Wisconsin Governor promises to veto any bills targeting trans youth
Governor Evers promised to veto any anti-trans bill. (X/Governor Tony Evers)
The Democratic governor of Wisconsin made a rare appearance at an Assembly hearing this week to assure concerned citizens that he would veto any bills targeting trans youth.
Republican lawmakers held an Assembly committee on Wednesday (4 October) to hear public testimony on three bills they hoped to pass that would restrict transgender healthcare.
One of the three Wisconsin bills, AB 465, would prohibit minors from accessing gender-affirming care, including puberty blockers and hormone therapy. It would also see any medical professionals who administer this care to minors have their licences revoked.
Meanwhile, bills AB 377 and 378 were aimed at restricting transgender athletes from participating in sports teams that aligned with their gender identity.
All three bills were met with overwhelming resistance from members of the public, advocate groups, and medical associations.
People showed up in their droves to speak in opposition to the three bills, filling the building to capacity, and submitting nearly 10,000 pages of testimony, ErinInTheMorning reports.
Among those in opposition of the three devastating bills was the state’s Democratic governor, Governor Tony Evers.
Speaking to members of the public in one of three overflow rooms, Governor Evers promised that he would veto any of the three bills that came close to passing.
“You’ve got my support on all of these. We’re gonna veto every single one of them,” he told his constituents.
“The only way we can do that is to continue to be strong just like everyone in this room.
“I’m just here to thank you. I know you’re here because you’re p***ed off and you want to stop it.
“And you will stop it, and I’ll help you stop it. I’m with you. And god bless you all.”
Alongside Governor Evers and the vast majority of those who filled the building, a damning majority of medical associations also registered in opposition of the bills.
That included the Medical College of Wisconsin, the Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin, the National Association of Social Workers, the Wisconsin Association of Local Health Departments and Boards, the Wisconsin Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics, the Wisconsin Medical Society, and the Wisconsin Public Health Association.
This falls in line with the fact that every major American medical association supports gender-affirming care for minors as scientifically backed and life-saving care.
A number of Democratic representatives used their time at the committee hearing to speak on behalf of transgender people in their own families.
Perhaps most touching was the testimony of Rep Ryan Clancy who spoke about his transgender son, and the support he had received from the vast majority of the community compared to a small but aggressive level of vitriol from a select number of hateful people.
He asserted: “Trans kids aren’t considering or attempting suicide because of they are, but because of who we are in this building right now.
“The authors of this garbage are responsible for trans suicides and trans-attempted suicides. It isn’t the kids and their identities, it is a society in which actual adults sit down in a room and put pen to paper… to try to mask their intolerance as concern and to cover their ignorance with a thin veneer of junk science.”
These three bills have yet to be voted on by the committee, but the people of Wisconsin have made it clear that, if any of them come close to passing, there will be more than a few roadblocks in their way.
