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Assembly passes bills banning gender-affirming care, transgender athlete participation

Whatever is on your birth certificate is what you will have to go by until you are at least 18 years of age after a trio of bills were passed by the Wisconsin State Assembly on Thursday.

 

Two of three bills dealt with allowing transgender athletes to participate in high school and college sports only by the gender they are assigned at birth. Currently, the WIAA requires athletes transitioning from male sports to female sports must undergo at least one year of hormone therapy before competing. The WIAA policy is similar to the one also used by the NCAA, which governs collegiate athletics. Green Bay news outlets reported on one such case within the Green Bay Area School Districts where parents objected to a transgender student participating in girls' athletics.

 

A third bill would prevent minors from not just getting gender reassignment surgery but also gender-affirming care such as hormones and puberty blockers. According to the Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism, many gender-affirming care options are not available until kids hit puberty and healthcare facilities like Children’s Wisconsin and UW Health do not perform gender reassignment surgery on minors. PFLAG founder Sandy Brown says the votes are nothing but political theater, citing the likelihood that Governor Tony Evers will veto the measures. She says children need all the help and support they can get during a potentially confusing time in their lives.

Rep. Joel Kitchens voted with his party on all three bills that fell largely along partisan lines. Kitchens says he has a long history of being supportive of the LGBTQ community, but says his votes are about fairness in athletics and a long-term view for kids that he would like to have more conversations on in the future.

According to Reuters, lawmakers in 37 states have introduced more than 140 bills restricting gender-affirming healthcare for trans and gender-expansive people this year.

 

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