Another Case Of The Law Doesn’t Apply To Us.

You sign a contract to train healthcare workers, you hire staff and then the contract is yanked away from you claiming that you didn’t hire the workers you were suppose to hire.

Transgender advocacy group plans to sue state over contract cancellation

South Dakota Searchlight

By John Hult

December 22, 2022

A transgender advocacy organization plans to sue the state of South Dakota for civil rights violations over Gov. Kristi Noem’s abrupt cancellation of a health care facilitation contract with the group.

Brendan Johnson, a former U.S. district attorney who works for the law firm Robins Kaplan, told South Dakota Searchlight that his firm will represent The Transformation Project at no cost in a civil action against the state.

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The group’s claim originates with the contract cancellation, Johnson said, but “it’s not a contract dispute.”

“This is about violating federal law, equal protection,” Johnson said. “You cannot discriminate against people on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity. We believe that’s in violation of agreements between the state of South Dakota and the federal government that provided these funds.”

The Sioux Falls-based nonprofit was awarded about $136,000 in federal funds to hire and train a community health worker to help connect members of the LGBTQ community to physical and mental health care. The funds, dispensed by the state, were earmarked by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control for the hiring of community health workers to serve rural areas and marginalized communities.

How did this come about?

Simply a right-wing conservative group complained, so like a trained Pavlov dog Gov. Noem’s office ordered the contract pulled.

The Freedom Caucus, a coalition of South Dakota lawmakers aligned with the Freedom Caucus of the U.S. House of Representatives, issued a statement Monday that praised Noem’s decision to cut the contract. It also called on the South Dakota attorney general to investigate The Transformation Project and Sanford Health, which is set to host a Gender Identity Summit next month, for “promoting child abuse.”

In the law suit they claim that,

“The facts will show that The Transformation Project did not violate its contract with the state of South Dakota,” Johnson said. “This was a decision based on politics, not the law. We applaud the strength and dignity of the LGBTQ community, and we will aggressively defend their right to access health care and the vital services provided by The Transformation Project, including mental health and suicide prevention services.”

[…]

“This is incredibly unfair to one of our most vulnerable populations in South Dakota,” Johnson said. “This will be a long and expensive fight. This is going to cost the state of South Dakota a great deal in legal fees.”

The pogrom against us continues, they don’t care about the harm they are doing to one of the vulnerable communities in the nation they just want to score political points with their base.

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Congress just issued a report detailing that we are still being discriminated against… No s*** Sherlock!

Anti-LGBTQ+ Discrimination Persists Across the Country: Congressional Report

“The fight for equality in this country will not be over until we address all of these disparities and create true equity for the LGBTQ+ community,” says U.S. Rep. David Cicilline.

The Advocate

By Trudy Ring

December 19, 2022

LGBTQ+ Americans continue to face discrimination, violence, and other difficulties in many aspects of life, according to the Congressional LGBTQ+ Equality Caucus’s Inaugural Report on the Condition of LGBTQ+ People in the United States.

“LGBTQ+ people deserve the same opportunities to thrive as their non-LGBTQ+ peers. The data presented in this report shows, however, that the lived experiences of LGBTQ+ people are vastly different than those of our straight and cisgender neighbors,” U.S. Rep. David Cicilline, chair of the caucus, said in a press release. “With the increasing rise of violence against the LGBTQ+ community and the growing number of anti-LGBTQ+ bills being introduced in state legislatures and in Congress, it is especially critical that all levels of government work to ensure true lived equality for LGBTQ+ people. This includes by finally enacting the Equality Act into law to ensure comprehensive explicit nondiscrimination protections for LGBTQ+ people. Our ability to thrive in this country should not be limited due to our sexual orientation or gender identity. The fight for equality in this country will not be over until we address all of these disparities and create true equity for the LGBTQ+ community.”

The report, released Friday, covers four areas: education, economic security, health care, and housing. “These four areas, though not comprehensive of the LGBTQ+ experience, are critical to people’s wellbeing and help shine a light on the experiences of LGBTQ+ people in today’s society,” says Cicilline’s introduction to the report.

I think we know these already, we face it every day firsthand. 

The document concludes with a summary of actions taken in Congress to better the lives of LGBTQ+ people, such as passing the Respect for Marriage Act and legislation aimed at improving the collection of data on hate crimes. The Equality Act, which would ban anti-LGBTQ+ discrimination in employment, housing, credit, public accommodations, and more, has been passed twice by the House but remains stalled in the Senate.

We know that it is not going to move forward with the Republicans controlling the House.