Opponents include the Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association, which regulates high school sports, the University of Wisconsin-Madison, the statewide teachers union, the American Civil Liberties Union, the State Bar of Wisconsin’s civil rights and liberties section, the LGBTQ advocacy group Fair Wisconsin, Planned Parenthood and the Wisconsin Coalition Against Sexual Assault.
The proposals are part of a nationwide movement targeting transgender people, particularly athletes.
“I wish we were not having this debate today,” said Democratic Rep. Greta Neubauer, a member of the Legislature’s LGBTQ Caucus. “I wish Republicans would focus on the significant, pressing issues that are facing our state rather than attempt to distract Wisconsinites from their failure to govern by attacking vulnerable children.”
Lawmakers in more than 30 states, mostly Republican controlled, have considered sports participation bans, and they’ve become law in Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Mississippi, Tennessee, Montana and West Virginia after Idaho enacted one last year. Other states, including Kansas and North Dakota, passed bans only to have them vetoed by the governor.
The Wisconsin bills would allow students to join teams only that correspond to their biological sex as assigned by a doctor at birth, unless the sport is classified as “coed.” It would apply to public and private schools, as well as the University of Wisconsin and technical colleges.
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