Wisconsin Governor Vetoes Transgender Sports Ban
Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers vetoed a bill seeking to prevent transgender student-athletes from competing on female sports teams.
On April 2, Wisconsin Democratic Gov. Tony Evers vetoed a bill seeking to ban transgender student-athletes from competing on sports teams that align with their gender identity.
“I am vetoing this bill in its entirety because I object to codifying discrimination into state statute,” Evers wrote in a lengthy veto message explaining his rationale for blocking the bill.
The bill had been overwhelmingly approved by the Republican-controlled Legislature last month.
Under the bill, Wisconsin public and private schools would be required to classify students based on their assigned sex at birth, which would be the only factor determining eligibility for participation in interscholastic, intramural, or club sports.
Evers noted that, in 2015, the Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association had adopted a policy that empowers local schools to determine an athlete’s eligibility by taking into account information related to a transgender student’s social and medical transition, including written statements from students, parents, and teachers, and documentation from medical professionals.
As part of that policy, transgender females must also undergo at least a full year of testosterone suppression therapy before being considered eligible to participate on women’s sports teams.
Evers also argued that the bill may violate federal law, pointing to a 2020 Supreme Court decision that found discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity was a form of sex-based discrimination, which Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 prohibits.
Additionally, he noted, the U.S. Department of Education, under the Biden administration, has ruled that Title IX’s prohibitions against sex-based discrimination also protect transgender individuals from discrimination.
“I believe this bill fails to comport with our Wisconsin values,” Evers wrote. “We expect our kids to treat each other with kindness, respect, empathy, and compassion, and we should be able to expect adults to lead by example. I urge the Republican majority to do so while fully considering the harmful consequences its efforts and actions have on our kids prior to introducing similar legislation in the future.”
Republican backers of the bill argued that a ban on transgender athletes competing in female-designated sports is necessary to ensure that cisgender females are not put at a competitive disadvantage. But opponents of the bill say it simply seeks to exclude an already-vulnerable population from participating in school-sponsored activities as their true selves.
Twenty-five other states have laws or policies on the books that bar transgender girls or women from competing on female-designated sports teams at the high school or collegiate levels.
Evers warned that bans on transgender athletes, and the incendiary rhetoric that often accompanies such policies, can potentially harm the mental health LGBTQ youth, and can embolden others to harass, bully, or even commit violence against transgender individuals.
“States across this country may give way to radical policies targeting LGBTQ individuals and families and threatening LGBTQ folks’ everyday lives and their ability to be safe, valued, supported and welcome being who they are,” Evers wrote. “As long as I am governor of this great state, Wisconsin will not be among them.”
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