Susan Crawford, Brad Schimel on Transgender Rights and Law

Frederica Freyberg:
The spring election is April 1. In the debate, you heard the topic of rape kits. Next week on this program “Here & Now’s” Zac Schultz reports on the background of that controversy and hears from both Brad Schimel and Susan Crawford on the issue.
Tonight, more from the candidates in this election that will determine the balance of the court with this excerpt from Zac’s reporting.

Zac Schultz:
One of the other cultural flashpoints that we’re going through as a country right now has to do with trans rights. In your estimation, do trans people have any specific protections under the law? Are they a protected class? Do they get any other category of protection when it comes to them being singled out as a group?

Susan Crawford:
You know, that is a question where if a case came in front of me, that was making an argument about the rights of transgender people or making a claim that they’d been discriminated against or something like that, I would have to look at the law and see what protections were available, and hear out what the attorney’s arguments were both for and against those kinds of protections. Obviously, look at the facts to see what was happening in that case. And then make a decision based on what I thought the facts and the law required.

Zac Schultz:
But as of now, there’s nothing specific in state or federal law that gives them any protected status?

Susan Crawford:
You know, I don’t — I don’t want to answer that specific question because I haven’t researched it and I can’t make a blanket statement that there are no such protections without actually looking at the law to make that determination.

Brad Schimel:
Under the law, they’re not in a particular protected class, no, but in a courtroom, in the justice system, you don’t have to be in a protected class to enjoy, to enjoy our constitutional rights. You know, I, I do name changes. Every Monday morning is when we hold name change hearings. And I have — it’s routine that I have individuals who have transitioned or are transitioning, want to change their names. I respect them for that decision, and I make those name changes as a matter of routine. I’ve even had some cases where they’ve undergone gender change operation and want to change their birth certificate. The law provides that they can do that. That’s what the law provides. My personal opinions have nothing to do with that. If they meet the standards under the law, they deserve the respect of the court and they deserve to have their rights granted to them.

Man:
That is child abuse.

Frederica Freyberg:
Tensions roiled at the State Capitol during nine hours of testimony over a bill that would ban gender affirming treatments like hormones or surgery for anyone under the age of 18.