MADISON, Wis. — Advocates for transgender youth packed a hearing room at the state Capitol on Thursday to oppose two anti-transgender bills.
The proposals would require schools to only use the name and pronouns that parents approve for their children and prohibit transgender girls from playing on girls’ sports teams or using girls’ locker rooms.
Both bills are almost certain to fail. Democratic Gov. Tony Evers has vetoed similar legislation in the past.
“You know, 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,” said Rep. Barb Dittrich, who introduced the bills. “A major life choice – transitioning and changing your name is a major life choice – is something parents should be involved in.”
Mercury Stardust, a transgender influencer from Wisconsin, was among the dozens of advocates who came to Wednesday’s public hearing to argue against the bills.
Watch: Advocates condemn pair of anti-transgender bills from Wisconsin Republicans
“They keep saying that we have to notify parents when a child takes aspirin, but there’s a huge difference when a child is taking medication that they could get an allergy from and a pronoun. You can’t get allergic to pronouns. That’s your identity. That’s who you are,” she said.
Ben Lebovitz, a former teacher and doctoral student at UW-Madison, has published research on the wellbeing of transgender students in Wisconsin schools. He said that requiring teachers to use pronouns and names approved by parents would shrink the support network for trans kids.
“Youth who are experiencing mental health or wellbeing challenges, when they’re feeling that way, trans youth actually turn to adults in schools more often than they turn to their parents,” Lebovitz said. “That finding has really serious implications when we think about bills like this one that would reduce the number of ways that adults in schools can be supportive of youth.”
Hundreds of anti-transgender bills have been introduced in state legislatures across the country in recent years, and many Republican-led states have passed bills to ban gender-affirming care for minors or bar transgender women from playing on girls’ sports teams.
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