Anti-Trans Bills Defeated on Trans Day of Visibility

We celebrate International Transgender Day of Visibility annually on March 31. The holiday was created as a hopeful counterbalance to Transgender Day of Remembrance which honors transgender homicide victims.

For me, this joyful day feels bittersweet as I gather with my community of trans Wisconsinites and our allies for the purpose of defeating another hateful political attack against us.

My colleagues and I were at the Wisconsin State Capitol today for another veto ceremony. Governor Evers vetoed the following bills:

• AB 100/SB 117: Anti-Trans Sports Bill (K-12 Schools)
• AB 102/SB 116: Anti-Trans Sports Bill (College)
• AB 103/SB 120: Denying Preferred Names and Pronouns in Schools
• AB 104/SB 157: Trans Youth Gender-Affirming Care Ban
• AB 400/SB 405: Lawsuits Regarding Gender-Affirming Care

Surrounded by advocates, I felt affirmed in my conviction that trans people belong in Wisconsin. This is my home, and I’m grateful to Governor Evers for championing trans rights and continually blocking attempts to make our state hostile to people like me.

The governor’s veto protected Wisconsinites from anti-trans bills becoming law this legislative session, but the proposals and related rhetoric still threaten our safety.

LGBTQ+ Wisconsinites already face mental health disparities, and constant political attacks are further detrimental to our wellbeing. In 2026, we have been inundated with the frightening news of trans Kansans’ drivers licenses invalidated, LGBTQ+ asylum seekers detained, detransition forced in federal prisons, and 500 anti-trans bills introduced nationwide.

Each time an anti-trans bill received a public hearing, trans Wisconsinites and our allies flocked to the Capitol, packed overflow rooms, and gave hours of testimony in opposition. We supported each other and even changed someone’s mind. Standing up to the politicians that would introduce such hateful legislation, I felt empowered.

But I also felt scared, angry, and drained. Why do we have to come here again and again, spending precious life defending equal rights and basic dignity?

I remember the words of activist SunShine Raynebow on the steps of the Capitol after a hearing: “I’m sick and tired of fighting for my life. I’m sick and tired of having to come out here on these same steps and going to that same building and tell these politicians the same fucking thing. I’m tired. I’m tired of having to tell them over and over again that my life matters.”

Although trans people, and especially trans youth, are most severely impacted by these efforts, laws like these would impact everyone.

The politicians and activists that are inundating our political and cultural lives with these attacks are using their belief that the general public is uncomfortable with trans people as an opening to erode civil rights protections for all of us.

These measures would give the government an ever-increasing role in personal decisions about our bodies and healthcare. Anyone who challenges their rigid beliefs about who men and women are and what men and women can do would be targeted by these policies.

Our country and our communities depend on the freedom of all people to be themselves without fear. It did not start with trans people, and it will not end with trans people.

Sports bans are a particularly insidious tactic that anti-trans politicians use to gain support for discriminatory policies. They lean on preexisting assumptions around “biological difference” to claim that transgender identity might give a competitive advantage. However, trans people, like all people, have varying athletic abilities.

The enforcement of policies that exclude trans athletes opens the door to gross scrutiny and harassment of all athletes, especially women, girls, and intersex people. Enforcing a strict gender binary in sports requires some process to determine who fits where. The recent ban on transgender women in the Olympics, for example, introduced mandatory genetic testing for all competitors in women’s events.

What’s really unfair? Requiring invasive gender verification procedures just to play. Normalizing policies that target certain groups. Banning some kids from playing sports with their friends just because of who they are.

There are so many inequities in athletics that need to be addressed, and they have nothing to do with our trans friends, family, and teammates.

Trans people deserve a world where we can be unapologetic in our visibility and beauty.

But as Laverne Cox said earlier this month, “Visibility is so important but it can also be a double bind because our visibility also led us to being targets.” She calls for more humanizing representation as an antidote to this rampant dehumanization.

We need everyone to advocate, educate, and take action to combat the tidal wave of anti-trans rhetoric and scapegoating further dividing our country, our state, and our communities.

I love living in Wisconsin. I hope that my family and I can continue to love living and thriving here for many a Trans Day of Visibility to come.