Outagamie County Board Censures Member for Alleged Transphobic Comments

Hermes also had a chance to speak on Tuesday. He clarified but also ultimately defended what his words.

“I did not call anyone disgusting. The disgusting word, that is situational,” explained Hermes. “When you have biological men going into a girl’s changing room, a woman’s bathroom and all the worry and concern and fears that people have surrounding that — that is what I find disgusting, that people are stuck worrying and have to worry about their daughter.”

A large number of people from outside of Outagamie County spoke in favor of Hermes — many saying the board had an obligation to do God’s will. Others called on the board to protect free speech and to not further cancel culture.

“Tim has every right to say what he did because that is his God-given right,” said one community member. “The moment we start firing, canceling and shutting people down because we are offended by their words — let’s be real and call them what they are, those are just words. Words do not hurt you physically. If you are not mentally stable enough to handle words, that is a you problem.”

However, many people also spoke against Hermes, condemning his words and saying they incite violence against transgender people.

“Timothy Hermes’ statements have deeply hurt many people in our community, as demonstrated by the outburst of righteous anger seen at the previous board meeting,” said one community member. “Refraining from taking action against Timothy Hermes now is effectively an endorsement of his hateful words and sets precedent for further hate speech being tolerated here. It is the responsibility of this board to protect the members of this community.”

According to the transcript of the May 9 meeting, Hermes compared being transgender to black face.

“Now to me, a man putting on a dress, and putting on a woman’s face, is the same as the black face in the 1920’s,” Hermes allegedly said.

Hermes continued, according to the transcript, questioning the safety of allowing transgender women into bathrooms with cisgender women.

“But don’t you think women have the right to their own bathrooms, and not a man pretending to be a woman going into that bathroom? I mean that puts a lot of concerns for fathers, you have a man in a dress with a woman’s face on going into a bathroom by a little girl, trying to change in their dressing rooms, I find that disgusting.” Hermes allegedly said.