David Crowley’s latest endorsement is coming from a national left-wing organization that has spent years fighting Wisconsin Republicans over gender-transition procedures for minors, girls’ sports and parental rights.
The Human Rights Campaign PAC announced its endorsement of Crowley for Wisconsin governor last week, including the Milwaukee County Executive among a slate of Democratic gubernatorial candidates it described as “pro-equality” champions.
For Crowley, who emerged from Wisconsin’s chaotic Democratic primary as the party establishment’s alternative to Democratic Socialist Francesca Hong, the endorsement offers another look at just how far left the supposedly “moderate” nominee is willing to go.
In Wisconsin, the Human Rights Campaign has repeatedly lobbied against Republican legislation dealing with transgender issues involving children — and even pressured Gov. Tony Evers to preserve taxpayer funding for certain gender-transition procedures.
HRC Fought to Preserve Taxpayer Funding for Gender-Transition Procedures
In 2023, Republican lawmakers included a provision in the state budget prohibiting Wisconsin Medicaid dollars from being used to pay for gender-reassignment surgery or puberty blockers when prescribed for gender transition.
The Human Rights Campaign launched a public campaign urging Evers to veto the provision, calling the Republican proposal an attack on “gender affirming healthcare.”
The provision specifically would have barred Medicaid reimbursement for gender-reassignment surgery and coverage of puberty blockers when used to treat gender dysphoria or facilitate a gender transition.
Evers ultimately obliged, using his partial-veto authority to strike the prohibition from the state budget. HRC celebrated the decision.
That same year, the organization fought Republican legislation that would have prohibited doctors from performing certain gender-transition medical interventions on children under the age of 18.
Assembly Bill 465 would have prohibited physicians from performing gender-reassignment surgeries on minors or prescribing puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones for the purpose of gender transition. HRC blasted the legislation as an effort to take away what it called “lifesaving medical care” from transgender youth and celebrated when Evers vetoed the bill.
Girls’ Sports, Parental Rights and Lawsuits Over Gender Procedures
HRC’s Wisconsin advocacy extended beyond medical procedures.
The organization opposed Republican legislation seeking to preserve women’s and girls’ athletic teams on the basis of biological sex, arguing instead that transgender students should be permitted to participate on teams consistent with their gender identity.
HRC also opposed Wisconsin’s 2023 Parents’ Bill of Rights.
Among other provisions, Assembly Bill 510 recognized parents’ rights to review instructional materials used in their children’s classrooms, receive notice of certain controversial subjects, make decisions regarding names and pronouns used for their children at school and “direct the upbringing, education, health care, and mental health” of their children.
HRC attacked the legislation after its passage, claiming it would “force teachers to misgender and deadname students” and praising Evers when he vetoed it.
The organization additionally registered against Assembly Bill 502, legislation creating a civil cause of action for minors who alleged they had been injured by gender-transition procedures. Under the proposal, minors subjected to a gender-transition procedure could bring an action against the physician who performed it if they suffered physical, psychological, emotional or physiological injury.
Gender Identity Lessons Starting in Kindergarten
The Human Rights Campaign’s advocacy also reaches directly into elementary-school classrooms through its “Welcoming Schools” program.
Welcoming Schools publishes lesson plans and resources for elementary educators covering sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression. One lesson designed for students as young as five years old uses the book Calvin to teach young students to “understand what it can mean to be transgender.”
HRC’s Welcoming Schools program also provides educators with instructions on how to socially transition students in elementary schools, “even if they do not have an affirming family.” The United States Supreme Court recently ruled that educators and school employees do not have the right to socially transition students without parental consent.
The Human Rights Campaign’s national efforts to push for secretive social transitions in schools extends to Wisconsin’s public schools.
The Madison Metropolitan School District announced in 2017 that it was implementing Welcoming Schools district-wide. Madison later became embroiled in a high-profile legal fight over district guidance directing school employees to use a student’s chosen name and pronouns regardless of whether the child had parental permission to change their name or gender at school.
Crowley and HRC Have Plenty in Common
HRC’s endorsement of Crowley may not be particularly surprising given his own record. As a state legislator, Crowley co-sponsored a resolution recognizing Transgender Day of Remembrance. He also co-sponsored legislation creating a taxpayer-funded “Transgender Equality Task Force” charged with recommending changes to state policy affecting transgender Wisconsinites.
Under Assembly Bill 312, the task force would have examined policies spanning virtually every level of state government, including health care, K-12 education, higher education, policing, prisons, housing and employment.
Crowley has continued publicly championing LGBTQ causes as Milwaukee County Executive.
In June, Crowley participated in a ceremony raising the Intersex Progress Pride Flag over the Milwaukee County Courthouse. He has also attended Milwaukee Pride events and previously posted imagery combining the Pride flag with the Black Lives Matter logo.
The Human Rights Campaign has a history of endorsing radical trans-activists for public office. In 2024, they endorsed Democrats Angelina Cruz and Christian Phelps for Wisconsin State Assembly, touting their commitment to LGBTQ issues. Cruz and Phelps were two of just six Democrats who voted against a bipartisan bill to criminalize the sexual grooming of a child in Wisconsin, with Cruz saying she voted against the legislation because the term “grooming” is hateful to the LGBTQ community.
The Human Rights Campaign also endorsed California State Senator Scott Wiener to replace Nancy Pelosi in Congress. Wiener has pushed for softer penalties on sex offenders, authored legislation allowing adults to have sex with 14-year-olds, voted to allow convicted sex offenders to run for office, and introduced legislation that decriminalized the act of knowingly giving someone HIV.
Now, the same national organization that fought to preserve taxpayer-funded gender-transition procedures and puberty blockers, opposed restrictions on gender-transition procedures for minors, fought Republican efforts to protect girls’ sports, opposed Wisconsin’s Parents’ Bill of Rights, and backed lawmakers who later voted against criminalizing the sexual grooming of children is officially throwing its support behind Crowley.
Throughout the Democratic primary, Crowley benefited from being cast as the more moderate alternative to socialist State Rep. Francesca Hong. But with the primary over, endorsements like HRC’s are providing Republicans with new ammunition to challenge that characterization and put greater scrutiny on Crowley’s own record on transgender issues, parental rights, and other cultural issues heading into the general election.
