Wisconsin Republicans reintroduce Save Women’s Sports Act

Republican lawmakers at the Wisconsin are trying again with a plan to keep individuals born biological males from playing girls’ sports.

Rep. Barb Dittrich, R-Oconomowoc, and Sen. Dan Knodl, R-Germantown, on Wednesday reintroduced the Save Women’s Sports Act, which would ban transgender athletes from competing with biological women and girls in high school and college sports in Wisconsin.

“This legislation will ensure that female athletes continue to have equal access to athletic opportunities and safe competition under the spirit of Title IX,” Knodl said in a statement. “As the father of two daughters and former student athletes, I am committed to upholding a level playing field where female athletes can thrive, compete, and excel.”

Dittrich first tried to get a girls-sports-only law in Wisconsin two years ago.

“On March 2, 2021, I held a news conference with legislators, parents, and student athletes to bring attention to the issue of saving women’s athletics for biological females. At that time, the name Lia Thomas was not widely known nor had pictures showing the side-by-side physical size differences between the genders been widely circulated,” Dittrich explained. “Since that time, more women have been injured by biological males competing in things like volleyball…Additionally, women continue to be erased by having their lifetime of hard work stolen by biological males in athletics winning top podium spots.”

Dittrich and Knodl’s plan would require schools to have either male, female, or co-ed teams. Trans students would play on the co-ed teams.

More than 20 other states already have a single-sex sports law like the plan Dittrich and Knodl are proposing.

“To every biological girl & woman out there, we see you,” Dittrich said on Twitter Wednesday. “You matter! You don't have to keep giving your awards to boys & men. Our fed'l gov't made sure that you would be protected under Title IX. We reject this assault on your protected spaces & categories.”

The LGBTQ advocacy group Fair Wisconsin also took to Twitter Wednesday to push back on Dittrich and Knodl’s plan.

“To all of our trans and non-binary youth in Wisconsin: You are seen. You are valued. You are loved. We will always have your back and we will never stop fighting for you,” the group said in a tweet.

It will be a while before anything could happen with Knodl and Dittrich’s plan. Lawmakers are pretty much done for the year. And even if it does make it through the legislature, the plan would face an almost certain veto from Gov. Tony Evers.