Wisconsin needs a candidate for governor who will defend LGBTQ people

Vol. 74

IN THIS ISSUE: Essay | Now Read This | Get Outside

This essay originally appeared in The Recombobulation Area, part of the Civic Media Network.

With Tony Evers’ announcement last month that he will not be seeking a third term in office, the field for governor is wide open. As a queer and trans person, this is both an exciting and terrifying prospect.

I’m excited because Evers’ decision makes much-needed space for fresh perspective and new leadership in Wisconsin government. We’ve already seen too many cases of longtime office-holders clinging to power and position well past their expiration dates. I’m not just talking about age, either. While consistency can be helpful, it can also stagnate or simply become out of touch with the people they’re tasked with representing. 

It’s also important for existing leaders to support new blood — and actually make room for it, too. I deeply appreciate that Evers has done so in this case, after years of dedicated service. Even good leaders need to step back eventually to create room for different people to try different things. 

We have the opportunity and imperative now to nominate and elect someone who will fight for all Wisconsinites: urban and suburban and rural, longtime resident and recent immigrant, queer and trans and straight and cisgender. Having elected leaders with spines and firm moral compasses is something that’s only grown more important in the face of the Trump Administration’s increasingly brazen authoritarian attacks.

Speaking of that, the reason I’m terrified is that the vacuum left in Evers’ wake leaves a lot of room for things to go wrong in a way that could directly hurt people, particularly those who are members of already vulnerable and/or targeted communities. While there’s more I wish he’d been able to do throughout his time as governor, Evers was at least always a reliable bulwark against the worst excesses of the right-wing’s anti-LGBTQ crusade.

We shouldn’t stand for a candidate for office — from any party — who is willing to throw any person or community under the bus. The minute we decide that a particular minority group is OK to scapegoat or demonize or even just ignore is the minute we lose. Because if we can be convinced, as the author Omar El Akkad notes, to “just for a moment, cease to believe that this particular group of people are human,” then there is no violence, no degradation, that can’t be excused away.

I already know how the current Republican Party feels about queer and trans people. They’ve decided to hitch their wagons to outright bigotry and fear-mongering, trying to convince everyone that we’re somehow a threat to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. From bathroom bans to attacks on gay marriage, the GOP seems to want nothing more than the total eradication of LGBTQ people.

Which makes it all the more infuriating when Democrats parrot the very same lies and mis-directions about trans people in an effort to, they hope, score political points. Major figures in the party right now are either toeing the transphobic line or all-in on it, from Pete Buttigieg to Rahm Emanuel to Gavin Newsom. It’s wrong-headed and dangerous.

There was a narrative after Trump won the last election that trans people were somehow to blame for the Democrats losing, too — as though 1% of the population holds such power. Trans people didn’t turn our existence and our basic rights into a wedge issue, though. That’s entirely the work of a small group of people intent on erasing us from existence, and it’s pretty heartbreaking to see so many other people caught up in the manufactured mania.

You may not personally care about (or think you know) trans or queer people, but the attacks on our basic rights are harbingers of the kinds of attacks on the human rights of all people that are being rolled out nationwide. It all comes down to bodily autonomy, free speech, free thought, and the ability to dream up and then work towards a better world. If our right to self-determination is being stripped away, it can be taken from anyone, for any reason, at any time.

Gov. Evers provided a crucial firewall against the worst abuses of the current right-wing agenda against LGBTQ people; rights that radiate out to impact everyone. He blocked attempts to ban trans youth from accessing medically necessary gender-affirming care, bar trans and gender non-conforming kids from joining sports teams that align with their identities, and has been outspoken in his support for the LGBTQ community generally.

Anything less than that from any future candidate for governor (or any elected office) would represent a threat not just to LGBTQ people, but to all Wisconsinites. Anyone pushing for or excusing the call to, “just for a moment, cease to believe that this particular group of people are human” in order to win an election or a debate or a vote does not have our best interests in mind. If we’re to trust that our next governor will actually stand up to the continued onslaught of anti-democratic, anti-human rights politics, they need to speak and act on behalf of all of us, forcefully and frequently. No exceptions.

Now Read This.

“Are Madison and Dane County ready to fight for democracy?” [Eileen Harrington for Isthmus]

Are Madison and Dane County’s municipal and county leaders prepared should similar actions be aimed at us? Are we, the people, clear about what we can do now and throughout 2026 to thwart anti-democratic forces?

“A call to merge the climate and immigration movements” [HEATED]

…this is all connected by an economy rooted in extraction. Climate is not a topic, it’s a context. The rights of immigrants to move out of harm's way is connected to extreme weather, and extreme weather is connected to an economy fueled by the continued extraction of fossil fuels.

“Every place is the last best place” [Garrett Bucks]

Some places are quite beautiful, it’s true. Some are less dangerous, or rank higher in various rankings of relative well-being. None of them have a monopoly on virtue or holiness. All of them, I fear, are just one catastrophe away from disappearing. And since they are connected, I fear the domino effect that might come from each successive fall.

But if that is true so is the corollary. The tethers between places, if we notice and strengthen them, can keep us all upright.

“Leslie Feinberg Changed Transmasc History” [Quispe Lopez for them]

To say Feinberg permanently altered the fabric of the trans liberation movement would be an understatement. But to understand hir legacy and work, you need to know who zie was in life. Born September 1, 1949 and raised in Buffalo, New York, Feinberg grew up in a working-class Jewish family and was employed in factories at a young age. It’s through hir labor organizing alongside other butch lesbians and transmasculine people of the time that Feinberg became connected to broader liberation movements like Palestinian solidarity, the anti-racist movement, and transgender rights.

Get Outside.

I took a long Labor Day weekend to get away with some of my chosen family for a five-day camping trip to one of my favorite places in Wisconsin (and possibly on Earth), Rock Island State Park.

Accessible via two ferry rides off the northern tip of Door County, Rock Island is a no-car, no-bike, no-electricity, walk/handcart-in oasis in the middle of Lake Michigan. The island is covered by white cedar and hardwood forest, dune and swale shorelines, and one of the most gorgeous sand beaches anywhere around. It takes some planning and coordination to camp out there, but it’s so worth it if it’s at all accessible to you.

And it seems like a lot of folks in Wisconsin don’t know it exists. I had to explain it to almost everyone I told about our trip. I don’t mind that it’s something of a well-kept secret, but I think its remoteness will keep it from ever being totally overrun. On the other hand, I want more people to have the opportunity to visit, even if just for the day. It’s a special place, and one I hope to visit many times in the future.

We got lucky in terms of timing, in that the biting bugs were at low ebb and the weather was absolutely idyllic the entire time we were there. We watched spectacular sunsets over the water every evening and marveled at the incredible array of stars overhead at night, including a visible Milky Way, thanks to being so far from any real light pollution.

We took long hikes along the many miles of trail throughout the island, toured the historic lighthouse (where we learned that the first lighthouse keeper, back in the early 1800s, was kept company by his “longtime friend” and old army comrade for 10 years), and my partner identified over 30 species of mushrooms–boletes and chanterelles and dead man’s fingers and more.

The trip coincided with the final days of my total social media break, too, and provided the full remove from the daily grind that I’ve been yearning for and needing. I’m filled with gratitude.

Learn more about the history of Rock Island and plan your visit!

‘Til Next Time

Drink water, touch grass, free Palestine.