From WisPolitics.com/WisBusiness.com …
— Assembly Minority Leader Greta Neubauer charged Republicans with “bullying kids for political gain” as the chamber approved a series of bills to restrict transgender and nonbinary Wisconsinites’ ability to access gender-affirming care and more.
The Racine Dem noted the upcoming April 1 state Supreme Court election, which will determine whether liberal justices retain their 4-3 majority.
“We are here because the majority party is trying to gain advantage in the Supreme Court election by bullying kids. We know it, you know it, it’s mean-spirited, and it’s not how the people of Wisconsin treat their neighbors,” Neubauer said.
Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, R-Rochester, countered Democrats are out of step with the public.
“The public is at 80% on these topics. I’m sure that we will not get 80% today because the Democrats are so beholden to virtue signaling and to the small minority of people in your base that think that this is a good idea, that you’re going to vote no,” Vos said.
Those under 18 years old would be prohibited from receiving gender-affirming care under AB 104, which the chamber yesterday approved 50-43 along party lines.
Health care providers who performed care “for the purpose of changing the minor’s body to correspond to a sex that is discordant with the minor’s biological sex” would risk losing their license under the proposal. The bill includes limited exceptions, such as for a minor with a medically verifiable genetic disorder of sex development.
Rep. Lisa Subeck, D-Madison, criticized the bill as part of a trend of politicians wanting to interfere with medical decisions, noting abortion and contraception access.
She said gender-affirming care can be “lifesaving” and charged Republicans with “using trans kids who are already vulnerable as political pawns ahead of a Supreme Court race and at a moment when folks want to put their political agenda ahead of the lives of Wisconsinites.”
Rep. Chuck Wichgers, R-Muskego, said Republicans don’t “hate” transgender people. He said that isn’t possible “because we believe in God, we believe in a final judgment, and it would be wrong for us to hate.”
“These are minors, they do need help,” Wichgers said. ‘And we as a whole body, both Republicans and Democrats, have an obligation to make sure that we help and protect these children, these minors, from permanently changing themselves at such a young age.”
See more on the other bills that cleared the Assembly at WisPolitics.
— A professor at Marquette University is getting $1.37 million in federal funding to study the interaction between light and breathing, which could help scientists understand how environmental factors affect biology.
Deanna Arble, assistant professor of biological sciences with the university, has been tapped for the Faculty Early Career Development Program grant by the National Science Foundation.
She says light has “such amazing effects” on the human body, noting light exposure at the wrong time of day can disrupt sleep and other natural rhythms.
“If we don’t have enough light, we can become depressed (Seasonal Affective Disorder). Bright light can even make (some of) us sneeze! But this is only the tip of the iceberg,” she said in a statement on the award. “Light can also change the way we breathe. We are only just beginning to understand all the different ways light can affect us.”
See more in the release below.
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– A Better Wisconsin: Together condemns anti-LGBTQ+ bills passed by Wisconsin Republicans today
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