Election 2024: Wisconsin Fact Sheet

LGBTQ people live, work and raise families in every U.S. state. Wisconsin will play a prominent role in the 2024 campaign, including hosting the Republican National Convention in July, and as the first out lesbian to be elected to the U.S. Senate, Tammy Baldwin, seeks re-election. 

Voter registration dates are October 16, 2024 (online and mail registration) and November 1, 2024 (in-person registration at municipal clerk’s office). Election Day registration is also permitted on November 5, 2024. Early voting for the general election October 22, 2024 to November 3, 2024.

Campaign coverage should inform voters about the candidates and the LGBTQ issues they are campaigning on. Reporters must take extra care to be accurate and inclusive when reporting on conversations and proposals about marginalized people. 

The safety of LGBTQ Americans and their ability to live free from discrimination are at stake.  

LGBTQ Wisconsinites: Context to Know and Report

• 3.8% of adult Wisconsinites are LGBTQ, with 29% of them raising children.
  
• In 2023, several pieces of anti-LGBTQ state legislation were introduced, considered, or signed into law:
  
  • Transgender health care: Republican members of the Wisconsin State Legislature introduced Assembly Bill 465, prohibiting gender-affirming medical care for anybody under the age of 18. Gov. Tony Evers vetoed the bill in December, and it has been referred to the House Rules Committee. In addition, Wisconsin House Republicans introduced Assembly Bill 502 in October. This legislation would pave the way for doctors who provide gender-affirming care to be sued.
    
  • Transgender participation in sports: Assembly Bills 377 and 378, which mirror legislation introduced in 2021, would prevent transgender girls and women from participating in sports teams that match their gender, and would segment teams into three categories: males, females, and males and females. A public hearing was held in the Senate in December.
    
  • Transgender exclusion: Assembly Bill 609 was introduced in October, providing protections for health care providers who utilize “innovative or novel therapies.” Notably absent from this bill are protections for providers of gender-affirming care.
    
  • Education: Assembly Bill 510, the “Parental Bill of Rights,” was introduced in January. If passed, parents and guardians would be allowed to opt their students out of classroom discussions about gender identity, sexual orientation, race, and racism. Further, it would prohibit staff from calling students by their chosen name or from using their authentic pronouns. A similar attempt was vetoed by Gov. Evers in 2022.
    
  • So-called “Conversion therapy”: In 2020, the State’s Marriage and Family Therapy, Professional Counseling, and Social Work Examining Board implemented licensing rules to ban the discredited and dangerous practice to change sexual orientation or gender identity via so-called “conversion therapy.” Subsequently, the Joint Committee on Review of Administrative rules reversed this decision with the introduction of Senate Bill 4 in January 2023. The legislation was referred to the committee on Administrative Rules in March 2023, preventing Gov. Evers from vetoing it, and effectively blocking the State’s ban. At the time of writing, 22 states have banned so-called “conversion therapy” noting it is dangerous and ineffectual.
• Last April, Wisconsinites largely rejected school board candidates affiliated with book banning groups like Moms for Liberty.
• Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers is an ally to the LGBTQ community, and has expressed that he would veto any anti-LGBTQ legislation that crosses his desk.
• According to the LGBTQ Victory Institute, a record 283 out LGBTQ people won elected office in 2023 for a total of 1,185 out elected officials nationwide. Wisconsin has 32 out elected officials, including Sen. Tammy Baldwin and Rep. Mark Pocan.
  
• The LGBTQ records of Nikki Haley and Donald Trump are documented on the GLAAD Accountability Project, which includes policies and proposals targeting LGBTQ Americans, and false and harmful rhetoric about them. Trump has amassed more than 200 attacks in policy and rhetoric against LGBTQ Americans throughout his one-term presidency and 2024 campaign.
• The Biden-Harris administration’s LGBTQ record includes more than 320 appointments, nominations, statements and policies of support, as documented via GLAAD’s Biden Accountability Tracker.
• Polling and turnout analysis from the 2020 election indicate that LGBTQ voters played a deciding role in the victory of Joe Biden for President and in key battleground states.

Best Practices

• Stories about or that mention LGBTQ people should include LGBTQ voices. 
• In stories specifically about transgender people, seek and include a transgender person. GLAAD can connect you. 
• Prioritize facts, expertise and LGBTQ lived experience over candidate and campaign opinion in your reporting. If a candidate remarks about LGBTQ people, always include facts and context. For example, any discussion of transgender health care must note this care is supported by every major medical association (30+ statements here). Additional resources below. 
• Review and report a candidate’s LGBTQ record and support from anti-LGBTQ groups. Ongoing documentation is available on candidates, other public figures, and groups via the GLAAD Accountability Project.
• Avoid shorthand descriptions of political conversations about LGBTQ people as a “culture war debate.” This dehumanizes marginalized people as a “side” and allows oppressive policies and politicians to escape accountability for creating and fueling the “war.” This language adds to voter apathy by alienating viewers and readers who find vaguely defined “culture wars” irrelevant to their lives. Focus your reporting on the policies, consequences to all taxpayers and the people directly harmed, and the candidates proposing them and their LGBTQ history.
• Be factual and clear in your language: “(candidate name) has proposed policies restricting health care for transgender people, despite the fact that this care is supported by every major medical association.”
• Do not repeat, or clearly state as false, “groomer” rhetoric. Experts in child abuse prevention have raised alarms that this rhetoric undermines understanding of actual child abuse and endangers innocent people and children.
• Include greater context: 500+ anti-LGBTQ bills were proposed in state legislatures through 2023. This is a broad scale, coordinated attack against LGBTQ Americans’ growing visibility and acceptance, via targeting health care, book bans, curriculum and conversation bans, sports bans, and bathroom bans.
• Inform your readers and viewers about this larger pattern of LGBTQ animus as you report on individual topics and bills and candidates supporting them. Note also how health care and drag ban bills have been blocked in court as unconstitutional and discriminatory.
• Report connections between anti-LGBTQ rhetoric and policies to violent and extremist incidents: the ADL Center on Extremism has documented at least 700 attacks against LGBTQ people through 2023, including murders, assault, harassment, and vandalism. The report notes increasing connections of anti-LGBTQ violence by people from extremist groups like Oath Keepers and Proud Boys.
• Anti-LGBTQ posts on extremist media, further amplified on extremist cable programs, have been followed by bomb threats against children’s hospitals, libraries and schools, endangering and inconveniencing all students, families and residents in these communities.
• Report connections between anti-LGBTQ extremism and other attacks on freedoms: states proposing bills targeting LGBTQ people have also banned abortion and denied and denigrated fair elections. In addition, several states have passed laws or introduced bills mirroring  Florida’s extreme “Don’t say LGBTQ” law. Lawmakers in Nebraska passed a bill both banning health care for transgender youth and abortion after 12 weeks. Texas lawmakers proposed more than 140 anti-LGBTQ bills last year,  passed extreme restrictions on abortion, and enforced draconian laws.

Additional Resources:

GALLUP: 7.2% of U.S. adults are out as LGBTQ, including 20% of Gen Z, the most out generation in history; a projected 14% of voters will be out as LGBTQ by 2030.

GALLUP: record high 71% support for marriage equality.

GLAAD: 84% of Americans support equal rights for LGBTQ people.

GLAAD Media Reference Guide: terminology and 20+ topic areas to learn about and accurately report on LGBTQ people.

Medical Association Statements Transgender Health Care: 30+ statements from every major medical association and world health authority, across specialities and patient lifespan, supporting health care for transgender people. Health care for transgender people is mainstream care with widely held consensus of both the medical and scientific communities.

Factsheet for Reporters Covering Transgender Health Care: what to know about transgender health care and how to responsibly include trans voices in your coverage.

About GLAAD:
GLAAD rewrites the script for LGBTQ acceptance. As a dynamic media force, GLAAD tackles tough issues to shape the narrative and provoke dialogue that leads to cultural change. GLAAD protects all that has been accomplished and creates a world where everyone can live the life they love.