10/04/2023
On Wednesday, October 4th, 2023, the Wisconsin legislature will begin hearings on proposed bills that, if enacted, will seriously impact the lives and rights of Wisconsin's Trans community, its healthcare providers, and its schools. Although our governor has committed to vetoing these bills, the actions and this movement are of deep concern to those of us who honor and respect the privacy and personal rights of all community members.
These bills are listed below. You can follow the links for more information about these moves to limit civil rights.
Trans medical care bans:
*AB 465 - Committee on Health, Aging and Long-term Care - https://docs.legis.wisconsin.gov/.../reg/asm/bill/ab465
*SB 480 - Committee on Health - https://docs.legis.wisconsin.gov/2023/proposals/sb480
Bill criminalizing doctors who provide gender-affirming care:
*SB 479 - Committee on Health - https://docs.legis.wisconsin.gov/2023/proposals/reg/sen/bill/sb479
Trans Athlete Bills:
AB 377 - Committee on Education - https://docs.legis.wisconsin.gov/.../reg/asm/bill/ab377
SB 378 - Committee on Mental Health, Substance Abuse Prevention, Children and Families - https://docs.legis.wisconsin.gov/2023/proposals/sb378
SB 377 (Colleges) - Committee on Mental Health, Substance Abuse Prevention, Children and Families - https://docs.legis.wisconsin.gov/.../reg/sen/bill/sb377
SB 378 (k-12) - Committee on Mental Health, Substance Abuse Prevention, Children and Families -https://docs.legis.wisconsin.gov/.../reg/sen/bill/sb378
Rev. Breanna Illéné, of the Wisconsin Council of Churches, perfectly explains the situation.
"When we ban transgender and non-binary children from participating in school sports, we deny them
the opportunity afforded to other students to learn leadership skills, the value of teamwork, and the
discipline of hard work and cooperation toward a common goal. But even more importantly, we send
them and the rest of the community the message that trans youth are not worthy of the same rights and
opportunities as other kids. We send the message that members of the transgender community are
somehow ‘less than’, ‘Other’, less worthy of being treated with the same dignity and respect as
everyone else.
The stigma created by these messages is the reason depression, anxiety, and suicidality are at a crisis
level in the LGBTQ+ community. According to the Trevor Project’s 2020 National Youth Survey on LGBTQ
mental health, 40% of LGBTQ youth seriously considered attempting su***de in the previous 12 months,
with more than half of trans and nonbinary youth having considered it.
By contrast, transgender youth whose families support their gender identity have a 52% decrease in
suicidal thoughts, a 48% decrease in su***de attempts and a significant increase in self-esteem and
general health."
When we penalize healthcare providers for serving trans-patients, we limit the medical and mental health care available to the trans community. This is inherently unconstitutional by saying that the life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness is a right for all but trans people. This attitude does not reflect the foundation of our country. Our history claims that we are all worthy of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
Take the time to reach out to your legislators and voice your opposition to these actions. You can go to the legislature website (https://legis.wisconsin.gov/ ) to find out who serves your community.
For those of you outside Wisconsin, please reach out to your legislatures. Let's stop this tide of harm.
Remember that this is just one more interference with our human rights - our personal rights. We, at Circle Sanctuary, stand ready and willing to oppose this legislation and protect the rights of our trans family and prevent further erosion of our rights as citizens.
