Candidates for Governor, Sen. Kelda Roys and Rep. Francesca Hong, joined a delegation of “transgender and gender-diverse elected officials” in signing a letter pressuring UW Health and Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin to resume gender-affirming care for minors. The hospitals had paused the procedures after caving to federal actions that threatened funding. Yet Roys and Hong want them reversed, calling the pause a betrayal of “medically necessary” treatment.
National polling shows clear public sentiment against these interventions for children. A 2025 Pew Research Center survey found 56 percent of American adults favor banning health care professionals from providing gender-transition care to minors, up 10 points from prior years. Among Republicans the figure reaches 79 percent. Even broader surveys consistently show two-thirds or more oppose puberty blockers and surgeries for kids under 18. Parents across the state want to protect children from irreversible decisions made during vulnerable developmental years, not accelerate them.
Roys and Hong, both eyeing the 2026 governor’s race, have chosen this as an issue they believe they must message on to win the Democrat primary. They both voted against 2025 Assembly Bill 104, which would have prohibited gender transition procedures for minors in Wisconsin. Instead of focusing on property taxes, affordability, or public safety, they prioritize a dangerous ideology over common sense public sentiment. The letter frames the pause as politically motivated fear, ignoring the growing body of evidence from European countries like Sweden, Finland, and the United Kingdom that have sharply restricted these treatments for minors due to low-quality evidence and long-term risks.
Democrats are refusing to acknowledge biological reality. Wisconsinites deserve leaders who put kids first, not activist who demand the public bend to their will. The hospitals were right to pause. Roys and Hong are wrong to demand they restart. In a state where voters repeatedly reject extreme social experiments at the ballot box, this letter exposes how out of touch these candidates remain.
