What is happening in Wisconsin with gender identity legislation is not a series of random bills. It is a coordinated, multi-session infrastructure project — one side building restrictions, the other building mandates. Both sides have been at it for a decade. Most voters don't know it's happening. This page tells the full story.
In 1982, Republican Governor Lee Dreyfus signed a law making Wisconsin the first state in the nation to ban discrimination based on sexual orientation — citing individual liberty as his reason. It is the origin of Wisconsin's identity on personal freedom. He said it plainly: "It is a fundamental tenet of the Republican Party that government ought not intrude in the private lives of individuals where no state purpose is served."
But here is the gap that has driven every bill on this page: Wisconsin has never extended those protections to gender identity. Sexual orientation is protected. Gender identity is not — not in state employment law, not in the state hate crimes statute, not in statewide anti-discrimination code.
That gap is the fault line. One side has been working to close it for over a decade. The other side has been working to ensure that closing it does not override the rights of everyone else in the system. Both sides have been building — and most Wisconsin voters have been watching neither.
"The gap between 'sexual orientation is protected' and 'gender identity is not' is where this entire decade of legislation was born — and where it is still being fought."
Both sides have been active every session. This is the complete record — Democrat-authored inclusion bills and Republican-authored restriction bills — side by side, session by session, from 2015 to today.
First bathroom bills. Republicans introduce bills barring transgender students from using restrooms matching their gender identity in Wisconsin public schools. Both fail. The issue goes quiet — but establishes the first legislative front.
Republican Bathroom/restroom restriction bills — both fail
Statewide non-discrimination bills introduced. Democrats introduce comprehensive bills to add gender identity as a protected class across employment, housing, education, insurance, and public accommodations statewide. Chris Taylor co-sponsors. Neither receives a public hearing. Both die.
Democrat AB418 / SB380 — statewide gender identity non-discrimination — dies in committee
Evers takes office — Day 1 executive order. Governor Tony Evers issues Executive Order #1 prohibiting gender identity discrimination in state government employment. He cannot change state law unilaterally — but he changes the posture of the executive branch. The legislature and the governor are now pointed in opposite directions.
Evers EO#1 Gender identity protections — state employees only
The most expansive push yet. Democrats introduce a comprehensive slate of gender identity bills. Chris Taylor co-sponsors or authors multiple bills this session: AB319 (statewide gender identity non-discrimination across all of civic life), AB312 (transgender equality task force), AB436 (restricting criminal defenses based on victim's gender identity), AB111 (conversion therapy ban), AJR156 (constitutional amendment adding gender identity private cause of action against state actors). None pass.
Democrat AB319 — employment, housing, education, insurance Taylor co-sponsor
Democrat AB312 — transgender task force Taylor co-sponsor
Democrat AB436 — restrict criminal defenses Taylor co-sponsor
Democrat AB111 — conversion therapy ban Taylor co-sponsor
Democrat AJR156 — constitutional amendment Taylor co-sponsor
The national strategy arrives in Wisconsin. Over 100 anti-LGBTQ bills are proposed across 35 states as part of a coordinated national effort. Wisconsin is part of the wave. Republicans introduce trans sports ban — it passes the legislature, Evers vetoes. Trans healthcare ban is introduced but dies in committee. Bill author Rep. Scott Allen attends a national webinar by the Family Policy Alliance to learn "the information and tools needed to pass Help Not Harm legislation" — using Arkansas' trans care ban as the template. This is a national playbook run locally.
Republican Trans sports ban — passes, Evers vetoes
Republican Trans healthcare ban for minors — dies in committee
Democrat SB505 — parental choice school inclusion bill (first version) — 22+ co-sponsors, dies
Pronouns become a legal liability. The Senate passes legislation creating legal liability for school officials who use a transgender student's preferred name or pronouns without parental permission. Evers vetoes. The pattern is now established: Republicans introduce and pass restrictions, Evers vetoes, both sides use the votes as campaign material.
Republican Pronoun lawsuit bill — passes Senate, Evers vetoes
The most comprehensive Republican push. Assembly passes comprehensive trans healthcare ban (AB465) 63–35 and two sports ban bills along party lines. Evers vetoes the healthcare ban December 6 — the sixth governor in the nation to veto such a bill. Democrats simultaneously push the largest gender identity inclusion package to date. 15 anti-trans bills tracked in Wisconsin this session nationally. Rep. Vining begins her documented run of inclusion legislation.
Republican AB465 — comprehensive healthcare ban — Evers vetoes Dec 6
Republican AB377/AB378 — sports bans — Evers vetoes
Democrat SB505 reintroduced with expanded co-sponsor list — dies again
Republicans vote for the record. The Legislature passes a trans athlete sports ban on its final 2024 session day. Evers vetoes it, saying he will be "damn proud to do it." Democrats openly ask why Republicans keep passing bills they know will be vetoed. The structural answer: the votes are a record. They build the list for when the governor's office flips.
Republican Trans athlete ban — passes, Evers vetoes April 2024
The federal floor drops. Trump takes office. Day 1: reverses Biden gender identity executive orders. A federal judge overturns Biden's Title IX gender identity expansion. The federal government — which had been a backstop for inclusion policies — is now aligned with the Republican position. State law is now the only battleground.
Federal Title IX gender identity protections — overturned. Federal backstop gone.
The largest legislative year. 1,020+ anti-trans bills introduced nationally — 20 in Wisconsin. Wisconsin Republicans introduce a 4-bill slate: healthcare ban, sports ban, pronoun parental notification, name change restrictions. Rep. Vining authors AB361 (restricts criminal defenses), AJR108 (constitutional amendment — third attempt), AB215 (name change exceptions), and a $2M annual school training grant. SB565 reintroduced October 24 with 22+ co-sponsors — the parental choice school inclusion bill, fourth version.
Republican 4-bill slate — healthcare ban, sports ban, pronouns, name changes
Democrat Vining: AB361, AJR108, AB215, $2M training grant
Democrat SB565 — parental choice inclusion bill, 4th version — 22+ co-sponsors Oct 24
Five bills pass the Senate in one session. Senate passes 5 trans-related bills 18–15 along party lines: restricting healthcare, requiring parental permission for name/pronoun changes, banning trans athletes. All face Evers vetoes. New Richmond school bathroom crisis goes national — parents discover district allowed male students identifying as female to use girls' bathrooms for years without disclosure. Federal DOE opens investigation.
Republican 5-bill package passes Senate 18–15 — all vetoed by Evers
AB1157 introduced. Co-sponsor list grows quietly. AB1157 introduced March 13 as Assembly companion to SB565. 32 Democratic co-sponsors. Rep. Jacobson and Rep. Subeck added as co-authors March 19–20 with no press conference. April 7: Wisconsin Supreme Court election — the court that will interpret every bill on this timeline. Chris Taylor, who co-sponsored multiple bills on this list, is running against Maria Lazar. One election decides the judicial interpreter for everything built here.
Democrat AB1157 introduced — 32 co-sponsors, growing
URGENT April 7 — Supreme Court election — Taylor vs. Lazar
Rep. Chris Taylor represented Madison's 76th Assembly District from 2011 to 2020. Before that, she was public policy director for Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin. During her nine years in the Assembly, she co-sponsored or authored more gender identity legislation than almost any other Wisconsin legislator. In 2020, Governor Evers appointed her to the Dane County Circuit Court. In 2023, she was elected to the Wisconsin Court of Appeals. On April 7, 2026, she is running for the Wisconsin Supreme Court — the court that would interpret every bill she spent a decade pushing.
"This is not a coincidence. Chris Taylor spent a decade building the legislative infrastructure for gender identity law in Wisconsin. She is now running for the court that would give those laws their final interpretation. The person who wrote the legislation wants to be the judge who rules on it."
| Bill | Year | What it does | Why it matters now |
|---|---|---|---|
| AB418 / SB380 | 2017–18 | Statewide gender identity non-discriminationCo-sponsored comprehensive bill adding gender identity as a protected class across employment, housing, education, credit, and public accommodations statewide. | The same framework is still being pushed today. As a justice, Taylor would interpret the scope of any version that passes. |
| AB319 | 2019 | Gender identity protections across all of civic lifeCo-sponsored bill extending protected class status to employment, housing, education, and insurance. Would have created new legal obligations and liabilities for every Wisconsin employer, landlord, and school. | Creates the legal framework she would then be positioned to interpret and expand from the bench. |
| AJR156 | 2019 | Constitutional amendment — gender identity cause of actionCo-sponsored proposed Wisconsin constitutional amendment creating private rights of action against public schools, local governments, and state agencies based on gender identity. Same framework reintroduced as AJR108 in 2025 by Rep. Vining. | Constitutional amendments require Supreme Court interpretation. Taylor co-wrote this. She would rule on its successor. |
| AB436 | 2019 | Eliminate criminal defenses based on victim's gender identityCo-sponsored bill restricting what arguments a criminal defendant may make in their own defense if those arguments involve the victim's gender identity or sexual orientation. | Criminal defense restrictions reach the Supreme Court on appeal. Taylor co-wrote the restriction. She would interpret it. |
| AB111 | 2019 | Conversion therapy banCo-sponsored bill prohibiting mental health providers from engaging in conversion therapy with a minor — defined to include any practice seeking to change an individual's gender identity or expression. | Scope of "gender identity or expression" is exactly the kind of definition the Supreme Court would be called to interpret. |
| AB312 | 2019 | Transgender equality task forceCo-sponsored bill creating a state task force to study legal and societal barriers to equality for transgender, intersex, nonbinary, and gender nonconforming individuals — and to provide recommendations to the governor and legislature. | Recommendations from this task force would shape the legislation that reaches the Supreme Court for review. |
"Every bill on this table was an attempt to reshape Wisconsin law around gender identity. Every one of them died — because the votes weren't there, or because Evers' veto wall didn't apply here. Now Chris Taylor is running for the court that would give those ideas their final legal form. The legislature is one branch. The court is another. Taylor spent a decade in the first. She wants the second."
Understanding what is happening requires seeing both tracks simultaneously. This is not one side acting and the other reacting. Both sides have been running coordinated, multi-session infrastructure strategies for a decade.
"Neither side is waiting for the public debate to catch up. Both sides are building the legal framework now so it is ready to activate when the political conditions align. The voters in the middle are the last to know — and the first to live with the result."
Strip away every specific bill, every session number, every legislator's name. What remains is a single governing question — and it is the most important question in Wisconsin politics right now: Who holds the authority to define how people in this state are required to treat each other?
"Your beliefs are yours. Your choices are yours. Your school, your employer, your family — yours to govern by your own values. The government stays out until someone's rights are actually violated."
"There is a correct way to think about gender identity. Institutions that do not adopt it require correction. The law exists to close the gap between how people currently behave and how they should behave — whether they agree or not."
"One party trusts you to live your life.
The other party needs a law to make sure you live theirs.
You do not need a law to let people live.
You only need a law when you need people to comply."
The bills being advanced are not symbolic. They attach legal consequences to specific people who made no choice about entering this debate. Here is where the cost lands.
Every Republican bill vetoed by Evers becomes law the day a Republican governor takes office. That vote is November 2026. But there is an election before that — one that determines whether the court that interprets those laws is neutral or not.
Chris Taylor spent a decade writing gender identity legislation in the Wisconsin Assembly. She is now running for the Wisconsin Supreme Court. A Taylor win gives liberals a 5–2 supermajority on the court — positioning it to strike down every Republican gender identity restriction bill even after a Republican governor signs them.
The legislative battle is for the laws. The court battle is for who interprets them. Both votes matter. The court vote is first — and it is in 17 days.