Associated Students of Madison (ASM) Equity and Inclusion Committee Chair Emmett Lockwood proposed legislation Wednesday to designate the University of Wisconsin-Madison a sanctuary campus for transgender students.
The bill, which attempts to protect UW-Madison students from potential anti-trans legislation passed at the city, county or state level, was proposed after members of the Wisconsin state Legislature debated bills earlier this month designed to ban doctors from providing gender-affirming health care to minors and ban trans girls and women from competing in high school and college women’s sports.
“Our goal with this legislation is to create peace of mind for transgender and nonbinary students on UW-Madison's campus,” Lockwood told The Daily Cardinal.
Lockwood said ASM’s bill is modeled after similar bills adopted by Dane County and the Madison Common Council.
Lockwood said the bill will “protect student anonymity” through the Family Education and Educational Rights and Protections Act and not reveal information regarding any individual student’s gender identity.
Additionally, the bill requires that the UW Police Department make enforcing bans on gender-affirming care — which, in the bill’s language, includes sports — against trans and nonbinary students their “lowest law enforcement priority”.
“UWPD would essentially need to root out all underage drinking and marijuana usage on this campus before they can pursue any enforcement of [potential] laws”, Lockwood said.
UWPD told the Cardinal they would not be “legally beholden to this ASM bill should it pass,” but that they commit themselves to protecting transgender and nonbinary individuals through “abiding by the principles they put forth.”
After an athletics research survey sent Monday by UW-Madison Recreation and Wellbeing (RecWell) asked students in club athletics to rate their agreement with transphobic statements, Lockwood told the Cardinal that ASM Equity is considering adding RecWell as a non-enforcement body.
Camren Livermore, a UW-Madison student, spoke about the legislation during the meeting’s public comment period Wednesday.
“Should any anti-trans legislation be passed at the state or national level, UW-Madison students, in particular, will be at risk of losing access to these rights due to the current lack of sanctuary legislation at the university,” Livermore said.
ASM plans to vote on the legislation during its next student council meeting on Wednesday, Oct. 25.
Iain Chang is a senior staff writer at The Daily Cardinal covering state news and politics.
