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.

[...]

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.

The Ball Is In The Governor’s Court

In South Dakota the clock is running out for the governor to veto the bill or will he let it become law without his signature? Celebrities speak out...

Laverne Cox Urges Action on South Dakota’s Transgender BillTime
By Sarah Begley
February 24, 2016

"We should be creating safer, nurturing environments for our children"

Laverne Cox has weighed in on the South Dakota bill that would prohibit schools from providing bathroom accommodations for transgender students, sharing a message on Instagram and calling on the governor to veto the bill.

Cox, the actress known for her role in Orange is the New Black and for her activism on transgender issues, shared a photo of Thomas Lewis, a South Dakota student who spoke out about his experience at a high school where he was required to use a bathroom based on his sex at birth, not the gender he identifies with.
“Let’s urge the South Dakota governor to veto H.B. 1008, the bill that ostracizes trans students and targets them for even more harassment and bullying,” Cox wrote on Instagram. “Studies show that 78% of trans students experience harassment or bullying in school and nearly 50% attempt suicide. We should be creating safer, nurturing environments for our children not more hostile ones. Sign the petition to urge the South Dakota governor to veto this bill.”

And Caitlyn also speaks out against the bill.

Caitlyn Jenner Advocates for Transgender-Friendly Bathrooms
Time
By Eliana Dockterman
February 23, 2016

A South Dakota bill would force trans children to use the bathrooms that correspond to their sex at birth

Caitlyn Jenner took to social media Monday to pressure South Dakota Governor Dennis Daugaard to veto a bill that would force transgender children to use school bathrooms and locker rooms that are consistent with their “chromosomes and anatomy” at birth.

I have a feeling that the governor is going to wash his hands on the bill and let it go into law without his signature.

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This afternoon I am giving the second in three lectures on gender variant students in the Multicultural Education classes. Yesterday's class went well and the students asked a number of questions at the end, many of them legal questions like what do you do if the parents are against the child's transition. Unfortunately there is no set  answer, it depends upon the students age and there is no fixed age that you can give.

They Got Their Hand Slapped.

The state of South Dakota thought that they could get away with it, butt they got caught in a lie.

South Dakota apologizes to transgender advocacy group, will pay $300K over canceled contract
The Hill
By Lauren Sforza
February 7, 2024

South Dakota will pay $300,000 and has apologized to a transgender advocacy group after the state government canceled a contract with the organization.

Attorneys for The Transformation Project announced the settlement Monday — more than a year after the group filed a lawsuit against Gov. Kristi Noem (R) and the state health secretary over the terminated contract.

Why was the contract canceled? Was it something that The Transformation Project did? No it was because they were LGBTQ+ organization.

The group alleged that its contract with South Dakota became a “political liability” after a conservative outlet brought it and one of the group’s planned events to Noem’s attention in December 2022, according to its complaint. The group alleged its contract was “abruptly terminated” in December 2022 “based purely on national politics.”

Then the state lied trying to weasel out of saying it was because of right-wing media.

“The Contract was only terminated after a conservative national media outlet contacted state officials. In response to a potentially negative news cycle, the State cancelled TTP’s [The Transformation Project] Contract, issued a statement, and subsequently alleged breaches of contract in an attempt to apply a thin gloss of contract law to the State’s discriminatory actions,” according to the complaint, which was filed in South Dakota federal court.

But the courts would believe none of the it.

South Dakota Department of Health Secretary Melissa Magstadt signed an apology letter to the organization dated Jan. 18. Magstadt was not the secretary when the contract was canceled in 2022, according to The Associated Press.

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An article in the Daily Beast reported that,

South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem personally killed a 2022 state contract with a transgender advocacy group the minute she heard about it.

“South Dakota does not support this organization’s efforts, and state government should not be participating in them,” she told the press of The Transformation Project.

 

But Noem left it to a minion to write an apology required by Thursday’s finalized settlement of a federal discrimination lawsuit the group brought in response to the governor’s words and actions.

Her bigotry was so evident that,

But Noem’s words and actions were so nakedly unconstitutional that the Transmission Project was able to cite them as evidence of discrimination. The result was a lawsuit so strong that The Transformation Project was able to secure the written apology.

While Law & Crime wrote that,

Noem, a possible Donald Trump vice-presidential pick, was officially banned by the Oglala Sioux Tribe from the Pine Ridge Reservation Friday after Noem spoke out about wanting to send additional razor wire and law enforcement personnel to Texas to help border security. It was not the first time Noem and the tribe have battled. In May 2020, during the pandemic, Noem threatened to sue the tribe if leaders did not immediately remove coronavirus checkpoints. Prior to that, Noem signed a bill that requires a sign posted in public school classrooms reading “In God We Trust.”

A typical racist right-wing bigot.

However, nothing that I read said that the contract was reinstated which I feel is a victory for the state.

Tick Tock, Tick Tock

Today is the deadline for governor Dennis Daugaard of South Dakota… does he make South Dakota the first state in the union to criminalize us?

Deadline Nears for Anti-Trans 'Bathroom Bill' in South Dakota
Advocate
By Trudy Ring
February 29, 2016

All eyes — at least the eyes of those interested in transgender people’s rights — are on South Dakota as the deadline approaches for Gov. Dennis Daugaard to sign or veto a bill restricting transgender students’ access to restrooms and other gender-segregated facilities.

Daugaard, a Republican, has until 11:59 p.m. Central time Tuesday to either sign or veto the legislation, House Bill 1008. If he does not do either, it will become law automatically.
[…]
If HB 1008 becomes law, South Dakota would be the first state with such a statute, and it would put South Dakota at odds with the U.S. Department of Education, which has held that discriminatory treatment of transgender students is banned under Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, which prohibits sex discrimination. The department can withhold federal funds from schools that violate this law.

It would put South Dakota school districts in “the untenable position of choosing between complying with state or federal law, putting them at risk of losing up to nearly $200 million in federal funding for their schools in addition to the cost of inevitable litigation,” said a Human Rights Campaign press release issued Monday.

Tick tock, tick tock…

I have a feeling that this will be a very bad year for us and for lesbians and gays as the Republicans wants to gather votes by showing that they are strong against our rights.

Good News, Bad News… First The Bad News

It looks like South Dakota is going to be the first state to ban bathrooms use for us.

Transgender Law Center condemns South Dakota bill targeting transgender youth
Transgender Law Center
February 16, 2016

Today, the South Dakota Senate voted 20-15 to pass HB 1008, a dangerous bill that singles out transgender students and prohibits them from using restrooms and locker rooms consistent with who they are. The bill already passed the House and now goes to the governor’s office.

Statement from Transgender Law Center Executive Director Kris Hayashi:

“It is distressing and disturbing that South Dakota legislators would jeopardize the state school system’s funding and the lives of South Dakota youth in an effort to single out transgender students for discrimination, harassment, and exclusion. Every single child, including transgender youth, should have the opportunity to succeed and be treated fairly by our schools and elected officials. Using state law to force a student to use a separate bathroom from their peers just because they are transgender is not only dangerous and wrong, it is a violation of federal law.

The vote in both cambers was right down party lines. The Republican voted for discrimination and the Democrats voted against the bill.

Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 has been found by the courts to include discrimination against gender identity under sex discrimination. Federal courts has ruled that gender identity is sex discrimination based in the Supreme Court decision in the Price Waterhouse v. Hopkins ruling that sex discrimination encompasses sex stereotyping, in other words that if a person is being discriminated because they don’t look or behave like a “typical” person of their gender it also falls under sex discrimination.

In the past the U. S. Department of Education has threaten to cut funding to school districts that discriminate against trans people. South Dakota received over $300 million dollars in federal education funding, that is all on the line now if the governor signs the bill into law.

Another Draconian Bill By Republicans…

This time from South Dakota where they want to ban talking about us in schools.

South Dakota educators balk at proposed ban on gender identity, expression instruction
Sioux Falls Argus Leader
By Patrick Anderson,
February 6, 2019

South Dakota lawmakers drew criticism from the state’s top education officials and human rights advocates Wednesday after proposing to limit how classrooms address gender and sexuality.

House Bill 1108 proposed a simple ban on any instruction of “gender identity or gender expression” from kindergarten through seventh-grade.

Critics said the bill’s co-authors were trying to fix a problem that doesn’t exist, with language that is overly broad.

Lawmakers amended the bill to say "gender dysphoria" instead of "gender identity or gender expression," and they ultimately decided discussions on gender belong in the home, not in schools. The bill passed out of the House Education Committee on a 9-6 vote.

Law makers really have no idea what they are talking about.

Rob Monson, who heads the advocacy group for school administrators in the state, also spoke against the bill.

Monson said in banning instruction of gender identity, public school educators in classrooms across the state could no longer differentiate between boys and girls at all since the term applies broadly to any person who identifies as male or female.

According to the Capital Journal,

The bill has critics beyond the classroom, though. In a statement on their website (eqsd.org), LGBTQ rights advocacy group Equality South Dakota said,

“Equality South Dakota strongly opposes [House Bill 1108], which attacks transgender students and prevents teachers from providing a safe and accepting environment for all children.”

It is also opposed by the South Dakota arm of the ACLU, which released an online statement calling the bill “plainly intended to target transgender and gender non-conforming students.”

The hate for us runs deep in the Republican Party.

Why Did He Veto The Bill?

In South Dakota Governor Daugaard vetoed the bill that would have required trans students to use the bathroom and locker rooms of their birth gender. His decision surprised many people, including myself and there is a discussion going on as to the reason he vetoed the bill. Some say it was because of his libertarian inclinations but he was originally in favor of the bill, Business Insider reported that,

Republican Gov. Dennis Daugaard, who initially reacted positively to the proposal but said he needed to research the issue, rejected the bill Tuesday after groups such as the American Civil Liberties Union and the Human Rights Campaign insisted it was discriminatory.

Others say it was because he met with trans students and it was them. The Washington Post asked “Did meeting transgender activists lead South Dakota’s governor to veto bathroom law?” and they write,

So before he made his decision, Daugaard sat down with three transgender South Dakotans in his office in Pierre.

One of them was Kendra Heathscott, a 22-year-old transgender woman from Sioux Falls, who informed Daugaard that he had, in fact, met a transgender person. Heathscott, who was born male, participated in a day program at the Children’s Home Society a dozen years ago when Daugaard ran it, and she recalls Daugaard eating lunch with her and other children and sitting in the audience as she sang “Joyful, Joyful.”
[...]
“The goal was to go in there and humanize and give a face to the people who he potentially could be impacting,” Heathscott said. Shortly after the meeting, she said she believed the governor was listening.

“I think he was moved. I hope so,” Heathscott said.

Was that the reason that he vetoed the bill? Did the kids persuaded him? Or was it the fact that he realized  that the state could lose hundreds of millions of dollars in federal education funding and the possibility of endless law suits? The Business Insider went on to say,

In his veto message, Daugaard said the bill "does not address any pressing issue" and that such decisions were best left to local school officials. He also noted that signing the bill could create costly liability issues for schools and the state. The ACLU had promised to encourage legal action if the bill became law.
[…]
Supporters said the proposal was a response to changes in President Barack Obama administration's interpretation of the federal Title IX anti-discrimination law related to education. Federal officials have said barring students from restrooms that match their gender identity is prohibited under Title IX.
[…]
Heather Smith, executive director of the ACLU of South Dakota, said Tuesday that had the governor signed the bill, schools would have been forced to choose whether follow state or federal law. She also said her organization would have encouraged any student harmed by the new law to file a federal civil rights complaint.

Did he realize that the law would put the squeeze on the local school districts and involve the schools in an endless court battles?

One thing that is certain is that we will never know the true reason why he vetoed the bill. But the fight isn’t over

With transgender bill vetoed, now come the lawsuits?
Argus Leader
By Dana Ferguson
March 2, 2016

Supporters of a bill that would have barred transgender students from using bathrooms that don't match their biological sex said in the wake of Gov. Dennis Daugaard's veto there could be legal action.

The bill's supporters said lawsuits could be imminent in school districts that allow transgender students to use bathrooms of the gender with which they identify. Currently, school districts across the state accommodate transgender students at a local level.
[…]
Norman Woods, a lobbyist for conservative Christian group Family Heritage Alliance Action, said he'd heard from several families considering legal action based on existing policies.

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Update 1:30 PM

The South Dakota House will vote to override the Governor's veto this afternoon!

It never ends.

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Update 3:55 PM

The House failed to override the veto!

The Washington Blade reported...

The South Dakota House of Representatives on Thursday failed to override the veto of a bill that would ban transgender students from using restrooms in public schools that are consistent with their gender identity.

Supporters of House Bill 1008 needed two-thirds of lawmakers to vote in favor of overriding Republican Gov. Dennis Daugaard’s veto earlier this week. The effort failed by a margin of 36-29. 

This Is What We Face

The headline reads “South Dakota Stands Up To The Transgender Mafia” and it sets the tone of the article in The Federalist.

One of the unique and wonderful things about the United States is that small states, ignored most of the time, can now and again set the big, important states on the straight and narrow path. South Dakota this week sent a bill to its governor that would require students to use the bathrooms and showers assigned to their birth genders.

While the coastal class clobbers bigoted South Dakota on social media, the parents of that state have spoken. Their representatives have accepted the time-honored definition of gender and defied the transgender mafia. That choice must be celebrated and defended.

I have another take on what is happening in South Dakota, what I see is a an oppressed community that is tired of second class citizenship standing up to the bullying, to the discrimination, and to the harassment that they face every day.

This is typically of the way that the privilege fight against those that they oppress… these upstarts who are demanding we treat equally are infringing upon our rights to discriminate.

Recently New York Magazine published a very long story about a respected sex researcher who had been fired for holding and practicing theories about gender dysphoria that may not be spoken anymore. In short, a kangaroo court “independent” investigation found Dr. Kenneth Zucker guilty. His crime was approaching childhood gender dysphoria as a condition most children overcome and urging parents to push their children toward their determined sex.

And it is a kangaroo court because they didn’t the way that the conservatives wanted or when we criticize the validity of the research because the research didn’t have proper controls. As science is cutback in schools one of the results is that people do not understand research methods. They don’t question how the subjects in a study are chosen can affect the outcome of the research.  There is no definitive long term research on trans children, but one thing that we do know is that forcing trans students to use the birth gender or that they use the nurse’s bathroom increases bullying and harassment and also the number of suicides by trans students.

Our children are not social experiments. And they certainly must never be so for radical activists obviously willing to undermine science. Like it or not, this is a fight that can no longer be ignored. A good place to start is by standing with South Dakota.

One of the things that I have noticed is that children do not have a problem with trans students until adults step in.

A Tacoma City councilman put it this way in The News Tribune,

Re: “Protect women, girls and rewrite dangerous rule” (Your Voice, 2-22).

The author makes the case for “respectful dialogue.” However, there is nothing respectful about implying that transgender adults and children are inherently suspicious or dangerous.

Want to discuss danger and violence? More than 20 transgender Americans were murdered last year because of their gender identity. Many more have been beaten, bullied, fired from their jobs, disowned by their families or driven to suicide.

Divisive, inaccurate and fear-based rhetoric only fuels the fires of this violence. We’re better than that as a community.

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This morning I am at a meeting of the Safe School Coalition, which is a coalition of state agencies and nongovernmental organizations. Right now we are working on a model safe climate policy based on Westport’s plan.

A Tale Of Two States

One state is trying to take away our rights another state is passing protections for us.

Bill gutting South Dakota transgender sports policy dies in Senate committeeSioux Falls Argus Leader
By Lisa Kaczke,
January 24, 2019

PIERRE — A bill to require transgender students to participate in South Dakota high school athletics based on their sex at birth rather than their gender identity was killed by a Senate committee on Thursday.

The Senate Education Committee passed in a 5-2 vote moving Senate Bill 49 to the 41st legislative day, effectively killing the bill on Thursday morning, after an hour of testimony. If it had passed, the bill would have voided the South Dakota High School Activities Association's policy, adopted in 2015, that allows transgender students to participate on sports teams that reflect their gender identities rather than the sex listed on their birth certificate.

The 2015 policy was created after the Legislature told SDHSAA to create a standard because schools were requesting it. The policy meets South Dakota's standards and the needs of South Dakotans, said Sen. Troy Heinert, D-Mission.

"It's not like we have kids showing up to school in a dress one day saying, 'I want to be on the basketball team.' That is not how this works. Our policy makes sure that everyone is protected, including the trans kids," Heinert said. "It's our job to give them the best life that we can and if playing a sport adds to their enrichment, why would we stand in the way?"

This is the latest attack by the bigots they keep probing for weaknesses in our rights, first it was bathrooms and now it is student athletes. Here in Connecticut because two trans athletes won the state championship they want to ban all trans athletes.

Meanwhile in New York state we are on a roll now that the Democrats control both chambers and the governorship.

NY bans transgender discrimination, conversion therapy
CBS6 Albany
By Associated Press
January 25th 2019

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) -- New York has enacted a measure adding gender identity and gender expression to the state's anti-discrimination law, making it illegal to deny people a job, housing, education or public accommodations because they are transgender.

Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed the measure into law on Friday, along with a bill prohibiting conversion therapy, in which a therapist tries to change a person's sexual orientation.

The bills passed last week after being blocked for years by Republican lawmakers. That changed when Democrats won control of the Senate in November.

What is the difference between the two states?

One the governing party is Democrat and one the governing is Republican. Want to guess which is which?

Legislation Defeated, Good News For Us!

Out west in South Dakota the legislators saw the light and defeated an anti-trans bill.

South Dakota 'Don't Say Trans' Bill Fails
The Advocate
By Trudy Ring
February 22, 2019

South Dakota lawmakers’ effort to ban discussion of transgender identity and issues in schools is dead for this session.

The Senate State Affairs Committee Friday rejected a bill to prohibit mention of gender dysphoria in grades K-7 in public schools, the Associated Press reports. The bill had passed the state House of Representatives last week.

The committee voted 7-2 to defer House Bill 1108 to the 41st day of the legislative session, which blocks it for this year, the American Civil Liberties Union of South Dakota tweeted. The ACLU had opposed the measure.
[...]
“After the failure of two previous bills targeting transgender people, this bill’s death should serve as third strike for the state legislature,” NCTE executive director Mara Keisling said in the release. “Throughout this process, it’s become clear these bills have nothing to do with safety or concern for children and far more to do with fear based on ignorance.

Hopefully the bill to restrict trans athletes will also fail.

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Also yesterday disturbing news out of Hollywood, a father is accused of molesting his trans daughter.

Director Rob Cohen Accused of Sexual Assault by Trans Daughter
The Advocate
By Daniel Reynolds
February 22, 2019

Rob Cohen, known for directing films like The Fast and the Furious, xXx, and The Boy Next Door, has been accused of sexual assault by his daughter, Valkyrie Weather.

Weather, a 32-year-old transgender woman, came forward with her allegation in a Thursday Facebook post. “When I was very young, Rob used my body for his own sexual gratification,” she wrote. “My mother witnessed one of the assaults when I was between two and two and a half years old, and has since confirmed what she saw."

Weather said her memory of the alleged molestation was foggy in an interview published Friday with The Hollywood Reporter. “Mostly what I remembered was the pain, the memory of the place and time, just being there, in the bath ... it was so painful that I couldn’t verbalize it for a long time."

The Hollywood Reporter wrote…

Transitioning “makes your really dissect every childhood moment, it stirs up a lot of old resentments and bitterness and lost opportunities,” Weather says. “It’s an incredibly introspective time for most people who come out as trans as adults. It was through that reopening of the past as an adult that my mom and I had a conversation.” Weather notes that her mother “thought she was sacrificing her relationship with me by telling me what she saw and she was, in a way, right. I said, ‘You saw this and you did nothing?’ I called her every name and I broke off contact and I didn’t talk to her again for a long time. We have recently taken steps to bridge that.”

Weather says that she confronted her father over e-mail several weeks after her mother’s disclosure, and the director eventually responded — an “unusual” length of time for him. “He basically said that my mother was psychotic and likened her to the Son of Sam killer in terms of the depth of her psychosis.”

I hope that Ms. Weather has her day in court and Mr. Cohen gets what’s coming to him.

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This afternoon there is a rally in support of a police woman on the Hartford force who has been harassed because she is a lesbian by a fellow police officer and the department turned a blind eye to the sexual harassment.

WFSB Ch3 reported…

HARTFORD, CT (WFSB) - Disturbing complaints of sexual harassment have been made inside the Hartford Police Department.

A female officer’s complaint has gone public and while the allegations are troubling, she says the department has done little to nothing since.

A nine-page document was released to Channel 3 by two sources within the city.

The officer raised concerns about a sergeant’s behavior back in May 2018.

She says the department took no action and now she’s blasting them and the sergeant, in a complaint filed on Monday.

The nine-page memo sent from Officer Kelly Baerga, who is also the department’s LGBTQ liaison, was sent to the city’s human resources director.
[…]
But filing the complaint may have backfired because Baerga says after Rodney was interviewed he retaliated against her, confronting her at the department and shouting at her and allegedly placing a fake gun in the backseat of her cruiser.

Baerga also alleges she was still paired with Rodney four times after the complaint, making her, “feel incredibly dirty every time he lasers me with his eyes…”

I will be there this afternoon.

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On Monday there will be a legislative hearing for SB-388 AN ACT CONCERNING A PERSON'S INTERSEX STATUS OR CHARACTERISTICS.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General
Assembly convened:
That the general statutes be amended to (1) prohibit discrimination against a person on the basis of such person's intersex status or characteristics, (2) prohibit any licensed health care provider from engaging in medically unnecessary surgeries on an intersex person without such person's consent, and  provide for a third option for gender designation on state documentation and personal identification  records.
Statement of Purpose:
To address the needs of the intersex community who have suffered from discrimination, unnecessary surgery and inaccurate documentation of their gender by providing relief from such issues.

Please contact your Connecticut legislators and tell them to support this bill.

Too Late, The Damage Is Done

They used her words to hurt us and now it is too late to take back those words.

Martina Navratilova apologizes for transgender 'cheating' comments
CNN
March 4, 2019

(CNN)Martina Navratilova may have apologized for using the term "cheating" when describing transgender athletes but the issue received further attention over the weekend with former UK Olympic swimmer Sharron Davies saying trans women had unfair physical advantages.

In a lengthy blog post Sunday, former tennis star Navratilova said she had "stumbled into a hornets nest" and been labeled as transphobic after speaking about the subject in recent months.

While she said she was sorry for "suggesting that transgender athletes in general are cheats" she also added that there was no "perfect solution" to this issue and that if "everyone were included, women's sports as we know them would cease to exist."

The hurt was done…

The 18-time Grand Slam champion wrote in The Sunday Times last month that it was "insane" and "cheating" that "hundreds of athletes who have changed gender by declaration and limited hormone treatment have already achieved honors as women that were beyond their capabilities as men."

Her words were used by all the far-right news media… Fox News, Breitbart, the Daily Caller, and by the Heritage Foundation.

And they have been used to spark anti-trans legislation and anti-trans articles around the country and the world.

The following are from conservative media on trans sports.

South Dakota bill to keep gender-confused boys out of girls’ sports fails by single vote
Lifesite News
By Calvin Freiburger
February 27, 2019

PIERRE, South Dakota, February 27, 2019 (LifeSiteNews) – The South Dakota House narrowly failed Monday to pass legislation that would have barred gender-confused [This website uses these derogatory words to means trans people] students from competing with members of the opposite sex in high school, leaving a statewide pro-transgender policy in place for the time being.

The South Dakota High School Activities Association’s current policy states that “All students should have the opportunity to participate in SDHSAA activities in a manner that is consistent with their gender identity, irrespective of the gender listed on a student’s records.”
[…]
CNN noted that Linda Thorson of the conservative Concerned Women for America testified in favor of the bill, arguing the current policy undermines federal Title IX protections meant to give actual girls a level playing field in athletics.

I am concerned that the conservatives are going to try and use Title IX against us. This might be the opening volley in a legal move to say that Title IX on protect ciswomen.

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More and more transgender girls are competing in high school sports, a troubling denial of basic biology
The Washington Examiner
By Nicole Russell
February 13, 2019

Even though USA Powerlifting has banned all transgender women from competing as women, powerlifter JayCee Cooper, a Minnesotan, recently won a state championship with the U.S. Powerlifting Association, setting a state record. While there’s no need to single out or vilify Cooper, the insistence of the transgender community to play sports as the gender with which they identify, even when it provides unfair advantages to transgender women, is a troubling trend.

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In Defense of Women’s Sports
The National Review
By Rich Lowry
March 5, 2019

We’re going to need the cisgendered Olympics.

The state of Connecticut has offered a dismaying picture of the future of female athletics, with two transgender runners routinely outpacing the competition at the state track championships.

The two biologically male students, Terry Miller and Andraya Yearwood, finished first and second respectively in the 55-meter dash this year, crushing the competition. Miller set a new girls indoor record, and also won the 300-meter. The year before, the two finished first and second in the 100-meter state outdoor championships.

Connecticut allows students to compete in sports as the gender they identify as, with no further requirements. If fashionable opinion has anything to say about it, this will be the universal trend. Everyone is supposed to ignore the madness of it.

In an e-mail to Cooper about the transgender ban, USA Powerlifting Therapeutic Use Exemptions Committee Chairman Kristopher Hunt clearly identified logical, rational reasoning for the ban: “Male-to-female transgenders are not allowed to compete as females in our static strength sports as it is a direct competitive advantage.” A follow-up email read in part, “ Transgender male to female individuals having gone through male puberty confer an unfair competitive advantage over non-transgender women due to increased bone density and muscle mass from pubertal exposure to testosterone.”

Sorry Ms. Navratilova but your words have already done damage to us.

Here We Go Again

Another Republican has introduced an anti-trans bathroom bill, this time in Tennessee and they one-upped on South Dakota by have the bill not only include K-12 but also colleges.

Tennessee lawmakers to consider transgender bathroom bill
Tennessean
By Joel Ebert
March 7, 2016

Less than a week after South Dakota's Republican governor vetoed a bill that would have made it the first state in the nation to have a law that would have required transgender students to use bathrooms that match their sex at birth, Tennessee lawmakers are set to consider similar legislation.

The measure, sponsored by Rep. Susan Lynn, R-Old Hickory, and Sen. Mike Bell, R-Riceville, would "require that a student use student restroom and locker room facilities that are assigned for use by persons of the same sex as the sex indicated on the student’s original birth certificate."

Lynn, who called South Dakota Gov. Dennis Daugaard's veto a "mistake," said the legislation is necessary in order to avoid a lawsuit.

Every school district in Tennessee has to currently come up with their own policy, she said, calling it a "salt and pepper, patchwork" approach.

And why do they want to pass a state law, why to prevent law suits.

Lynn said by allowing each school district to set their own policy, a parent might decide to take legal action which could force a district to explain how they came up with their own policy. To avoid that, Lynn said the state should implement a law requiring students to use bathrooms based on their gender at birth, which she said will offer protection to individual school districts.

And get a load of this…

Calling her bill a "very friendly" approach, Lynn said the legislation allows schools to make arrangements for anyone who "claims to be transgender."

Yeah, creating segregation is so “friendly.”

Meanwhile, the Nashville Scene reports,

The Tennessee Family Action Council’s David Fowler is outraged that the state Education Department is trying to kill legislation that targets transgender children for bullying and abuse by barring public school students from using bathrooms or showers that correspond to their gender identities. Instead, under the bill, they’d have to use the bathrooms assigned to people of the sex that’s shown on their birth certificates.
[…]
It's widely seen as a mean-spirited attempt by conservative Christians to scapegoat transgender children and vent their frustrations over advancements in gay rights. More than two dozen of these bills have been introduced in legislatures around the country. South Dakota's governor vetoed one of the bills last week.

Exactly, the conservatives lost their battle with gays and lesbians so now they are going after the low hanging fruit… us.

A Rock And A Hard Place

South Dakota is about to put their schools into a position of either violating Title VII of the Civil Rights Act or breaking a state law. Why? Because of bathrooms.

South Dakota Is About To Pass The First Statewide Law In The U.S. Attacking Trans Kids
“I’m sorry if you’re so twisted you don’t even know who you are," said Republican state Sen. David Omdahl.
Logo NewNowNext
By Dan Avery
February 12, 2016

A bill on the verge of becoming law in South Dakota would ban transgender students from using bathrooms and locker rooms that aligns with their gender identity.

The state House of Representatives passed House Bill 1008 last week and, yesterday, it passed the state Senate Education Committee by a vote of 4-2. The next step is putting it to a vote in the Republican-controlled state Senate, which could happen as early as next week.

Then the senator goes on to insult us by saying…

Sen. David Omdahl has already announced he’ll vote for the bill, adding that trans people are “treating the wrong part of the anatomy.”

“I’m sorry if you’re so twisted you don’t even know who you are,” said Omdahl, a Republican. “They’re treating the wrong part of the anatomy. They ought to be treating it up here,” pointing to his head.

And what did the governor have to say about us?

Given that Daugaard opposes marriage equality and has stated “I don’t think that individual groups should be given special privileges,” we can’t see him vetoing the measure.

So being able to “pee in peace” is a “special privilege?”

There are three more anti-trans bills in the South Dakota legislature.

In an opinion article Argus Leader, Kendra Heathscott wrote,

Gov. Daugaard, you met a transgender person: me

Dear Governor Daugaard,

Recently I had read an article that had stated that you had never been aware of meeting a transgender person. Because of this article, I was reached out to by a couple of individuals who had worked at Children's Home Society during that time in my life. They called to remind me of a part of my early life, for which I had done the emotional work to move on from. They shared with me a vital part of my childhood that has shaped me into the person I am today, and I would like to share that story with you and the part in which you actually played an active role.

She goes on to write about the harassment and bullying she faced in school not only by the students but also by the staff and administration. Which resulted in her being place in a school for “troubled youth,” Children's Home Society, because of her gender identity.

At the time, you were the director of CHS when I attended the day program there. I have many fond memories of you sitting at my table and talking with the other students and me during lunch. I loved hearing the stories that you would share with us. Do you remember that story you used to tell us about the mountain lions? Or do you maybe remember the Christmas show we used to put on at Methodist Church? I had a solo one year – it was "Joyful Joyful" from "Sister Act." I always loved singing, which reminds me of the time I sang a Hilary Duff song at our talent show. I will also never forget the field days. Those were so much fun.

I hope that you remember me and realize that you have known a trans person all along and that I loved your stories and the positive energy you always had so much of. The genuine love and concern that you so freely shared back then helped to make a very difficult period of my life better.

It seems that the governor’s love is placed only on those who follow the gender norms.

Red v. Blue States

Whew! Where to begin?

There is a difference.

Republicans states are piling on legislation that are taking away our rights and it is not just us in the LGBTQ+ community. They having introduced legislation to ban Chinese owning property. They have banned books like The Great Gatsby, The Lord of the Flies, 1984, Of Mice and Men, and Catch-22. They have banned teaching Black history, and they are banning us.

While Blue states are embracing diversity and inclusion.

Amid tidal wave of anti-trans legislation, Democratic states race to become refuges for gender-affirming care
The Hill via Yahoo News
By Brooke Migdon
February 16, 2023


Democratic state lawmakers are mobilizing against a tidal wave of proposed legislation to heavily restrict access to gender-affirming health care, combating stringent measures that can carry prison sentences as long as a decade with bills that plan to establish sanctuary states to shield doctors, transgender youth and their families in all 50 states from potential legal retribution.

In Minnesota, freshman Rep. Leigh Finke (D) hopes to make the state a safe haven for transgender youth seeking gender-affirming medical care.

Democrats flipped the Minnesota Senate in November’s midterm elections with a string of surprise victories, giving the party control of the legislature for the first time since 2014.

Finke, who is the first openly transgender representative to serve in the state legislature, said she and other Democrats had up until election night expected to spend the next two years in a divided government “playing defense” against Republicans on issues including LGBTQ rights.

But after election day, “everything changed,” Finke said. Taking advantage of a fortuitous opportunity to pass more ambitious legislation, Finke in January introduced House File 146, which seeks to prevent out-of-state laws from interfering with gender-affirming health care offered in Minnesota.

Meanwhile up in South Dakota the Republicans came up with this,

South Dakota House passes anti-drag bill banning state funding of the 'lewd and lascivious'
Sioux Falls Argus Leader
By Morgan Matzen
February 15, 2023


Sixty lawmakers in the South Dakota House of Representatives voted in favor of a bill that might prevent events like the South Dakota State University’s Gender and Sexualities Alliance’s drag show from ever happening again.

[…]

Bill sponsor Rep. Chris Karr (R-Sioux Falls) said his bill came as a reaction to the SDSU student drag show and that he found it hard to believe both SDSU and the Board of Regents would be OK such an event, and again said he believed tax dollars were spent on the event.

However, SDSU President Barry Dunn clarified in a Nov. 15 statement the event wasn’t supported by university funds.

Sioux Falls Democrats like Reps. Kadyn Wittman, Linda Duba and Kameron Nelson peppered Karr with questions about his bill Wednesday.

Then we have the Democrats in Virginia…

Virginia Dems Block 12th Republican Bill Targeting Transgender Kids
In the Commonwealth of Virginia, Democrats are standing in the way of Republican-led efforts to legislate transgender people out of existence.
The Advocate
By Christopher Wiggins
February 16, 2023


Thursday, Virginia Senate Democrats mustered a bipartisan effort to kill an anti-trans bill put forth and passed by the Republican-controlled state House.

Legislators voted down a bill that banned transgender athletes of all ages from participating in sports teams aligned with their gender identity from kindergarten through college, the Richmond Times-Dispatchreports.

During a Thursday morning committee meeting, the legislation was defeated 10-5, with Republican Sen. Siobhan Dunnavant of Henrico County voting with the Democratic majority.

When the bill passed the lower chamber of Virginia's legislature last week, the Human Rights Campaign issued a statement critical of the bill's advancement.

"In a coordinated push led by national anti-LGBTQ+ groups, which deployed vintage discriminatory tropes, politicians in state houses across the country introduced a record 315 discriminatory anti-LGBTQ+ bills in 2022," HRC wrote. "The majority of the discriminatory bills targeted the transgender and non-binary community, with the majority targeting children receiving the brunt of discriminatory legislation. Anti-transgender legislation took several forms, including bills aimed to prevent transgender youth from playing school sports consistent with their gender identity and bills to prevent transgender and non-binary youth from receiving life-saving, medically-necessary gender-affirming healthcare."

So you say there is no difference between the Democrats and the Republicans. I beg to differ, one party believes in inclusion and diversity, the other party believes in exclusion, white supremacist, and getting between you and your doctor.

Full Court Press

The attacks by Republicans have become vile and oppressive, they are going out of their way to criminalize us.

Why Republicans are suddenly in a rush to regulate every trans kid’s puberty
Proposals in eight states would ban puberty blockers and hormones for trans minors.
Vox
By Katelyn Burns
January 29, 2020

[…]
However, some conservative politicians want to take that decision out of the hands of doctors and parents who know these teens best — and put it in the hands of the state. In fact, in Greyson’s home state of Texas, lawmakers have promised to introduce legislation that would essentially ban, midway, his medical transitioning once their next legislative session begins in 2021.

Eight state legislatures — including Missouri, Florida, Illinois, Oklahoma, Colorado, South Carolina, Kentucky, and South Dakota — have already introduced bills this year that would criminally punish doctors who follow best practices for treating adolescents with gender dysphoria. In South Dakota, for example, doctors who prescribe puberty blockers or cross-sex hormones could face a $2,000 fine and a year in prison under the proposed law. South Dakota’s version of the bill was even prioritized and became the first bill of the decade to pass out of committee. A full floor vote on the bill is scheduled for Wednesday. Lawmakers in Texas, Utah, and Georgia have promised to introduce similar bills once their legislative sessions begin. And while a New Hampshire bill wouldn’t criminalize doctors, it would classify gender-affirming care for minors as child abuse.

In other words, should any of the bills become law, they would effectively cut off many adolescents from medically necessary and, often, lifesaving treatment for gender dysphoria. There are approximately 150,000 transgender youth between the ages of 13 and 17 in the United States, according to the Williams Institute at the UCLA School of Law, and studies show that kids in Gen Z identify as more queer and trans than previous generations. A 2018 study found that the risk of developing a mental health condition was three to 13 times higher for transgender and gender-diverse youth than for their cisgender peers.

And if that was enough…

Iowa GOP files bill to remove transgender people from the state’s Civil Rights Act
Iowa would become the first state to give civil rights protections to transgender people - or any class at all - and then take them away.
LGBTQ Nation
By Alex Bollinger
January 29, 2020


Republican lawmakers in Iowa filed a bill that would remove transgender people from the state’s civil rights protections, which could make it the first state to give civil rights protections to transgender people – or any class at all – and then take them away.

A group of nine state representatives introduced HF 2164, which they describe as “an act removing gender identity as a protected class under the Iowa Civil Rights Act.”

In 2007, the state added both sexual orientation and gender identity to its anti-discrimination law, banning discrimination against LGBTQ people in housing, public accommodations, employment, education, and other areas.

Why?

Why are they doing this to us?

Do they hate us so much that they want us dead?

The Vox article goes to say,

The recent conservative push for an outright ban on transition care for minors grew directly from the social media disinformation campaign surrounding Luna Younger, a 7-year-old trans girl from Dallas caught in the middle of a bitter custody battle between parents who disagree over her gender identity. A Texas judge overruled a jury decision to award full custody of Luna to her mother, Anne Georgulas, in late September. That means Luna’s father, Jeffrey Younger, who insists on dressing his child as a boy and forced her to cut her hair, has an equal say in future medical decisions for Luna.

Driving the conversation about the case were primarily conservative media outlets. In the week following the initial jury decision, 23 conservative news sites published 55 stories about Younger, and all opposed the child’s transition. According to data from Media Matters, those 55 stories earned 3.5 million Facebook interactions.

They smelled blood and like rabid animal they attacked mercilessly. They thought that they found a weak point and attacked.

The political fight has worried young trans people across the country who depend on their medication to keep their gender dysphoria at bay. According to data from the Trevor Project, 76 percent of LGBTQ youth felt that the recent political climate impacted their mental health or sense of self. Over the past year, the Trevor Project has supported more than 150 LGBTQ youth in crisis in South Dakota.

Are they so callus that they are doing it for votes and campaign contributions and don’t about the children lives they ruin?

And I try to think back to the referendum in Massachusetts in 2018 where over 70 percent of the people voted for our human rights.

---

Then in Nebraska they are trying to pass a bill banning discrimination against us and the opposition is coming out in force, and being labeled as bigots.

Those who oppose sexual orientation discrimination bill have valid reasons for doing so
Norfolk Daily News
Daily News editorial
January 28, 2020

One of the most politically sensitive issues likely to come before Nebraska’s state senators this session will be Legislative Bill 627. As proposed, it would ensure that workers couldn’t be fired or discriminated against because of their sexual orientation or gender identity.
[…]
Good morning (or afternoon), Nebraskans. Our state's unique motto is 'Equality Before the Law.' So know that whoever you are, wherever you are on life's journey and whomever you love, we want you here. You are loved."

But it doesn’t seem like everyone in Nebraska wants to treat everyone equally, the editorial goes on to say,

"It's really important to let people know that they are loved. We want them here. ... I try to find the good in every single person," she [Sen. Pansing Brooks] has said.

But here’s our objection, which we believe is shared by many Nebraskans. This kind of an argument seems to imply that anyone who disagrees with LB627 supporters is somehow uncaring, cold-hearted and perhaps homophobic.

The reality is that now — as in the past — there are valid business-focused arguments for why there are those who believe such a law isn’t needed in Nebraska. A state senator who may ultimately vote against LB627 this session shouldn’t be stereotyped in this manner.

Gee… what are are valid business-focused arguments?

Maybe…
We don’t to serve those kind of people.
I should be allowed to discriminate because of my beliefs.
They make me feel yucky.
I can’t trust them around children.

Hmm… I really can’t think of a reason why that is not homophobic or transphobic can you?

---

Updated 5:15 PM

I just came across this article about a bill signed into law in Tennessee…

These LGBTQ Parents Raised Happy Kids. Tennessee’s New Adoption Law Could Take It All Away.
The "license to discriminate" bill has pushed queer families to consider moving in order to stay together.
NewNowNext
By Nico Lang
January 31, 2020

[…]
“It’s about my children having the best life they can have,” he [Barry Myers] tells NewNowNext. “This life is my dream. My dream was to have kids.”

Unfortunately, that dream is in jeopardy for LGBTQ families across Tennessee. On Friday, Republican Gov. Bill Lee signed House Bill 836, which allows faith-based adoption and foster care agencies—including those that receive state government funding—to refuse to work with same-sex couples. The Volunteer State was the 11th to sign what LGBTQ advocates have called a “license to discriminate” law after similar measures were enacted in states like Alabama, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Texas, and Virginia.
[…]
LGBTQ families in Tennessee tell NewNowNext the passage of its “license to discriminate” law has made them feel unsafe in their own state. Cynthia Deitle, who has a 9-year-old with her wife of 11 years, says her family has discussed moving every single day since the legislation became the law of the land.
[…]
Of particular concern for LGBTQ families in Tennessee is what they perceive to be the “vagueness” of HB 836, which passed both the state House and Senate with overwhelming majorities. For instance, the legislation states that adoption and foster care agencies are not “required to perform, assist, consent to, refer, or participate in any child placement” should doing so contravene their “religious or moral convictions.” However, it does not clarify whether that could be used to deny placement to other kinds of applicants—like single parents, interfaith couples, or Muslims.

This is nothing but the new expanded version of Jim Crow laws but instead of just for blacks the way that the law is written, “contravene their ‘religious or moral convictions,’” the law can be used to discriminate against anyone.

It is against my “religious or moral convictions” for adoption by _________________ (fill in the blank with one or more of the following,)

• Interracial parents.
• Jewish parents.
• Muslim parents.
• Black parents.
• LGBTQ parents.

It is just another way to hide bigotry behind the “Good Book.”

What Do You Do?

When you are in the heart of Bible country and you are LGBTQ+?

I go back to Hilary Clinton’s “It Takes a Village” and in our case the village is the LGBTQ+ community and their families.

How Families Help Support LGBTQ Kids in One of the Most Conservative States in the Country
"I could've never imagined five years ago that this is where I would be," Katelyn Handy, 20, tells PEOPLE of coming out in Utah. "I am happy. I'm healthy."
People
By Wendy Naugle
August 20, 2021


Utah is one of the most conservative states in the country, and more than 60 percent of the population there identifies as Mormon, a faith that firmly believes acting on same-sex attraction is a sin.

"I was very, very devout in the church," Katelyn Handy, 20, tells PEOPLE. "I ended up having a crush on someone, and it wasn't a guy. That kind of shocked me to my core."
[…]
So how are kids and their families there finding ways to thrive? Below, four families who have found support through Encircle, a network of homes that support LGBTQ youth and their families, share their stories.

It takes a family…

Katelyn: I started falling away from the church — just not believing in it as much — at the same time I was figuring out that I was gay. The first person I told was my mom. We were having a conversation, and she said, "You know, if one of you guys ever came out as gay, it wouldn't be a big deal." For context, my parents are divorced and my mom is not LDS [The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints]. So I was like, I guess this is it. I was like, "Mom, I have something to tell you." I was so scared, even though she had just said that it would be fine. It's still terrifying to say those words: "I think I like girls."

Jen: My first thought was, I want her to still be here. I didn't think that she would be suicidal per se, but I could imagine that it was possible. Then the next thought was hoping that she could find a community she would be able to relate with, that there would be safety and acceptance from within the family.

Research has shown that having a support network can make all the difference in living or dying. Whether it is a family member, GSA in school, or a LGBTQ community center it makes a huge difference in the lives of young LGBTQ+ people.

GLSEN reported,

Unfortunately, according to the most recent School Health Profiles (SHP) report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), many LGBTQ students are left without access to this critical support. In fact, the SHP data, as reported by school principals, indicate that the distribution of GSAs across the country is far from uniform.
[…]
These results corroborate some of GLSEN’s National School Climate Survey (NSCS) findings, in which we found similar patterns of GSA availability, as reported by LGBTQ students. For example, we also found GSAs to be less common in the South and the Midwest. Our data also indicated that LGBTQ students in the South and Midwest were less likely to have LGBTQ-supportive staff and administration in school. These lower levels of institutional support could contribute to the scarcity of GSAs in these areas. It may be tough for students to start an LGBTQ student club if a school’s staff and administration have given no indication that they will be receptive to the idea.

Connecticut is one of the states that are leading the way.

Only 3 states have a gay-straight alliance in more than half of their high schools
Child Trends
By Dominique Parris and Brandon Stratford
November 5, 2019


In 45 states and the District of Columbia, less than half of all high schools report having a gay-straight alliance (also known as a genders and sexualities alliance, or GSA), according to 2016 data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Among the 48 states (as well as the District of Columbia) that provide data, only three states (New York, Connecticut, and Massachusetts) can claim that more than half of their high schools have a GSA. Massachusetts has the highest percentage of high schools (60.5%) with a GSA, while South Dakota has the lowest (9.3%). Less than 16 percent of high schools in four states (including South Dakota) have a GSA. In 25 states, 17.9 percent to roughly one-third of high schools have a GSA; in an additional 16 states and the District of Columbia, GSAs can be found in roughly one-third to 46.9 percent of secondary schools.

Republican conservative states have the fewest;

• South Dakota: 9.3%
• Arkansas: 13.9%
• North Dakota: 14.4%
• Nebraska: 15.9%

In those states and others LGBTQ+ youth need to form peer support groups and their parents and family need to let know that they are loved.

Families of celebrity have been speaking out in support.

Celebrity Parents Who've Spoken Out in Support of Their LGBTQ+ Kids
See what Jamie Lee Curtis, Dwyane Wade, Cynthia Nixon and more stars have said about their kids' LGBTQ+ journeys
People
By Sophie Dodd
August 06, 2021


Jamie Lee Curtis
"[My husband and I] have watched in wonder and pride as our son became our daughter Ruby."

— Knives Out actress Jamie Lee Curtis, revealing that her youngest child with husband Christopher Guest is transgender in AARP the magaizine's August/September 2021 issue
[…]
Cynthia Nixon
"I'm so proud of my son Samuel Joseph Mozes (called Seph) who graduated college this month. I salute him and everyone else marking today's #TransDayofAction. #TDOA."

— Sex and the City actress Cynthia Nixon, sharing publicly that her son is transgender, on Instagram
[…]
Sally Field
"Sam is my youngest son, by 18 years, and he's gay. To that, I say: So what? [...] His journey to allow himself to be what nature intended him to be was not an easy one [...] I could make it easier only by standing visibly to the side, clearly loving him, always being there and always letting him know."

— Lincoln star Sally Field, on supporting son Samuel Greisman as he grappled with his sexuality growing up, in an open letter to the Human Rights Campaign
[…]
Billy Ray Cyrus
"We've always been very open-minded. Listen, it's all about love and light. Forget the negativity and the haters […] She's rocking and rolling and having a good time. What the world needs is love. There's too much hate […] The world needs positive influences."

— Singer Billy Ray Cyrus, on daughter Miley Cyrus coming out as pansexual, to E! News.
[…]
Khary Payton
"Man, there is nothing more beautiful than watching your child feel the joy of exploring what it means to be true to themselves," Payton continued. "This is his journey, and I am here for it. I hope you all have the opportunity to feel the unquenchable love that I am feeling right now."

—Walking Dead star Khary Payton about son Karter, who came out as transgender in 2020, on Instagram

It may seem like a little thing the support of their parents but it has massive impact on the lives of their children and other LGBTQ+ children.

Parents in northwestern Connecticut saw a void of support for their LGBTQ+ children and are forming their own parent network and in other parts of the country parents and LGBTQ+ children are forming their own safe spaces.

I keep on remembering Harvey Milk’s “Come out, come out, wherever you are” is also true for our parents.

---

Speaking Of A Safe Space

With the virus running rampant again and once again people are getting violent over wearing masks as schools require the wearing of masks, even some governors are getting in to the fray by banning the wearing of masks in schools.

Clever mom opts daughter out of school dress code citing ban on mask mandates

A mother's email challenging the sexist dress codes of her daughter's schools has gone viral after she asserted her "beliefs" about the mandate on spaghetti straps.

By LGBTQ Nation 

August 18, 2021

A mother’s email opposing the dress code of her daughter’s school has gone viral for challenging the sexist gender roles and highlighting her state’s absurd ban on school mask mandates.

On August 17, Tennessee’s Republican Governor Bill Lee signed an executive order requiring schools districts with mask mandates to allow parents to opt out. The policy increases the likelihood of a COVID-19 outbreak.

In response, an unknown parent wrote an email to the Hamilton County School Board of Chattanooga, Tennessee requesting a form to opt her daughter out of the school’s dress code.

She says that the dress code violates her deeply held feminists beliefs.

“In light of the opt-out option related to the recently-announced mask mandate, I can only assume that parents are now in a position to pick and choose the school policies to which their children should be subject,” the email continued.

“I therefore intend to opt out of this policy and send my daughter to school in spaghetti straps, leggings, cut offs, and anything else she feels comfortable wearing to school. Please make a note that she is not, under any circumstances, to be dress coded, as I have clearly communicated my decision to opt out of this policy,” the email concluded.

I suggest that there is another way to force schools to mandate masks and it uses a law that requires schools to have a safe learning environment.

KNOW YOUR RIGHTS: A Resource for Students, Parents and Guardians

Under U.S. law every child has the right to attend public school from

kindergarten through 12th grade, regardless of race, gender, religion or

immigration status.

School officials are responsible for providing a safe learning environment,

free from discrimination, harassment or violence. They are not allowed to

make policies or act in a manner that would deny a child access to education. 

If masks are not mandatory how can you have a safe space for learning?

States!

Two states surprisingly did the right thing and one state is doing what is expected from a Republican controlled state.

Surprise! Surprise!

Tennessee becomes first state in the South with hate crime law protecting transgender people
The Tennessean
By Natalie Allison
February 14, 2019

Tennessee has become the first state in the South with a hate crime statute protecting transgender individuals.

State Attorney General Herbert Slatery issued an opinion Feb. 8 in response to a question posed by Rep. Mike Stewart, D-Nashville.

"A defendant who targets a person for a crime because that person is transgender has targeted the person because of his or her gender within the meaning" of the current state law that outlines sentence enhancements for hate crimes, Slatery wrote.

Tennessee does not have an explicit hate crime charge, though the General Assembly in 2000 added a hate crime factor to judges' sentencing rules for crimes targeting a person based on race, religion, color, disability, sexual orientation, national origin, ancestry or gender.

That was a surprise, most southern states are very anti-LGBTQ+, it would be nice if there was a statute that codified the Attorney General opinion, I have seen too many cases where the next political pundit does away with the previous politician rulings.

---

Meanwhile across “The Big Muddy” in Kansas, the Republican legislature is doing what Republicans are doing in other states… attacking LGBTQ+ people.

Kansas GOP introduces the ‘most vile, hateful & disrespectful’ anti-LGBTQ bills in the country
LGBTQ Nation
By Alex Bollinger
February 14, 2019

Several Kansas lawmakers have introduced two bills that would severely curtail LGBTQ rights.

The bills, which each have about half a dozen co-sponsors, were introduced yesterday and cover a range of topics, including marriage equality and civil rights legislation.

One of the bills would ban state officials from granting marriage licenses to same-sex couples and define same-sex marriages as “parody marriages,” something South Carolina Republicans tried to do last year.

The other bill defines LGBTQ people as a religion and says that the rainbow flag is a symbol of a “faith-based worldview,” an argument that a conservative crackpot tried to use several years ago to get a court to ban members of Congress from displaying the rainbow flag.

Their hate knows no bounds; it ranges from the draconian to the absurd.

---

In South Dakota we had a victory over the Republican stupidity.

Bill killed in ongoing battle on transgender rights in South Dakota
Inforum
By Sarah Mearhoff
February 7, 2019

PIERRE, S.D. — For the third time nearly halfway into South Dakota’s 2019 legislative session, a committee hearing erupted into a debate about the rights of transgender children.

The House Health and Human Services committee on Thursday, Feb. 7, debated and ultimately killed House Bill 1205, which would have established a parent’s right to refuse transitional health care treatment for their transgender child.

Proponents of the bill said it was about protecting parents’ rights — not about denying rights to transgender children.
[…]
But opponents of the bill said the bill was discriminatory and excused parents from providing not only physical health care — such as hormone therapy or surgery — but also mental health treatment or therapy to transgender children.

Under HB 1205, an official could not penalize a parent for refusing their child transitional treatment. For example, a judge could not use it as a reason to deny a parent custody in family court.

Sanity wins out over bigotry.

We Are Adults

We can make up our own minds.

There is a lot of talk in the LGBTQ+ community about the laws banning Conversion Therapy most centered around the exemptions… religious organizations and adults.

A shockingly high number of transgender Americans are forced into conversion therapy
Trans people in Wyoming, South Dakota and Montana were the most likely to be forced into it.
LGBTQ Nation
By Gwendolyn Smith
August 23, 2019

A study released by the American Journal of Public Health reveals that 13.5% of transgender Americans have undergone conversion therapy within their lifetime.

Conversion therapy, which has been banned in 18 states as well as Puerto Rico, Washington DC, and several counties and municipalities, is the widely discredited practice of attempting to change a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity through religious or psychological intervention, including torturous techniques like shock therapy.
[…]
The states with the widest use of conversion therapy on transgender people over their lifetimes were Wyoming, South Dakota and Montana. More than 20% of transgender residents in these states have been subject to conversion therapy.

The lowest percentage was from South Carolina, at only 9.4%.

Even when the numbers were limited to just 2010-2015, researchers still found that 5% of transgender people overall faced conversion therapy over those five years, with a range of just 1.2% in Alaska and up to 16.3% in South Dakota.

What the study didn’t define was the age of the trans people who underwent conversion therapy and that is important because you cannot stop an adult from having conversion therapy.

As much as we would like to ban conversion therapy entirely, reality steps in. Can we tell a cognizant adult what they can and cannot do? I know a gay man who went to conversion therapy it took him many years to realize the stupidity of the  so called therapy and I know of others it has done lasting harm to. I know I don’t want to be told what I can and cannot do, we live by our mistakes and sometimes we learn by the school of hard knocks.

Likewise we are limited in what we can dictate what religion can and cannot do. We can take away the licenses of the professionals but when it comes to “religious leaders” are hands are tied.

For better or worse we are bound by these constraints.

Zipper That Lip

Censorship out west.

One state is trying to prevent anyone from talking about trans issues in schools, they want us to disappear.

This bill would prohibit South Dakota teachers from acknowledging transgender kids exist
So what happens to transgender students?
Think Progress
By Zack Ford
February 8, 2018

For the second year in a row, South Dakota could be the first state legislature to push through an anti-LGBTQ bill in 2018, and it’s a brand new kind of attack. The proposed bill would censor schools from discussing transgender issues until students are in eighth grade.

S.B. 160 is short. It adds the following to the state education code:

No instruction in gender identity or gender expression may be provided to any student in kindergarten through grade seven in any public school in the state.

The bill’s sponsor, state Sen. Phil Jensen (R), believes the issues aren’t age-appropriate and actually argues that they could get in the way of learning other skills. “I think we need to be focusing on reading, writing and arithmetic,” he said.

The bill is a new spin on a series of “no promo homo” laws that are on the books in seven other states. These laws vary from state to state in the way they either prohibit discussing homosexuality in schools or dictate teaching that homosexuality is harmful or even against the law — even though sodomy laws have been unenforceable since the Supreme Court overturned them in 2003. South Dakota’s bill would be the first to extend such censorship to gender identity issues.

This should be called “The Emperor Has No Clothes” bill, we are here and we will not go away no matter they try to do to sweep us under the rug.

This Is Something We Have To Watch Out For

Here in Connecticut there have been articles in local papers about this, banning trans athletes.

Bill would void South Dakota transgender athletes policy
KSFY
January 14, 2019

PIERRE, S.D. (AP) - South Dakota lawmakers are set to debate a bill that would void an activities association policy allowing transgender students to request to play on the athletic team that matches their gender identity.

The legislation introduced Monday would require a student's sex be determined by their birth certificate or a South Dakota High School Activities Association physical exam form.

Republican Sen. Jim Bolin, the sponsor, says the legislation is "all about fair competition."

Here in Connecticut last year there were two trans took part in high school track and field events and won. The Hartford Courant reported,

The success of transgender female athletes participating in high school track and field events has parents, athletes and coaches in some communities calling for a change in the current rules, as they question a possible competitive advantage.
[…]
“I think it’s unfair to the girls who work really hard to do well and qualify for Opens and New Englands,” said Glastonbury sophomore sprinter Selina Soule, who finished sixth in the 100-meter State Open final Monday. “These girls, they’re just coming in and beating everyone. I have no problem with them wanting to be a girl.”

You know that there are probably at least a dozen trans student athletes who don’t win but they are ignored and the focus is on those that did win. If we have such an unfair advantage then they all should be winning.

There are reports that the parents are looking for a friendly legislator to introduce a bill here in Connecticut

---

There is going to be a national march for trans rights this spring.

Inaugural transgender march comes to DC in April
WJLA
By The Associated Press
January 16th 2019

NEW YORK (AP) — Members of the transgender and gender non-conforming communities will take a major stand against hate and discrimination when they rally in the nation's capital for the first ever National Trans Visibility March (NTVM) on Washington, D.C., Monday, April 1st.

Transgender individuals from major metropolitan cities including Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Detroit, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Miami, Memphis, New York and San Francisco will come together with their allies calling for equal rights, physical safety and demanding the transgender communities be officially and federally recognized across every state department within this great nation.

The march is part of a two-day event which will kick off paying homage to transgender individuals with the Torch Awards on Sunday, March 31st immediately followed by a Trans Visibility Ball.

Okay this is first time that I heard about this, has anyone else heard anything about this? I never heard of the Torch Awards nor the Trans Visibility Ball, does anyone know anything about who is sponsoring these events?