(The Center Square) – Wisconsin’s Assembly passed a series of bills aimed at protecting girls sports and blocking sex-change surgery and puberty blockers for minors.
Assembly Bill 100 requires that athletic teams at public and private choice schools are designated male and female and prohibits those designated as male at birth from using the girls locker room or changing areas.
“Common sense and sanity prevailed today in the Legislature,” said Rep. Scott Krug, R-Rome. “It’s a little bit shocking that we need to pass legislation protecting girls’ sports and girls’ locker rooms. Those who demand that girls and women simply accept men into their athletic competitions and their private spaces are wrong.”
The assembly also passed bills to prohibit K-12 school staff from using names or pronouns that are different from the student’s biological sex without parental approval and a bill that prohibits gender-transition surgeries or puberty blocking drugs from being provided to minors.
“The vast majority of the public rightly believes that children should not be provided puberty-blocking drugs or mutilated with gender reassignment surgery,” Krug said. “Protecting kids from these dangerous and life-altering procedures is not just the right thing to do. It is common sense.”
Democrats in the Assembly voted against the measures with Rep. Renuka Mayadev, D-Madison, saying the bills jeopardize safety and security.
“I stand with Wisconsin’s families and will fight to ensure that every child, every family, and every person in our state is safe to make their medical decisions in consultation with their health professionals,” Mayadev said. “The attempt to criminalize medical professionals caring for their patients has no place in Wisconsin.”
The bills come after the Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association voted in February to adjust its rules to only allow students designated as female at birth to compete in girls competitions.
The association’s Board of Control took the vote after the NCAA took a similar vote to align itself with an executive order from President Donald Trump.
“Times change, but biology still remains,” said Rep. Bob Donovan, R-Greenfield. “Protecting our girls who play sports and ensuring they are treated fairly should not be controversial. They deserve to compete fairly. They deserve to win.”
