Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers, a Democrat, is encountering criticism for proposing a budget that alters the term "mother" to "inseminated person" and "paternity" to "parentage" in certain sections of state law.
The budget proposal from Evers' administration for the 2025-2027 fiscal period also suggests changing several other gender-specific terms. In the proposal, references to "wife" or "husband" are replaced with "spouse." Additionally, "father" is changed to "parent," and "mother" is replaced with "parent who gave birth to the child."
The budget was presented by the state Senate's Joint Committee on Finance on Tuesday.
Wisconsin radio host Dan O’Donnell highlighted the language changes in a post on X, describing it as "beyond parody." Senator Mike Lee, R-Utah, responded to the post, simply stating "red flag!"
The Republican Governors Association (RGA) released a statement addressing the language modifications.
Evers' "latest left-wing push" is "offensive to mothers," RGA executive director Sara Craig remarked in a statement. "Being a mother is the greatest privilege I will have in my lifetime, and every mother I know feels the same. If Tony Evers can reduce motherhood to an ‘inseminated person’ then our society is lost."
When introducing the budget proposal, Evers mentioned that his plan would remove income tax on tips, prevent property tax hikes for homeowners, and enhance the state’s infrastructure, among other initiatives. However, he did not address the language in the bill.
The cultural debate over gendered language has been ongoing for the past few years, with discussions about terms like "chestfeeding" instead of "breastfeeding" or "birthing person" instead of "mother."
On his first day back in the Oval Office, President Donald Trump confronted the issue directly with an executive order titled "Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government."
In the order, President Trump establishes official government policy "to recognize two sexes, male and female," asserting that they are "not changeable and are grounded in fundamental and incontrovertible reality." The order also clearly states that "’sex’ is not a synonym for and does not include the concept of ‘gender ideology.’"
Earlier this month, Trump issued another order on gender ideology titled "Keeping Men out of Women's Sports." This order aims to prevent transgender athletes from competing against women.
On Friday, during an event at the White House, the president had a heated exchange with Governor Janet Mills, D-Me., where he threatened to withdraw federal funding if the state does not comply with his order. The exchange concluded with both stating they would meet in court over the issue.
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