Wisconsin was the first state to provide legal protection from discrimination for LGB people. That happened in 1982. But the state has never sought to include transgender people as well.

If a miracle occurs and the bill actually passes, Wisconsin would become the 20th state to ban discrimination against transgender people.

Wisconsin's transgender residents would be legally protected from discrimination in employment, housing, school and other areas under a new Democratic proposal.

The bill would prohibit discrimination on the basis of a person's gender identity or expression and would add gender identity and gender expression as bases of discrimination in some existing state laws. Reps. Mark Spreitzer, D-Beloit, and JoCasta Zamarripa, D-Milwaukee, and Sen. Tim Carpenter, D-Milwaukee, released the bill for co-sponsorship on Thursday.

If the bill passes the Republican-controlled legislature, which we are not going to hold our breath for, it would have to be signed by Gov. Scott Walker, which is also highly improbable.

In Wisconsin we have a rich history of leadership on issues of nondiscrimination and today we seek to continue that tradition by including critical legal protections for the transgender community in our state law.

Some people face discrimination because they’re perceived as not fitting into a narrow norm of how someone else thinks that a man or a woman should look, dress or act. This bill rests on the simple concept that members of the transgender community are people.

--Rep. Spreitzer

The Privacy Protection and Gender Identity Anti-Discrimination Act is in circulation for co-sponsorship.

Spreitzer said recent legal battles — including a 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruling this week in favor of a transgender Kenosha high school student who wanted the right to use the boys’ bathroom — highlight the need for explicit protections in the law for gender identity.

I wouldn’t change my daughter for the world. but I'd like to change the world for her to be treated equally.

--Annette Grunseth, mother of a transgender daughter

We’re not asking for any protections that aren’t afforded everybody in Wisconsin and America. We’re just asking for those protections to include who we are.

--Darla Lannert, OutReach

It is estimated that 58,000 transgender and non-binary people live in Wisconsin.

For far too long in Wisconsin, transgender people have been denied basic protections from discrimination in the workplace, housing, and public spaces. This bill would modernize Wisconsin’s nondiscrimination laws, level the playing field for transgender people and send a powerful message to companies, workers and students across the country that Wisconsin is open for business. It is time to extend full equality to transgender people across Wisconsin and I thank Rep. Spreitzer, Rep. Zamarripa and Sen. Carpenter for their leadership on this vital issue.

--Sarah McBride, HRC