Today, Senator Melissa Ratcliff, Representative Ryan Clancy, Representative Lee Snodgrass, and Representative Margaret Arney, members of the Transgender Parent and Nonbinary Advocacy Caucus (TPANAC), released the follow statement after Republicans in the Wisconsin Assembly passed four bills targeting transgender and nonbinary youth and their families.
The movement toward equality and acceptance for transgender and nonbinary youth in Wisconsin is inevitable. Republicans in the Wisconsin State Legislature can stand in the way of that progress, but they will not stop it.
Unfortunately, at the moment, Wisconsin Republicans have the ability to ram through hateful, unnecessary, discriminatory, and dangerous bills targeting LGBTQIA+ youth and their families. Today, they did so. The Governor has said he will veto these bills and they will not become law. Wisconsinites should ask themselves why Republicans continue to put forward impotent bills that harm young people and make them and their families less safe.
All members of the Transgender Parent and Nonbinary Advocacy Caucus stand with our LGBTQIA+ youth, their families, allies, and advocates. Hundreds came to the Capitol and offered compelling testimony against these horrible bills. We see you, we hear you, we respect you, we love you, and we will never stop fighting for you.
The Republican actions today are not unexpected but they are no less disappointing because of that. Together, we will overcome the bigotry and hatefulness we heard on the Assembly floor today. As Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. reminded us, “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.”
