition of mental health awareness.

“Jonathan was well known for his honesty,” said Assembly Minority Leader Greta Neubauer. “He never held back if he thought we were heading in the wrong direction or missing something important — often crossing his eyes and staring you down. With Jonathan, you always knew where you stood, and he helped us grow as a caucus and as individual legislators.”

Sign language bill

One story was told repeatedly: Brostoff’s campaign to pass a bill that would tighten state standards for American Sign Language interpreters. The legislation established a tiered licensing system to ensure that people interpreting between doctors and patients or lawyers and clients had a higher level of skill, Brostoff said at the time.

Frustrated when the legislation stalled, he vowed not to cut his hair until it was signed into law. In an April 2019 Wisconsin Public Television interview, Brostoff — who normally favored a close-cropped cut — sported a curly afro that surrounded his face.

It wasn’t a protest, exactly, he told interviewer Frederica Freyberg. “Especially for the deaf community, it’s a visual indicator saying I’m with you and we’re not going to stop until we get this done,” Brostoff said.

“I would send him pictures of Richard Simmons,” Rep. Lisa Subeck said on the Assembly floor Tuesday. “He sent me back pictures of Bob Ross.”

Gov. Tony Evers signed the bill in July 2019. Sen. Dianne Hesselbein was a member of the Assembly at the time. In the Senate Tuesday, she recalled Brostoff’s Assembly floor speech on the day the measure finally passed.

“He signed the entire thing, and it was long, and he could do sign language of the entire thing without looking at notes,” Hesselbein said. “He knew what he wanted to say, and he was careful, and there was silence, absolute silence and respect.”

Colleagues described the diminutive Brostoff as intense, funny, passionate about causes and smitten with his four children.

In the Assembly, Rep. Jodi Emerson recalled hearing Brostoff break into the “Itsy bitsy spider” song while changing a diaper in the midst of one of their phone calls discussing their work in the Capitol.

Those phone calls were a regular feature of her drives home to Eau Claire from Madison at the end of a busy week in the Capitol. She said she spoke before Tuesday’s session with Brostoff’s father about those calls.

“I was thinking about that last week, and really wish I would have been able to talk to Jonathan last week,” Emerson said. “I had my own version of a conversation with him,” she added wistfully, “but the reception wasn’t clear from wherever he was.”

Passion and compassion

Brostoff was first elected to the Assembly in 2014. Rep. Christine Sinicki related a memory from Brostoff’s campaign that year. She had not endorsed him in the four-way Democratic primary, and at a neighborhood parade both attended that summer, a Brostoff volunteer sidled up to her and made a “snide remark,” she said.

“I went over to Jonathan and I said, ‘I really did not appreciate that.’ The next day, that volunteer was at my door, apologizing,” Sinicki recalled. “That was the kind of man that Jonathan was. He had so much integrity.”

Rep. Supreme Moore Omokunde, who met Brostoff when both were at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, nicknamed him “JoBro.” But Brostoff had his own self-applied nickname: Honey Badger, after a viral YouTube video and internet meme — “Honey Badger Don’t Care.”

“He’s getting into like, messing with bees and snakes and all types of things, because Honey Badger don’t care and he’s gonna do what he wants to do anyway. That’s Jonathan Brostoff,” Omokunde said.

Brostoff was passionate about the causes he adopted, his colleagues agreed.

Omokunde referred to a comment moments earlier, when Subeck “called him tenacious.” He paused. “However, let’s be honest,” he continued. “Jonathan was annoying … and everybody in this body who ever came across him knows he was annoying.”

Affectionate laughter greeted his candor.

“Sometimes he could make me crazy,” Sinicki said. “That’s only because he had such passion and such conviction for the things that he wanted that nothing was going to change his mind, nothing at all.”

For all his fervor as a Democratic lawmaker, Brostoff endeared himself to Republican colleagues.

GOP Rep. Paul Tittl found Brostoff, who was Jewish, to be “a deeply spiritual person” who asked to attend a regular Capitol Bible study that Republican lawmakers, all Christian, organized. “He always added to the  conversation.”

In the Senate, Sen. Andre Jacque recalled both Brostoff’s participation in the Bible study program as well as his enthusiasm for the gaming community. “One thing that always struck me about Jonathan is that he was somebody who was unafraid to put himself out there and have conversations,” Jacque said. “I’m going to miss him.”

Vetting candidates and repairing the world

Brostoff took it upon himself to vet prospective candidates.

One was Rep. Robyn Vining, ahead of her first election to the Assembly in 2018. At a Colectivo Coffee near UWM, “Jonathan grilled me with questions, and was very clear on his priorities,” Vining said. “He was also very clear that he would not be supporting me if I did not pass his test.”

They talked. “What I didn’t realize was that after I did pass that test, Jonathan was going to jump on board and fight for me, which is exactly what he did,” Vining said. “We finished my vetting, and he said, ‘OK, let’s go knock some doors.’”

First-term Rep. Sequanna Taylor was another such candidate. Friends from before she decided to run for the Assembly, she and Brostoff and their families were dining together early in her campaign.  

“In the middle of him eating, he was like, ‘Give me your spiel,’” Taylor said. She was caught off guard, but he persisted.

“And so, you know, I went into my little spiel, and he took a moment and he looked at me. He was like, ‘You’ll be good,’” she said. “Then he was like, ‘Next time somebody asks you this, though, I want you to be able to say this in 30 seconds flat.’”

Brostoff was always straightforward, Taylor said. “You never had to worry about a gray area with JoBro, because there was no gray area with him.”

Sen. LaTonya Johnson recalled a riot in Milwaukee’s Sherman Park neighborhood, part of her district, after an officer-involved shooting 10 years ago. She was visiting the scene the second night of unrest — “I was not brave enough to go that first night,” she confessed — when Brostoff showed up with big packs of chewing gum.

“This is de-escalation gum,” Johnson recalled him saying. She was skeptical, “but lo and behold the longer we were out there, when things became confrontational, Jonathan would walk up and he said, ‘You want gum?’ And people would stop, and they would take it.” And, she said, it helped redirect people’s attention.

Subeck said she and Brostoff were two of three Jewish members of the Assembly when they both took office in 2015. She described the Jewish value of Tikkun Olam, to repair the world.

“This is a concept that is built on our guiding principles of social justice, of making the world a better place, of taking care of our world and taking care of its people,” Subeck said. “And Jonathan, more than just about anybody else I know, lived up to that principle.”

Acknowledging struggles, seeking change

Brostoff was candid about his own mental health history, Subeck added. “He brought his own struggles, and he shared his very personal struggles with all of us here in the Legislature, and I believe that they made me, and hopefully made many of you, a better legislator.”

There were also calls to address directly how Brostoff’s life had ended.

“I hope that we will recommit ourselves to preventing needless deaths in this state and to doing what Jonathan would want us to do, and enacting policies that will save other lives, even though we are too late to save his,” said Sen. Mark Spreitzer. “I will miss my friend Jonathan Brostoff, may his memory be a blessing.”

“Jonathan’s story is one that too many Wisconsin families know the pain of,” said Sen. Jodi Habush Sinykin. “In 2022 alone, 530 Wisconsinites died by suicide with firearms.”

Habush Sinykin read to her colleagues a statement from Brostoff’s widow, Diana Vang-Brostoff, and his parents, Alan and Phyllis Brostoff. Earlier, Rep. Deb Andraca read the same statement in the Assembly.

“Once again, we want to thank the Wisconsin Legislature for today honoring the memory of our husband and son,” the statement began.

Their statement recounted the circumstances of Brostoff’s death as well as a commentary Brostoff wrote in October 2019 that was published in the Wisconsin State Journal and Urban Milwaukee about his failed suicide attempts as a teenager. Brostoff had just served on a Legislature task force on suicide prevention. 

They quoted Brostoff’s column, in which he wrote that access to a firearm for someone contemplating suicide “is like having your own personal permanent delete button.” In the essay he had acknowledged that if had had access to a gun at the time of those teenage attempts to kill himself, “I would not be here today.”

“Our family believes that had Jonathan been required to wait perhaps a day or two or any amount of time after entering that gun store last November to make that purchase, his life may have been spared,” their statement concluded.

“And so now, in the interest of saving other lives at risk for mental health issues, domestic violence or other circumstances, it is our hope that you find the collective will to reinstate a reasonable waiting period for finalizing gun purchases. Doing that would enhance your thoughtful and kind honoring of his memory today.”

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Transgender flags being held by people during a demonstration. (Getty Images)

Republican and Democratic lawmakers engaged in heated back and forth during a Wednesday hearing on a bill that would ban gender-affirming medical care for Wisconsin youth.

The bill is among an increasing number of anti-trans bills being introduced across the country, and it’s the fourth bill related to transgender youth to get a hearing in the Wisconsin Assembly in the last two weeks.

According to the Trans Legislation Tracker, 738 bills have been introduced across the country in 2025. The increase in bills comes as President Donald Trump has signed a series of executive orders that target transgender people as well as gender-affirming care. 

Bill authors Sen. Cory Tomczyk (R-Mosinee) and Rep. Scott Allen (R-Waukesha) said they just want to “protect” children.  

“I am not here to tell any adult what he or she should do with his or her own body,” Tomczyk said. “A person who is 18 years of age or older has the ability to get a tattoo, get married, buy a gun, serve his or her country… without receiving permission from someone else. Getting irreversible gender reassignment surgery is another one of those things.”

The bill — AB 104 — would ban gender-affirming care for people under the age of 18. It would prohibit health care providers from engaging in or making referrals for medical intervention “if done for the purpose of changing the minor’s body to correspond to a sex that is discordant with the minor’s biological sex,” including prescribing puberty-blocking drugs or gender-affirming surgery for minors.

The bill includes a handful of exceptions — including if a “health care provider is providing a service in accordance with a good faith medical decision of a parent or guardian of a minor born with a medically verifiable genetic disorder of sex development” — but is otherwise a general ban on the care.

Under the bill, health care providers could be investigated if there are allegations that they have provided this type of care to a minor and could have their licenses revoked by the Board of Nursing, the Medical Examining Board or the Physician Assistant Affiliated Credentialing Board if the investigation finds that they did. 

Tomczyk said he wasn’t introducing the bill to “demonize” the transgender community — a comment that received groans and pushback from others at the hearing. “But as you can hear from the reaction from the gallery, I’m going to be accused of that.”

“Boo! Ridiculous!” one person called out after his testimony.

Committee chair Rep. Clint Moses (R-Menomonie) tried to keep the room calm — telling people not to jeer or boo or hold up signs. Throughout the hearing, he had a couple of people removed from the room by police.

Democratic lawmakers sharply criticized the bill, saying lawmakers did not have the experience or medical knowledge to interfere with decisions being made by families and medical providers and were causing harm by introducing the legislation.

“Do any of you have any training or background in the medical field, practitioners or have other training that I might not be aware of?” Rep. Lisa Subeck (D-Madison) asked the authors.

“I find the question irrelevant,” Allen said. 

“I just have a degree in common sense,” Tomczyk quipped. 

“Knowing that physicians follow what is considered the standard of care and that is set forth by organizations like the American Academy of Pediatrics … why is it that on this particular issue we should substitute the judgment of legislators for the judgement of physicians and families?” Subeck asked. 

“Did you listen to my testimony?” Tomczyck said. “I think we have a responsibility to protect these children under 18 and let them get to 18 to the point where legally they can then make that decision.”

According to KFF, receiving gender-affirming care is a lengthy, meticulous process, and for those under 18, decisions in the process are made with the input of the child, their families and health care providers, including mental health providers. Gender-affirming medical care before 18 mostly focuses on pubertal suppression or hormone therapy.

Surgeries are rare for those under 18. UW Health does not perform genital surgery on transgender girls or boys under 18. UW Health may consider performing chest masculinization, or “top,” surgery for patients under 18 “only after multidisciplinary evaluation, a letter of support from your mental health provider and with informed consent from all legal guardians,” according to a Wisconsin Watch report. 

A 2024 study published by JAMA Network found that transgender teenagers who have pursued medical interventions, including puberty blockers and hormones, have high levels of satisfaction and low levels of regret, with an overwhelming majority — 97% — continuing to access gender-affirming medical care.

Rep. Renuka Mayadev (D-Madison) asked lawmakers why they aren’t trying to solve any real problems and noted that the bill could contribute to increased hate towards transgender people. She pointed to  the case of Sam Nordquist, a 24-year-old transgender man from Minnesota recently killed in New York. 

“There’s a transgender man, who was tortured and assaulted and beaten to death. He was beaten because of the hate that people have, and I want to know why aren’t we protecting people like Sam?” Mayadev asked. “[The bill] is not solving any problems. It’s meddling in the patient, doctor relationship.” 

The lawmakers asked if the crime happened in Wisconsin and noted that it happened to an adult and they are focused on children. 

This is the third time the legislation has been introduced. Last session, a similar bill was vetoed by Gov. Tony Evers, who then vowed to reject any further legislation targeting LGBTQ+ youth.

Allen said he expects “victory” for the bill, saying that public opinion can change over time. 

“I’ve seen bills in the body — session after session after session after session — where the author refuses to give up because they believe that it’s a good idea,” Allen said. “I think that’s our responsibility as legislators, to represent our constituency and advocate for what we think is the right thing. We may not have popular opinion on our side, not at some point in time maybe we will.”

Allen said that the idea for the policy came from the Family Policy Alliance, a conservative Christian organization that has advocated for anti-trans legislation across the country.

Some of those that testified in favor of the bill included Do No Harm, a lobbying group that opposes gender-affirming medical care as well as diversity, equity and inclusion, Moms For Liberty, Wisconsin Family Action and Gays Against Groomers.

Groups registered against the bill include the American Civil Liberties Union of Wisconsin Inc, Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin, Fair Wisconsin Inc., Medical College of Wisconsin, Pharmacy Society of Wisconsin, Planned Parenthood Advocates of Wisconsin, Wisconsin Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics, Wisconsin Coalition Against Sexual Assault, Wisconsin Council of Churches and the Wisconsin Medical Society.

Sen. Mark Spreitzer (D-Beloit) and Sen. Melissa Ratcliff (D-Cottage Grove) called the bill “cruel” and said it would take the state backwards in time. Ratcliff, whose son is trans, said that he “would not be the thriving adult he is today without having the access to the care that allowed him to live his life as his authentic self.” 

“Why we would want to take away a parent’s ability to provide their children with life-saving care and also restrict their ability to access information to help their child be healthy and happy — it’s beyond me,” Ratcliff said. 

Spreitzer noted that the bill is part of a package of bills that have received hearings this week and last that are “attempting to roll back that progress to make it harder for transgender young people to grow into flourishing transgender adults.” 

Spreitzer said the bill is not going to become law, but just talking about the bill will have negative effects for some people’s mental health.

In a recent survey of 358 Wisconsin LGBTQ+ youths by the Trevor Project, participants reported significant mental health struggles. About 39% of LGBTQ+ youth surveyed reporting seriously considering suicide, including 44% of transgender and nonbinary youth, and 12% reporting a suicide attempt. In addition, 63% of LGBTQ+ surveyed reported experiencing symptoms of anxiety.

“Not everybody’s going to get that message [that the bill won’t become law],” Spreitzer said. “People are going to be afraid that they are going to lose access to care.” He added that Children’s Wisconsin in Milwaukee recently canceled and then rescheduled some appointments after Trump’s executive order. “This bill only adds to that… It creates a climate of fear.”

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The Progress Pride Flag flies over the Wisconsin Capitol in June 2023. Wisconsin lawmakers held a hearing Thursday on two bills that would limit the rights of trans and non-binary people under the age of 18.. (Photo by Henry Redman/Wisconsin Examiner)miner)

Two controversial bills that target transgender youth in schools, one dictating how school districts handle name and pronoun changes and the other banning transgender students from sports teams that align with their gender identity, received vast opposition at a public hearing Thursday.

The first bill — AB 103 — would require districts to implement policies stating that parents determine the names and pronouns used by school staff and requiring a parent’s written authorization for school employees to use something different. It includes one exception: if a nickname is a shortened version of a student’s legal first or middle name.

Rep. Barbara Dittrich (R-Oconomowoc) told the Assembly Education Committee that the bill is another way to unite parents and their children. Dittrich and coauthor Sen. Andre Jacque (R-New Franken) said the bill is modeled after a policy implemented at Arrowhead High School in 2022. 

“Set aside whether or not you think a child should change their name or socially transition at school age, in our schools, we don’t allow our kids to take a Tylenol without permission from parents. We don’t allow them to go on a field trip without permission from parents. We don’t allow their pictures to be shared without permission from parents,” Dittrich said. “A major life choice — and transitioning and changing your name, it is a major life choice — is something parents should be involved in.”

Dittrich said there should be a legal document affirming that parents approve any changes.

Democrats expressed their opposition to the bill. Rep. Francesca Hong (D-Madison) said she was concerned about the bill being a “copy and paste” of one local school district’s policy and being applied statewide. 

Rep. Christian Phelps (D-Eau Claire) asked how many transgender people Dittrich consulted in drafting the bill. She said she spoke with none. 

“This is a parent’s rights bill. The parent is the legal guardian, therefore, I did not consult anyone who’s trans,” Dittrich said.

Sen. Mark Spreitzer (D-Beloit), leader of the LGBTQ+ caucus, and Sen. Melissa Ratcliff (D-Cottage Grove), leader of the Transgender Parent and Non-Binary Advocacy caucus, both testified at the hearing. The bill is “cruel, discriminatory, and inhumane,” said Ratcliff, who is the parent of a transgender child.

“It incentivizes persistent mistreatment of not just transgender and non-binary children, but all children, and it creates unsafe learning environments. It’s a mess of a bill that would lead to absurd situations,” Ratcliff said. “This bill would be laughable if not for the fact that it creates real harm for our trans and non-binary students.”

Ratcliff also noted that the exceptions to the bills were narrow and may not make sense in practice.

“Perhaps your legal name is Richard, and you cannot be called Dick, or perhaps Charles can no longer be a Chuck? Legislatures should not be micromanaging policy choices local school school boards make,” Ratcliff said. 

Spreitzer urged lawmakers to not take a vote on the bills or to vote them down in committee. He noted that the bills are unlikely to become law given that Gov. Tony Evers has vetoed similar bills and vowed to veto future legislation.

“This discussion is not aimed at making policy,” he said. “It is just giving a forum for bigotry, and it is going to hurt our youth, and if you don’t have that intent, then I appreciate that, but that is the effect it is going to have, so I would ask you to look at that, consider your own intent and act accordingly.” 

Many in the room broke out into applause at Spreitzer’s comments, but committee chair Rep. Joel Kitchens (R-Sturgeon Bay) quickly shut that down.

“Please, I’ve said no cheering. We’re all going to hear things we agree with and disagree with. Just keep it to yourself,” Kitchens said, adding he didn’t want to have to have people removed from the room. He asked the crowd to quiet down several times throughout the day.

Dittrich asked if there are any amendments that could be made to make the bill better, but Spreitzer said the bill isn’t “fixable.” He said the intent of the bill appears to be making it harder for trans and nonbinary youth to change their names or pronouns and “if that is the intent of this bill, I don’t know that there is a way you can fix the language of it through an amendment.” 

More than 70 people testified during the public hearing, which ran for more than ten hours, with witnesses given a five-minute time limit. 

There were many more opponents than supporters at the hearing — leading Wisconsin Moms For Liberty activist Scarlett Johnson, testifying in favor of the bill, to ask for extra time after hitting the time limit. Johnson argued that she and supporters of the bill were “wildly outnumbered.”

Wisconsin Republicans have introduced bills targeting LGBTQ+ youth many times over the last several years. This year’s bills come as President Donald Trump has also targeted transgender people through a series of executive orders. 

Several witnesses  noted that this was not their first time testifying against such legislation; one  said  they were “really tired of coming.” 

Luke Berg, an attorney with the conservative Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty, said the organization has received calls about schools from “far too many Wisconsin parents in the last few years.” Asked about the exact number, Berg estimated that WILL has heard from six to 12 parents. 

Lawmakers on the committee asked Berg about what would happen if a student is fearful of their home life. Berg said concerns about students living in an unsafe home environment could be dealt with by Child Protective Services. 

“I certainly don’t disagree that there are bad parents, but we have a system and a process in place to deal with that,” Berg said. 

WILL clients Tammy Fournier and her daughter, Autumn, said the bill would have been helpful for them and is needed to ensure “no other Wisconsin families would have to experience the government overstep we did.” They testified that at age 12, Autumn was questioning her gender identity and for a time was referred to at school as “he” and by a different name. She later changed her mind. 

WILL brought a successful suit against the Kettle Moraine School District on their behalf that claimed the district violated parental rights by adopting a policy to allow, facilitate, and affirm a minor student’s request to transition to a different gender identity at school without parental consent and even over the parents’ objection. A judge blocked the district’s policy that had allowed students to choose their name and pronouns. 

Many of the bill’s opponents, including parents of transgender youth, said transgender youth need support and should have the ability to make decisions for themselves. They said the bill could be detrimental to young people’s mental health. 

“Parental involvement in support is incredibly important, but it’s not always present, and when it’s not, our schools can be a safe place for students who do not have a safe place at home,” Spreitzer said. “There are nuanced ways we can navigate this without this one-size-fits-all approach that is aimed at making it harder for trans and non-binary students, and even in some cases, their supportive parent.”

The Trevor Project’s 2024 U.S. National Survey on the Mental Health of LGBTQ+ Young People surveyed 358 Wisconsin youths, finding significant mental health struggles LGBTQ+ youth can face. About 39% of LGBTQ+ youth surveyed reported seriously considering suicide, including 44% of transgender and nonbinary youth, and 12% reported a suicide attempt, the survey found. In addition, 63% of LGBTQ+ surveyed reported experiencing symptoms of anxiety. 

Kai Pyle, an assistant professor at UW-Madison told lawmakers about their experience exploring their identity growing up. Pyle stipulated they were speaking in a personal capacity, not for the university. 

Pyle  said that at the age of 15 they asked friends, classmates and teachers to use a name different from their legal name, and it was mostly accepted. A little over a year later, they came out as transgender, which was a “little bit of a more difficult change for many of my peers and teachers, but they were used to calling me Kai at that point, which in 2009 was a pretty unusual name in Wisconsin,” Pyle said.

Pyle questioned the effect the bill would have had on them had it been law then. 

“Would I have been acceptable because it was potentially just a shortened version of my legal name, which also started with the letter K?… The situation that a student like me would find themselves in, should this bill become law, clearly shows how this policy is discriminatory specifically to transgender youth, and how nonsensical it is to try to legally limit staff from using students’ own preferred names and pronouns,” Pyle said. “Beyond simply being nonsensical and discriminatory, however, it is fundamentally an attack on the right of all humans, regardless of their age, to be treated with dignity in a way that respects their sense of self.”

The second bill — AB 100 — would require  Wisconsin K-12 schools sports teams be designated based on “sex,” defined as the sex at birth, and would ban transgender girls from participating on teams and being in locker rooms consistent with their gender identity. 

Tessa Price, a Madison resident, said the legislation won’t be successful in gaining the type of control that lawmakers appear to want with the bill. 

“At the end of the day, trans people exist, they play sports, and they will continue playing sports with other members [with] community support that they find,” Price said. “So you will still find expressions within those sports that don’t match the control you’re trying to exert over it.”

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Wisconsin Republicans introduced new bills targeting transgender youth last week after President Donald Trump signed several related executive orders. People gather in New Orleans for Transgender Day of Visibility on March 31, 2023. (Photo by Greg LaRose/Louisiana Illuminator)

Wisconsin Republicans are again turning their focus towards LGBTQ+ youth, especially those who are transgender, introducing bills that would prohibit gender-affirming care for youth, ban students from playing on certain sports teams and mandate that school districts get permission from parents when using different names and pronouns for students. 

The four bills come as President Donald Trump has signed a slate of executive orders targeting transgender people. The bills have received pushback from the Wisconsin Legislative LGBTQ+ Caucus, the Transgender Parent and Non-Binary Advocacy Caucus and LGBTQ+ advocacy organizations. 

Sen. Mark Spreitzer (D-Beloit), chair of the LGBTQ+ caucus, told the Wisconsin Examiner that the bills are “part of broader national Republican effort” to attack trans people. 

“Republicans are now trying to essentially legislate trans people out of existence by denying medically necessary life-saving care, by preventing people from playing team sports, by trying to make it harder for people to be called by the name and pronouns that they go by when they’re in school,” Spreitzer said. 

Targeting transgender athletes

The first two bills would ban transgender girls in Wisconsin K-12 schools and transgender women attending UW System schools and Wisconsin technical colleges from participating on teams that reflect their gender identity. 

The bills’ introduction followed the Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association decision in early February to change its policy, which previously permitted transgender athletes to compete on teams consistent with their gender identity. In response to an executive order signed by Trump, the new policy prohibits an athlete from competing on a team that does not match the biological sex that they were assigned when they were born.

“Working in consultation with legal counsel, our Board updated this policy to ensure clarity is provided to our membership as they work to comply with new federal guidance from the White House,” Stephanie Hauser, executive director of the WIAA, said in a statement. 

The WIAA’s decision was celebrated by Reps. Barbara Dittrich (R-Oconomowoc) and Dan Knodl (R-Germantown), who have led unsuccessful efforts in the Legislature to restrict what teams transgender athletes play on for many years. The lawmakers said in a column that they would reintroduce a bill “to secure women’s and girls’ rights in Wisconsin.”

FAIR Wisconsin Executive Director Abigail Swetz said in a statement that sports should be an inclusive space for youth. 

“When an athlete gets to play sports on a team where they belong, that can make such a huge difference, and that is especially true for our trans athletes when the trans community is under attack from a hostile federal government. Now is the time to show our trans kids love and support, not exclusion,” Swetz said. “Our trans kids and young adults, and all trans Wisconsinites, need to know that there are so many people in this state who love you exactly as you are. The fact that a few members of the Wisconsin legislature want to play political games with your joy is inappropriate.” 

Swetz said in an email to the Wisconsin Examiner that the decisions by lawmakers and by the WIAA are examples of the power that the Trump administration is trying to exert on policies at all levels, “using their platform in a calculated, chaotic, and hateful way.”

“There is so much a federal administration cannot do, but let’s be real here, this administration is trying to govern by executive overreach, and although I do not think they will succeed in changing many federal laws, there is power in their federal agencies and also in their significant use of the very loud microphone at their disposal,” Swetz said.

The anti-trans orders “will undoubtedly create a chilling effect of pre-compliance,” Swetz added. “We cannot allow obedience in advance, although we’re already seeing it; the WIAA ruling is a disappointing example of pre-compliance, and it’s frankly antithetical to the values WIAA espouses.”

Gender-affirming care for minors

Another bill — coauthored by Sen. Cory Tomczyk (R-Mosinee), Rep. Scott Allen (R-Waukesha), Assembly Speaker Robin Vos (R-Rochester) — would ban gender- affirming care for people under the age of 18. It would prohibit health care providers from engaging in or making referrals for medical intervention “if done for the purpose of changing the minor’s body to correspond to a sex that is discordant with the minor’s biological sex,” including prescribing puberty-blocking drugs or gender-affirming surgery for minors.

“Our children are not experiments and parents should not be scared or pressured into having their children receive non-medically necessary drugs or irreversible procedures before their brains are fully developed,” the authors wrote in a memo. 

Health care providers under the bill could be investigated and have their licenses revoked by the Board of Nursing, the Medical Examining Board and the Physician Assistant Affiliated Credentialing Board if there are allegations that they have provided this type of care to a minor.

Following an executive order by Trump to withhold funds from medical institutions that provide gender affirming care and to require federal health programs to exclude coverage of gender-affirming surgeries and hormone treatments for young people by 2026, Children’s Wisconsin hospital paused gender-affirming care for teens. The hospital reinstated the practice.

Spreitzer called the bill the “cruelest” of the proposals. 

“Republicans are touting this idea that kids shouldn’t make permanent medical decisions until they’re 18,” Spreitzer said. “There are plenty of permanent medical decisions that need to be made before the age of 18 because of different conditions, and that’s why doctors exist.”

He added that such decisions “should be made between doctors, parents and the affected young people, based on medical necessity, based on rigorous medical evaluation, and politicians should not be inserting themselves into that.”

Spreitzer said that medications to delay puberty are intended to give young people the chance to grow up and potentially be able to make additional medical decisions once they turn 18. He said that banning them could create significant psychological harm and leave permanent physical effects that may require additional medical interventions in the future that wouldn’t have been necessary if they’ve been able to take puberty blockers. 

The process for gender affirming care is lengthy and is a decision that includes the child, their families and health providers, including mental health providers, and gender affirming care before 18 mostly focuses on pubertal suppression or hormone therapy.

Studies have found that de-transitioning is quite rare, according to the Human Rights Campaign, and one study found that transgender youth who start hormones with their parents’ assistance before age 18 years are less likely to detransition compared with those that start as adults.

Spreitzer noted that those under 18 who have been receiving care would also have to stop receiving it. The bill would include a six-month period before it goes into effect which would be meant for health care providers to discontinue care for minor patients 

“People are going to essentially be told in six months you’re going to have to stop taking medications you’re currently on, and you’re going to have to go through puberty as a sex that you don’t identify with. That is going to create incredible trauma for those young people,” Spreitzer said.

Names and pronouns

The fourth bill introduced last week would require school districts to implement policies stating that parents determine the names and pronouns used by school staff. The proposed policies must require a parent’s written authorization for school employees to use something different. 

The bill includes an exception if a nickname is a shortened version of a student’s legal first or middle name.

Bill authors Dittrich and Sen. Andre Jacque (R-New Franken) said the legislation is in response to parents feeling like schools are excluding them. The bill was modeled after a policy implemented by Arrowhead High School in 2022, even as there was some pushback from students and families.

“Its intent is not to punish children or eliminate their ‘safe spaces,’” the bill authors wrote in a memo. “Instead, the goal is to ensure transparency and prevent school district employees from withholding or, in some cases, encouraging life-changing decisions regarding a child’s sexuality or gender identity without parental involvement.” 

Spreitzer said the bill was poorly drafted. Besides “making it just harder for trans students to be called by the name and pronouns that they use in everyday life, it would really put school districts in a ridiculous position,” he said. 

“People go by all sorts of nicknames in everyday life — maybe it’s a version of their last name, maybe it’s a totally different name. It’s not as simple as just a shortened version of your first or middle name for everybody,” Spretizer said. “This is the Legislature trying to micromanage decisions that are made in everyday life without great controversy, and inserting itself into every school district, and I think it just would have absolutely absurd effects that the authors have not even thought of.” 

Spreitzer said bills targeting transgender youth are not particularly new in Wisconsin. He noted that in 2011 a bill that would have restricted bathroom use for transgender people was introduced, but it never got to then-Gov. Scott Walker’s desk. 

“It’s obviously become more front and center, just seeing how early in the legislative session these are being put out, and how much of coordinated effort there seems to be with bills coming out three different days this week, all attacking trans people,” Spreitzer said. 

Spreitzer said that even in the current national political environment, advocates opposed to such legislation are in a stronger position than in the past. Gov. Tony Evers has vetoed similar legislation in the past and has pledged to continue vetoing such legislation, he noted. The Legislature’s LGBTQ+ caucus has a record number of members this year — 12 lawmakers from across the state including Eau Claire, Appleton, Ashland and Green Bay.

“While we are deeply concerned about what’s coming down from Washington DC, we are in a very strong position to not only stop attacks on the LGBTQ+ community here in Wisconsin, but hopefully in two years, to be in a majority and be able to pass proactive legislation and protect equality,” Spreitzer said.

Swetz told the Wisconsin Examiner that FAIR Wisconsin will continue working with local, state and federal elected officials to strengthen protections for LGTBQ+ people. 

“I think fear is understandable. There is a lot that’s uncertain. I’m scared, too. I also think we have to remember that the LGBTQ+ community has always faced hostility, often from the government, and we are still here,” Swetz wrote. “This is a moment to organize and mobilize and most importantly, to take care of ourselves and our community.”

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