Save Women’s Sports Act clears Assembly

A pair of bills led by state Rep. Barbara Dittrich (R–Oconomowoc) to bar biological males from female sports teams and locker rooms in Wisconsin cleared the state Assembly last week and headed to the state Senate for consideration.

A third Dittrich bill related to changing a pupil’s legal name and pronouns had already cleared the Assembly. It was the third straight session in which Dittrich’s Save Women’s Sports Act bills passed the Assembly.

“This legislation is backed overwhelmingly by society with nearly 80 percent of Americans believing that biological males should not compete in women’s sports,” Dittrich said after the votes. “Since the first introduction of this legislation, there have only been more females injured and replaced on the podium across our country while public support has continued to grow.”

One in four women will be sexually assaulted by the time they’re 18 years old, Dittrich said.

“The Save Women’s Sports Act also protects females in locker rooms who did not consent to seeing fully intact, naked males in their private spaces,” she said. “Forcing sexual assault victims into these situations is traumatizing. This has never been about discrimination and hate against transgender individuals, it is about protecting the hardworking females of Wisconsin that want to have fair competitions and have the respect and safety they deserve in their designated showers and dressing areas.”

Dittrich said the third bill giving parents control over a minor student’s name and pronouns in school was essential to pass.

“I also want to thank my colleagues for passing Assembly Bill 103 to ensure that parents will remain active in their children’s education,” she said. “When kids go to school, parents are often kept out of the loop, regardless of the school’s intent. This legislation requires parental permission for a school to change a student’s name in school records or what name and pronouns the student will be called during school hours.”

Rep. Jim Piwowarczyk (R-Hubertus) said the legislation, which he supported, ensures that athletic teams in public schools, private schools, and universities will be organized based on the biological sex of the participants. 

“This move directly challenges the left’s dangerous push to allow men to play on girl’s and women’s sports teams, which undermines fairness and safety for female athletes,” Piwowarczyk said. “These bills would also prevent biological men in girl’s and women’s locker rooms.”

With the legislation, Piwowarczyk said Assembly Republicans had taken a stand for fairness, safety, and the integrity of girls’ and women’s sports.

“As a coach, I’ve seen firsthand how much effort girls put into their athletic pursuits,” he said. “Allowing biological males to compete on girls’ and women’s teams is not just unfair — it’s an attack on their hard work, their safety, and their opportunities. We are taking action today to stop this madness.”

State Rep. Amanda Nedweski (R-Pleasant Prairie) also voted for the bills, saying they would prevent biological men from stripping girls and women of their accomplishments or invading their private spaces.

“When I first ran for the state Assembly, I promised to always protect women and girls and ensure that parents are not shut out of their children’s lives,” Nedweski said. “It is astonishing to see many of my Democrat colleagues, who claim to be the ‘party of science,’ continue to reject basic biology. Democrats continue to latch onto the 20 percent of an 80/20 issue, which is why their favorability ratings are the lowest in recorded history.”

Nedweski also said she supported another bill, the Help Not Harm Act, which would prohibit gender transition medical intervention for children under the age of 18. Nedweski said gender dysphoria diagnoses have skyrocketed among Gen Z youth in the last decade, at the same time that pharmaceutical companies and medical institutions have been generating billions of dollars in revenue from those procedures.

“The exponential increases in youth diagnoses in the last 10 years is clear evidence of the well-coordinated school-to-hospital-to-pharmaceutical grift that engineers dysphoria in children through radical gender ideology, which is currently being reinforced in our schools and in our culture,” she said. “These predatory industries make children ill so that they can profit off of their false ‘cure.’”

Democrats oppose bills

All voting Democrats cast ballots in opposition to the Dittrich bills.

Rep. Ryan Clancy (D-Milwaukee) said the bills attacked transgender adults and kids and would require teachers to misgender and “deadname” students, while preventing transgender kids and adults from participating in team sports, and prohibiting “gender affirming care” for everyone under 18 years of age. 

“I don’t know what could be said on the Assembly floor today that would be more relevant than the testimony already given in committee on these bills,” Clancy said on the Assembly floor. “I urge you to listen to the trans kids, adults, and their allies who have already overwhelmingly testified against these bills. I hoped that testimony would have been enough to produce just enough shame in the authors and in speaker Robin Vos to avoid a vote in committee and to keep this horrific legislation from facing a vote here, then a veto by Gov. Tony Evers.”

Clancy said many Republicans didn’t show up for the hearing.

“They copied and pasted this garbage from hateful model legislation in other states, forced scores of folks to travel to the Capitol to defend their very existence, and couldn’t even be bothered to listen to them,” he said. “Sadly, those brave folks who spoke in committee are not allowed to speak today, but we are, so I rise to do so. I urge you to actually listen to the many hours of impassioned and compelling and heart-wrenching testimony of trans and nonbinary and intersex folks and their loved ones and allies. Nothing we say here, today, in this chamber could be more powerful than that.”

Rep. Alex Joers (D-Waunakee) joined in that sentiment, saying the bills would restrict the lives and freedoms of Wisconsin’s transgender residents. 

“I am devastated that legislative Republicans have decided the best use of the state’s time and resources is to deny the existence and lived experiences of LGBTQ+ Wisconsinites,” Joers said. “Over the years, Republican legislators put forward a number of bills that are harmful to our LGBTQ+ community, particularly our trans Wisconsinites. At a time when our transgender community is under fire from executive orders and mandates coming from the highest office of power in our country, we must remember that all Americans are entitled to live fulfilling, vibrant lives free from discrimination, regardless of their sex, gender, or gender expression.”

Joers said the bills were not written to solve any real, tangible issues but were intended to divide, exclude, and intimidate Wisconsin’s transgender community.  

“I voted against these bills, not only because they are morally wrong, but because I believe it is our job as legislators to promote legislation that is inclusive and respectful, not hateful and divisive,” he said.

Rep. Renuka Mayadev (D-Madison) pledged to fight to protect the transgender community from violence and hate crimes.

“We know that the bills that were introduced and passed by the Republicans today do only one thing: jeopardize the safety and security of our most vulnerable,” Mayadev said. “Even with the mere introduction of anti-trans legislation, our LGBTQ+ community experiences an increase in violence and hate crimes.”

Every Wisconsinite deserves to live with dignity, free from discrimination and to make medical decisions without the interference of politicians, Mayadev said. 

“As a Health, Aging, and Long-Term Care Committee member, we heard hours of testimony from Wisconsinites who needed the life-saving care of medical professionals,” she said. “We know that the anti-trans agenda pushed by my Republican colleagues is solely focused on playing political games with the health and welfare of our families. 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. The attempt to criminalize medical professionals caring for their patients has no place in Wisconsin.”

Richard Moore is the author of “Dark State” and may be reached at richardd3d.substack.com.