Early voting has begun for the April 1 election for Wisconsin’s Supreme Court. Susan Crawford and Brad Schimel are running for a 10-year term. These are their records on LGBTQ issues:
In response to the question from PBS Wisconsin, “Do trans people have any specific protections under the law? Are they a protected class? Do they get any other category of protection when it comes to them being singled out as a group?”
- Crawford: “That is a question where if a case came in front of me, that was making an argument about the rights of transgender people or making a claim that they’d been discriminated against or something like that, I would have to look at the law and see what protections were available, and hear out what the attorney’s arguments were both for and against those kinds of protections. Obviously, look at the facts to see what was happening in that case. And then make a decision based on what I thought the facts and the law required.”
- Schimel: “Under the law, they’re not in a particular protected class, no, but in a courtroom, in the justice system, you don’t have to be in a protected class to enjoy, to enjoy our constitutional rights. You know, I, I do name changes. Every Monday morning is when we hold name change hearings. And I have — it’s routine that I have individuals who have transitioned or are transitioning, want to change their names. I respect them for that decision, and I make those name changes as a matter of routine. I’ve even had some cases where they’ve undergone gender change operation and want to change their birth certificate. The law provides that they can do that. That’s what the law provides. My personal opinions have nothing to do with that.”
Crawford’s LGBTQ history:
- “Represented Planned Parenthood in challenging, along with the state and national ACLU, a 2013 law signed by Republican Gov. Scott Walker that required abortion providers to have admitting privileges at nearby hospitals.” The ACLU noted “a federal judge blocked the law,” a decision that was upheld by a federal appeals court in both 2013 and 2015.
- Called the 2022 overturning of Roe v. Wade “wrongly decided,” and noted it marked “the first time the court has ever taken away a right that was recognized and long vested under our United States Constitution.” Crawford said she found it “deeply concerning … when the government starts invading some of those fundamental decisions that men and women make every day about how to live their lives and what’s best for them and their families.”
- In an interview with The Daily Cardinal (University of Wisconsin–Madison’s student newspaper), Crawford told young voters she is “looking to protect their rights under our Constitution and under our state laws and make sure that their fundamental freedoms are protected.” Referencing Brad Schimel’s remarks against reproductive freedom, she added, “I think young people should be concerned about a candidate who has an extreme position like that and is so willing to take rights away from people.”
- In a guest column in The Cap Times, Crawford affirmed her commitment “to protecting the fundamental rights and freedoms of all Wisconsinites.” Drawing from her personal experience, Crawford said she “represented Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin and their doctors to protect women’s access to reproductive health care services.”
- Said she prefers a “common sense” approach to reproductive rights rather than being labeled as “pro-choice,” a term she avoids “because of its policy implications and the way it’s been politicized.”
Schimel’s LGBTQ history:
- In 2014, while campaigning for attorney general, “Schimel pledged to defend Wisconsin’s ban on same-sex marriage and initially said he would refuse to uphold a 2009 state law granting domestic partnership benefits to same-sex couples.” Schimel later shifted his position on the latter, but remained committed “to enforcing the state’s same-sex marriage ban.”
- Compared same-sex couples to Nazi skinheads in describing the religious exemption rights of Masterpiece Cakeshop plaintiff who fought to the U.S. Supreme Court to discriminate against a gay couple shopping for a wedding cake: “What if a person who is a minority owns a store and a couple of Nazi skinheads come in and demand that [the owner] provides a service?” Schimel said. “Can that person say no? I don’t know that they can if the Supreme Court decides that [the bakery owner] can be forced to make this cake.”
- As attorney general, hired Misha Tseytlin to be solicitor general. Tseytlin “played a central role in crafting the legal strategy to dismantle Roe v. Wade.” Schimel has an extensive record of attacks against reproductive freedom and once said Wisconsin has no “constitutional right to abortion.”
- AP: Wisconsin taxpayers paid about $1,000 to send one of Schimel’s top lawyers to an event sponsored by Alliance Defending Freedom, a group with a long history of advocating against LGBTQ people and equality and a designated hate group by Southern Poverty Law Center. Schimel claimed the group only wants to make sure “LGBTQ+ rights did not interfere with the rights of other people.”
- Accused the Wisconsin Supreme Court’s liberal, female majority of being “driven by their emotions” in determining whether to uphold the state’s 1849 abortion ban. “You could see it in their eyes, and you could hear it in the tone of their voice.”
- At a recent campaign event in Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin, Schimel sided with business owners who wished to use religious grounds to turn away LGBTQ couples. When an “attendee asked whether Schimel would do anything to protect ‘those of us who don’t want to hire or offer services’ to people whose marriages ‘violate our religious beliefs,’ Schimel responded, ‘Your religious rights need to be protected.’” In a 2017 interview with Wisconsin Eye, Schimel suggested that marriage equality could pave the way for LGBTQ couples to “take their right to be married and now infringe on the legitimate religious liberty beliefs or rights of a person who is an artist. This isn’t going down to the corner grocery store and buying a box of Ding Dongs. This is somebody who creates art.” In fact, the opposite happened: attempts at expanding religious exemptions to more scenarios to discriminate against LGBTQ people followed the narrow ruling in Masterpiece. Anti-LGBTQ legal group Alliance Defending Freedom reportedly shopped for plaintiffs to continue to challenge anti-discrimination laws in 303 Creative, featuring a web designer who had not been approached by any LGBTQ person or couple.
- Expressed willingness to enforce a ban on marriage equality if the U.S. Supreme Court overturns Obergefell v. Hodges. At a campaign event in Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin, Schimel said: “We have a constitutional amendment that’s still on the books.” Schimel previously explained his personal beliefs on marriage equality in an interview with Eye on Oshkosh in 2014, 18 months before the U.S. Supreme Court’s Obergefell decision legalized marriage equality nationwide: “As I do my job as attorney general, my personal view on that issue has no business entering into the equation. My job as the state’s lawyer is to defend Wisconsin’s law … until the Supreme Court says it’s unconstitutional or the people change it. So, you start with that, but my view is I favor traditional marriage: one man, one woman. That’s my personal view in my personal life, and that’s how I voted when the marriage amendment was on the ballot. Now, that doesn’t mean that I don’t accept that people of the same sex can be deeply in love with each other, and committed to each other. I wonder whether the government ought to be in the marriage business at all, and whether we ought to leave that to religion and other things.”
- Criticized transgender singer Laura Jane Grace, who opened a Wisconsin rally held by Sen. Bernie Sanders with a performance of “Your God.” Schimel said the song was an “absolutely grotesque attack on people of faith.”
- Ran an anti-transgender ad campaign featuring a parent accusing Susan Crawford of supporting the “radical agenda” of special interests. “Let transitioning males use my girls’ bathrooms at school? Allow boys to compete against them in sports? Giving puberty-blocking drugs to children without parents’ consent? That’s who Susan Crawford sides with.”
- Refused to comment on anti-transgender text messages from “Win Wisconsin, Win the Future,” a group which is not “registered with the state, the Federal Election Commission or the Internal Revenue Service.” The texts ask if “parents should have the right to know if their child is transitioning genders at school” and warn “ISSUES LIKE THIS COULD BE DECIDED BY THE WI SUPREME COURT.”
Fair Wisconsin, the state’s only statewide LGBTQ+ civil rights and political advocacy organization, issued a statement on the election: “Brad Schimel would be a dangerous addition to the Wisconsin Supreme Court because he poses a threat to our rights, both for the rights of Wisconsinites in general and for the LGBTQ+ community in particular. Schimel has recently launched an anti-trans attack ad, and I find his cynical attempt to sow fear by preying on our trans friends, family, and neighbors in Wisconsin absolutely disgusting. As I have said before in the face of anti-trans attacks, we cannot let these ugly ads work. People are not issues; children are not weapons; health care, safety, and support are for everyone. Every bill passed into law, and every decision made by a court has an impact on the LGBTQ+ community, and that is why we need to have a court we can rely on to protect our rights as Wisconsinites, including LGBTQ+ Wisconsinites – our rights to safety, health, and the freedom to live as our authentic selves and love who we love.”
GLAAD statement: “All elections are a chance for voters to use their voices, and the Wisconsin Supreme Court race is one with a ten-year impact on LGBTQ people as well as fairness and impartiality. Voters can review the LGBTQ records of the candidates to understand how they will defend or dismantle protections for LGBTQ people, as well as reproductive rights. The election on April 1 will have a profound and lasting influence on the safety and equality of all Wisconsinites.”
The court is expected to decide the future of abortion in the state and could redraw a congressional map.
In addition, there is a proposed constitutional amendment on the ballot that seeks to embed Wisconsin’s voter ID law into the state constitution. Wisconsin currently requires voters to present their photo ID in person at the polls.
- According to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, “The referendum isn’t asking whether to get rid of or keep that law. It’ll remain in place regardless of the referendum results.” Instead, it seeks to permanently add the voter ID law into the state constitution.
- Crawford previously expressed opposition to the law and called it “draconian,” but declined to share how she would vote. Schimel is in favor of the state’s voter ID law and said he would support the resolution.
- Strict voter ID laws can create barriers for transgender people, “both because of difficulties in obtaining an ID that’s accepted, or because they might run into bias or misunderstandings of the law when it comes to their gender.”
Unelected billionaire Elon Musk has endorsed Schimel and donated to groups that have reportedly spent more than $10 million in ads against Schimel’s opponent, Susan Crawford (including one that used a photo of the wrong individual to represent Crawford). Investigative reporters have noted that the groups have posted Facebook ads making false claims about Crawford’s position on cash bail. Crawford has not taken a position on cash bail.
The GLAAD ALERT Desk (Anti-LGBTQ Extremism Reporting Tracker) has documented 47 anti-LGBTQ incidents in Wisconsin since June 2022, including three bomb threats, three cases of vandalism, and two assaults. Examples include:
- On Feb. 1, 2025, an individual mailed anti-LGBTQ letters to an LGBTQ person / former pastor at their home in Oak Creek, Wisconsin. The letters addressed the victim, calling them a “queer piece of sh*t.”
- Starting on March 8, 2024, at least four bomb threats were called into Butler Middle School in Waukesha, Wisconsin. The threats followed a post by Libs of TikTok four days prior, which showed a school employee posting about his partner and saying: “Acceptance, equity and inclusion should be cornerstones of our schools.”
- (TW) On Feb. 26, 2023, an individual shot and killed a transgender woman at her apartment in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The perpetrator allegedly filmed her death while making anti-trans comments.