Screenshot / X, Governor Tony Evers ; SVG file Dlloyd based on Monica Helms design, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons, Cropped by Resist the Mainstream

Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers vetoed Assembly Bill 377, which sought to prohibit students from joining high school sports teams meant for the opposite sex. 

“We have now helped our kids … our trans kids. Thanks, everybody,” Evers stated while writing “not approved” to officially veto the bill. Republicans notably did not have the votes needed to override the veto.

The governor then took to X to state, “LGBTQ kids deserve our love and respect and support just like any other kid.”

Evers was blasted on social media following the posted video, with an account named Gay Not Queer writing, “Nothing about this is anti LGBT.”

“Men don’t belong in women’s sports. Nothing about that is anti gay,” it added.

Another account lamented, “So you’re against women’s rights?” While one wrote, “Giving love and respect is NOT done by allowing girls to be injured and have their opportunities stolen.”

In a press release, Evers added, “This type of legislation, and the harmful rhetoric beget by pursuing it, harms LGBTQ Wisconsinites’ and kids’ mental health, emboldens anti-LGBTQ harassment, bullying, and violence and threatens the safety and dignity of LGBTQ Wisconsinites, especially our LGBTQ kids.”

ABC News reports Evers had maintained his promise to veto the bill since its introduction.

Despite lacking the votes to prevent its passage in the Legislature, he carried out the veto in the Capitol, flanked by Democratic lawmakers, transgender advocates, the mayor of Madison, and other supporters.

Evers vowed, per ABC, that as long as he is governor, he will not allow for “radical policies targeting LGBTQ individuals and families and threatening LGBTQ folks’ everyday lives and their ability to be safe, valued, supported, and welcome being who they are.”

The Hill reported that Republicans in the state legislature contended that such a measure is necessary to uphold fairness in women’s sports, while Democrats criticized the proposal as an assault on an already marginalized population.

The bill cleared the state assembly in October with a party-line vote of 63-35. Last month, the state Senate forwarded the measure to Evers with a split 21-11 vote along party lines. Neither chamber possesses the two-thirds majority necessary to override a veto.

In his veto message, Evers stated that the bill disregards a longstanding policy of the Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association, which has regulated the eligibility of transgender high school athletes in the state since 2015. 

Under this policy, which mirrors NCAA guidelines, men must complete at least a full year of hormone therapy before being allowed to participate on female sports teams.

Since 2020, at least 24 states have passed laws that explicitly ban athletes from participating in school sports teams that are meant for the opposite sex. 

“States across this country may give way to radical policies targeting LGBTQ individuals and families and threatening LGBTQ folks’ everyday lives and their ability to be safe, valued, supported and welcome being who they are,” Evers wrote in his veto message. “As long as I am governor of this great state, Wisconsin will not be among them.”