LGBTQ Nation

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Tuesday’s primaries marked significant wins for LGBTQ candidates

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Tuesday’s primary elections represented significant milestones for LGBTQ candidates in California, Iowa, and Montana. In total, six candidates endorsed by the LGBTQ Victory Fund, which tracks out LGBTQ elected officials nationally, advanced their campaigns to the November elections.

California saw four Victory Fund “Game Changer” candidates advance their campaigns in national and statewide races. In the state’s 41st Congressional District, out Democrat Will Rollins, a former federal prosecutor, won his primary and will now face off against incumbent Ken Calvert. The Victory Fund calls Calvert “one of the most anti-LGBTQ members of Congress.”

“Will’s victory sets the stage for a battle between an LGBTQ candidate and an incumbent member who opposes that candidate’s most basic rights,” the organization’s President and CEO Mayor Annise Parker said in a statement Tuesday morning. “As anti-LGBTQ bills flood legislatures across the country, voters will have the opportunity to elect someone who has made it his life’s work to increase equity in his community and fight for justice and accountability.”

In California’s newly formed 42nd Congressional District, Long Beach Mayor Robert Garcia (D) will face off against Republican John Briscoe in November. Garcia lead with 44.7-percent of the vote according to the New York Times, indicating he could become the first LGBTQ immigrant ever elected to Congress. And Rep. Mark Takano, the Democrat incumbent representing the state’s 39th Congressional District, will advance to November’s general election.

Elsewhere in California, out incumbent state Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara, a Democrat, won his race against Republican Robert Howell, while Los Angeles City Controller Ron Galperin appears to have lost his bid for State Controller.

In Montana, Zooey Zephyr made history, winning the Democratic primary in the state’s 100th state district. Competing in the heavily Democratic district in November, the progressive candidate could become the first out trans woman ever elected to the Montana state legislature. If elected, Zephyr will become one of only eight out trans state legislators in the country, according to the Victory Fund.

Meanwhile, Iowa state Rep. Liz Bennett (D) advanced her candidacy in the state’s 39th senate district. Bennett remains Iowa’s only LGBTQ-identified state legislator, and if elected she will become the first LGBTQ woman ever to serve in the state’s senate.

Both Zephyr and Bennett were named “Spotlight” candidates by the Victory Fund, which provided additional support and services to their history-making campaigns.

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Ohio Republicans pass bill requiring genital inspections for school sports

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Late Wednesday night, Ohio Republicans passed a bill requiring certain high school and college athletes competing in women’s sports to have their genitals inspected to ensure that they are not transgender.

H.B. 61, known as the “Save Women’s Sports Act,” was intended to prevent transgender women and girls from participating in school athletics.

Under the Ohio High School Athletics Association’s (OHSAA) current guidelines, transgender women and girls must have completed a minimum of one year of hormone treatment and/or demonstrate that they do not possess physical or physiological advantages over “genetic females of the same age group.”

The new law would prohibit trans women and girls from competing with cisgender women and girls. What’s more, anyone would be able to accuse an athlete of being transgender, thus forcing her to undergo evaluations of her external and internal genitalia, testosterone levels and genetic makeup.

“This is truly bizarre medically and nonsensical, but looking at it practically, this bill means that if anyone decides to question a child’s true gender, that child must undergo a sensitive exam,” argues Democratic state Rep. Dr. Beth Liston.

Supporters of the new rules argue that trans women and girls possess unfair biological advantages over cisgender women and girls. Both Equality Ohio and OHSAA confirm that in the seven years since the current rules have been place, there has never been more than on transgender girl participating in girls’ high school sports in any given year.

What’s more, the new rules could have unintended consequences for cisgender girls “accused” of being trans as well. In addition to the invasive genital examinations, Bruno points out that, “Women will sometimes have more testosterone completely naturally than folks would prefer a transgender athlete to have. So they actually are functioning at a lower threshold for what they are allowed to have hormonally to compete.”

Though the bill was not on the state House legislators’ schedule, its language was included in an unrelated bill, H.B. 151, which would revise Ohio’s Teacher Residency Program. House Democrats and even some Republicans had not seen the bill at the time of the vote, according to local ABC affiliate News 5 Cleveland.

“Having this third bill now slipped into an unrelated bill at the last moment is just such an additional slap in the face to our entire community,” said Equality Ohio’s legislative policy director Maria Bruno. “I know that there are a lot of folks in the LGBTQ community who are sitting there asking themselves, ‘What did I do to them? because they keep coming after me’ and I can’t blame them for having that perspective. But the answer is nothing, just existing.”

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An unlikely queer hero dodges bombs to deliver aid in Ukraine

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A pair of vans, cosmetically weathered but carrying an unmeasurable amount of personality along with over 12,000 lbs of food, medicine, and hygiene supplies, were used by a motley group of heroes to deliver critical supplies to two towns still under attack in northeast Ukraine.

Agatha Williams, a metal fabricator from Denver, Colorado turned front-line aid worker aiding civilians amid the Russian invasion, joined the relief effort for the first time. Piloting one of the vehicles, Williams, who goes by the pronouns they/them and identifies as queer, left the United States for the first time to make a difference in the lives of those suffering through the daily horrors of war.

Members of the self-styled Renegade Relief Runners, 3XR for short, have been driving those vehicles across the war-ravaged countryside for the better part of two months, providing humanitarian aid in places that few international groups know exist.

On a recent trip to Zolochiv, which has a population of about 45,000 when counting the surrounding villages, the 3XR team rolled in, making their second trip in two weeks to the local administrative center.

Agatha Williams handing out supplies in Kharkiv Oblast.
Agatha Williams handing out supplies in Kharkiv Oblast.

With tattoos running down the sides of their face, and stretched holes where gauges once sat in their ears, Williams cuts a striking figure, especially among the usually staid Ukrainian populace. On the day of the delivery to Zolochiv, they and their fellow members of the 3XR were given a heartfelt welcome by the town’s vice mayor. After offloading the first 4,000 pounds of food to residents dealing with the worst kind of food insecurity, Williams and the crew moved on to the local hospital.

After taking an in-depth tour around the destroyed medical complex, the chief doctor asked Williams and another 3XR member, Ken Brady from Oregon, to inspect the hospital’s generator system. As the sounds of artillery explosions thundered in the air above them, they tried to figure out why the generator was emitting diesel fumes.

Seeing how well they worked together, how did Brady think his openly LGBTQ associate was being received in the seemingly conservative nation?

“I admit some trepidation myself, about being out of place as a snarky, tattooed Asian-American, but together we have experienced zero prejudice that I’m aware of,” Brady responded.

He continued, “Ukraine needs and appreciates all help, and each of us is here to provide exactly that. In addition to Agatha, many of my LGBTQ friends at home will be equally surprised and, I hope encouraged, by the presence of a transgender reporter asking this question. Traveling to some of the hardest hit areas with members of the queer community has shown me Ukraine is not messing around, and that help is welcomed despite identity.”

On 3XR’s second day of deliveries, the mission took them west to Parkhomivka. This time more than 8,000 pounds were offloaded under the guidance of the town’s relief coordinator while the mayor came by to express his appreciation for the group’s lifesaving work.

Again, Williams was in the middle of the action.

Agatha Williams carrying supplies in Parkhomivka.
Agatha Williams carrying supplies in Parkhomivka.

While directing logistics, and bringing comfort to those around them, William’s body language expressed the clear sentiment of feeling ill at ease in the role of hero. Yet their teammates were full of praise for them.

Drew Luhowy, the 3XR’s resident Canadian, observed, “The collective diversity of those who came here to Ukraine to help push back against Russia has been strengthened because we found each other as a team, and thanks to our individual identities, we’ve been able to accomplish much of what we’ve set out to do so far.”

3XR’s Chris Tiller, an airline pilot from Nashville, Tennessee, who has been in Ukraine since early April and was the initial member of the Renegade Relief Runners, spoke directly to the challenges facing Williams on their mission.

“As soon as Agatha made their concerns known as to what adverse impact their identity could have on us in a country such as Ukraine that is thought of as conservative, we made it known, that not only would they never face repercussions for living their truth when we were together, we’d take 100% of Agatha if given the chance.”

“I don’t think my identity played a role in me coming here. It was more a product of how I grew up, in foster care,’ Williams said after everything was handed out and prior to departing Kharkiv with the others. “I’ve identified as queer, and have been Agatha for twenty years, and I’m 37 now, so I’ve always been me. The main reason I came, was to try to help do something to alleviate this senseless suffering.”

“Yes, people seem to keep a distance when they see me, but that is probably as much because of the war and them keeping to themselves as it is about how I look or who I am. Working with people here, Ukrainian or otherwise, has never been a problem.”

As they prepared to depart, I asked the four members what came next. Luhowy was succinct.

“Who knows? We’re all just here to help Ukraine.”

Members of the Renegade Relief Runners. From left in back: Ken Brady, Drew Luhowy, Chris Tiller, Agatha Williams. Front row: Ukrainian civilians Andre and Anna
Members of the Renegade Relief Runners. From left in back: Ken Brady, Drew Luhowy, Chris Tiller, Agatha Williams. Front row: Ukrainian civilians Andre and Anna

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40% of Republicans believe teachers can influence children’s sexual orientation or gender

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Conservatives have spent the last several months denouncing LGBTQ teachers as “groomers” and pedophiles, with rightwing pundits often saying that they believe that talking to children about LGBTQ issues can turn kids gay.

It turns out that a large number of Republicans believe that teachers can actually make children turn queer.

40% of Republican adults said that they believe teachers can influence students’ sexuality and gender identity, according to a new Morning Consult poll. Only 27% of Democrats and 29% of independents agreed.

Respondents were more likely in the poll to say that teachers can affect students’ academic performance, social skills, intelligence, values, and even religious views, but the alarmingly large number who believe that sexual orientation and gender identity are learned at school may be why so many Republican parents don’t want LGBTQ people to work with children.

The survey found that 31% of Republican parents are “uncomfortable” with LGBTQ people working with their kids, and another 13% had no opinion. Slightly over half – 57% – said they were “comfortable” with LGBTQ people working with their children.

In contrast, 84% of Democratic parents said that they were “comfortable” with LGBTQ people working with their kids and only 10% were “uncomfortable.”

The survey also asked parents if they were comfortable with lessons about “the LGBTQ civil rights movement” being taught in school, and compared that to whether they were comfortable with discussions of “sexual orientation and gender identity.” Florida’s Don’t Say Gay law bans discussions of “sexual orientation and gender identity” in early grades and requires them to be “developmentally appropriate” in older grades – without defining what that means – and many advocates on both sides have taken that language to mean that discussions about LGBTQ people are restricted.

59% of Republican parents said that they oppose lessons about the LGBTQ civil rights movement in schools, and 60% opposed lessons about sexual orientation and gender identity. Democratic parents were less homophobic; only 25% opposed lessons about the LGBTQ civil rights movement and 29% oppose lessons about sexual orientation and gender identity.

Conservative pundits have been saying that parents, generally, don’t want LGBTQ people mentioned in schools. But it looks like it may just be Republican parents who get upset with teachers who mention their same-sex spouses (but never their opposite-sex spouses).

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Doctor smacks down GOP Congressman who tried to troll her by asking “What’s a woman” in a hearing

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A doctor refused to let a Republican Congressman derail a House Judiciary Hearing by asking for a definition of the word “woman.”

The hearing was held to look address how the Supreme Court is probably going to overturn Roe v. Wade and end the federal right to an abortion in the U.S., and Dr. Yashica Robinson, who provides abortions in Alabama and is on the board of directors of the group Physicians for Reproductive Health, was called to testify about abortion access.

Related: Anti-LGBTQ Madison Cawthorn loses GOP primary as out lesbian candidate gets Democratic nod

But that didn’t stop Rep. Dan Bishop (R-NC) from trying to troll her and bringing up a random conservative grievance about the practice of sharing one’s pronouns to help others avoid misgendering people.

“In your written testimony, I noticed you said that you use she/her pronouns,” Rep. Bishop asked her in the hearing. “You’re a medical doctor. What’s a woman?”

“It’s important for you to understand why I said I use she/her pronouns,” Dr. Robinson responded.

Bishop tried to stop her from explaining why she shared her pronouns and again asked, “What is a woman?”

Robinson wasn’t deterred: “I think it’s important that we educate people like you about why we’re doing the things that we do.”

“So the reason I use she and her pronouns is because I understand that there are people who become pregnant that may not identify that way and I think it is discriminatory to speak to people or to call them in such a way as they desire not to be called,” she continued. “It’s important that we respect each individual person.”

Bishop cut her off again: “Can you answer my question of what’s a woman?”

“I’m a woman,” she said.

“Is that as comprehensive of a definition as you can give me?” Bishop asked.

Robinson had had enough and reminded Bishop that the hearing was about abortion, not pronouns or the definition of a woman: “That’s as comprehensive of a definition as I will give you today because I think that it’s important that we focus on what we’re here for, and it’s to talk about access to abortion.”

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Marjorie Taylor Greene & other anti-LGBTQ Republicans win their primaries

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Several major anti-LGBTQ politicians – including Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) – won their primary elections in Alabama, Arkansas, and Georgia yesterday and Texas’s run-off elections.

Greene – who tried to shut down the House of Representatives twice because it was debating a ban on anti-LGBTQ discrimination and who has a transphobic sign in front of her office – won her primary yesterday with 69% of the vote in Georgia’s 14th Congressional District. 73% of her district voted for Donald Trump in the 2020 elections, so she has an advantage going into the general election.

Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp (R) won his primary after being challenged by Trump-endorsed former Sen. David Perdue (R-GA). Kemp signed three anti-LGBTQ bills in April, which banned trans athletes from participating in school sports, allowed parents to challenge any material taught in school, and banned “offensive” books from school libraries, which has been understood to include books with LGBTQ content.

Also in Georgia, former NFL player Herschel Walker won the Republican primary for U.S. Senate and will face Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-GA) in the general election.

Walker has said that he wants the Supreme Court to end the right to marriage equality in the U.S., telling the attendees of a Columbus rally that he would “stop the gay weddings” and that “each state should determine that.”

Walker’s son, Christian Walker, is attracted to men and a Republican, but he said that he doesn’t like being called gay.

“Don’t call- Don’t put that ghetto g-word on me,” he said in a Twitch stream in January. “I just like masculine men. I’m not a— I don’t wanna be lumped in with the rainbow people.”

In Alabama, Gov. Kay Ivey (R) won her primary yesterday with 54% of the votes counted so far. Ivey signed a law earlier this month that would throw doctors in jail for providing gender-affirming medical care for transgender youth and young adults, but a federal court stopped the state from implementing it.

“I thank you with all my soul,” Ivey said on Tuesday night. “I am so proud to be your governor.”

In Texas, the incumbent Paxton won his run-off election for state attorney general against George P. Bush. While Paxton got the most votes in Texas’s primary in March, he didn’t get a majority of the vote and had to face Bush in a run-off yesterday.

Bush said that he challenged Paxton because he wanted to advance “good government.”

“This campaign is about good government – making sure we don’t have indicted felons serving at the top of the chain of command of our law enforcement officials here in Texas,” he said on Texas Public Radio.

Earlier this year, Paxton published a non-binding opinion that allowing transgender youth to transition violates their constitutional right to reproduce, a right that is not mentioned in the Constitution. His opinion was so full of medical errors related to transgender people that Yale medical and legal researchers published a report about it and said it was “not grounded in reputable science and are full of errors of omission and inclusion.”

“These errors, taken together, thoroughly discredit the AG opinion’s claim that standard medical care for transgender children and adolescents constitutes child abuse,” the Yale researchers wrote.

Trump-era White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders won the Republican primary for Arkansas governor, winning a campaign where she avoided talking about state issues and instead focused on national Republican talking points.

Sanders attacked LGBTQ equality repeatedly when she was at the White House, including saying that “religious liberty” requires allowing “a baker to put a sign in his window saying we don’t bake cakes for gay weddings” and saying that allowing transgender people to serve openly in the military is “a very expensive and disruptive policy,” even though experts did not agree with that statement.

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Trolls make up fake stories of parents forcing kids to be trans to fuel moral panic

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An internet forum where people pretending to be parents forcing their children to be transgender has gotten shut down after it was found to be full of fake stories.

As the U.S. plunges even deeper into a moral panic over children who are supposedly being forced to transition, some anti-transgender people are reacting to the fact that that never happens by making up stories about it and trying to pass them off as real.

Related: Why are Kentucky Republicans so afraid of a mediocre 12-year-old athlete?

“Anyone else have trouble convincing your teen kids to continue transitioning?” user “Funkyduffy” wrote on the subreddit r/TransParentTransKid. “My 15-year-old daughter (AMAB) has started refusing her estradiol so I’ve been crushing the pills and putting it in her cereal in the morning.”

Reddit is a largely anonymous internet platform where most users create unidentifiable handles and connections between users aren’t the focus, a contrast to social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. This makes it easier and more accepted for people to create temporary profiles to say whatever they want on various forums called subreddits.

One such subreddit, r/TransParentTransKid, was started last August when some users decided to post fake stories to it to promote the negative stereotype that parents and schools are forcing kids to be transgender. In reality it is common for schools and parents to be obstacles to trans kids expressing their identities while it’s unheard of for schools and parents to impede cisgender kids the same way.

The user who called for the subreddit’s creation said that it would be “filled with stories about how our real/adoptive children magically learned they were also trans after finding out about their parents,” according to Reuters.

According to another subreddit, r/AgainstHateSubreddits, r/TransParentTransKid was shut down for violating Reddit’s rules because they were “engaged in promoting hatred of transgender people, as well as targeted harassment.”

But the stories still spread outside of Reddit to rightwingers who were all too willing to believe them.

“This is fucking child abuse and I’ll die on this Hill,” wrote libertarian author Justin O’Donnell on Twitter, posting a picture of Funkyduffy’s fake story. He got almost 46,000 likes for it.

Ian Miles Cheong – who has a history of posting misinformation about trans people online and even riling Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) up – shared the story with the words “Good parenting.”

The story comes as conservative politicians and activists are claiming that there is a massive effort by schools and parents to turn children transgender.

For example, Rep. Greene said in February that there are “these mothers that think [having a trans child] is like having a handbag. They need to have a boy, a girl, and a trans child like as if they’re some kind of accessory.”

Funkyduffy’s story may have been one that pushed her to believe that such parents exist.

“I have never – not once – heard of a child being forced to transition,” said the ACLU’s Gillian Branstetter. “The exception is intersex children who are frequently forced into surgeries, yet every effort to ban gender-affirming care exempts those surgeries.”

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It is illegal to be LGBTQ in these countries

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In 71 countries, being queer makes you a criminal. In 11 of them, the punishment is death. Some countries differentiate between having gay sex and actually being gay, but the result is discrimination no matter the reasoning.

America’s religious right is clamoring for crackdowns on gender expression and LGBTQ rights similar to the laws enforced in less advanced countries. Some prominent Republicans and pastors have gone so far as to suggest America should be a theocracy like some countries on the list.

Iran, parts of Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Yemen, Afghanistan, Brunei, Mauritania, Pakistan, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates proscribe the death penalty for anyone proven to be homosexual.

In a sign that times are changing quickly, however, it is legal for same-sex couples to wed in 30 countries. Chile became the latest country to legalize marriage equality; Switzerland will start recognizing same-sex marriages in July after a national referendum.

Countries where it is illegal to be LGBTQ:

  • Afghanistan
  • Algeria
  • Antigua & Barbuda
  • Bangladesh
  • Barbados
  • Brunei
  • Burundi
  • Cameroon
  • Chad
  • Comoros
  • Cook Islands
  • Dominica
  • Egypt
  • Eritrea
  • Eswatini
  • Ethiopia
  • Ghana
  • Grenada
  • Guinea
  • Guyana
  • Indonesia
  • Iran
  • Iraq
  • Jamaica
  • Kenya
  • Kiribati
  • Kuwait
  • Lebanon
  • Liberia
  • Libya
  • Malawi
  • Malaysia
  • Maldives
  • Mauritania
  • Mauritius
  • Morocco
  • Myanmar
  • Namibia
  • Nigeria
  • Oman
  • Pakistan
  • Palestine
  • Papua New Guinea
  • Qatar
  • Saint Kitts And Nevis
  • Saint Lucia
  • Saint Vincent And The Grenadines
  • Samoa
  • Saudi Arabia
  • Senegal
  • Sierra Leone
  • Singapore
  • Solomon Islands
  • Somalia
  • South Sudan
  • Sri Lanka
  • Sudan
  • Syria
  • Tanzania
  • The Gambia
  • Togo
  • Tonga
  • Tunisia
  • Turkmenistan
  • Tuvalu
  • Uganda
  • United Arab Emirates
  • Uzbekistan
  • Yemen
  • Zambia
  • Zimbabwe

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New York City insurance bans gay couples from having kids, so a gay couple is fighting back

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A married gay couple has filed a federal complaint against New York City because the city’s health insurance doesn’t cover in vitro fertilization (IVF) procedures for male same-sex couples.

Corey Briskin, 33, and Nicholas Maggipinto, 36, were married in 2016. They want to have a child using IVF and a surrogate. However, they can’t afford to do so without their health insurance covering a portion of the costs.

IVF procedures can run tens of thousands of dollars, and the surrogate’s time and labor (which isn’t typically covered by health insurance) can cost $100,000 or more. Additionally, Maggipinto has a six-figure student loan debt.

So the couple tried to use Briskin’s health insurance, a benefit he earns as an employee of the city of New York. However, the couple were told they were ineligible for coverage.

The city’s insurance limits IVF coverage to employees or spouses who are “infertile,” that is, unable to get pregnant through heterosexual intercourse or intrauterine insemination. This policy covers women, heterosexual couples and lesbian couples, but not gay male couples.

As such, the city’s policy discriminates on the basis of sex and sexual orientation, violating the state’s anti-discrimination law and Title VII of the federal Civil Rights Act of 1964, the couple argued in its complaint to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC).

New York state law specifically directs insurance providers that cover more than 100 workers to cover at least three cycles of IVF for all insured people, regardless of their gender identity or sexual orientation, the couples’ EEOC filing notes.

“I think what we have here is an old paradigm of what families should look like,” Maggipinto said. “You have policymakers who think a family consists of a man and a woman and two and a half children…. But that’s not what my family will look like.”

The couple now wants the policy changed so that they and other male couples can afford to have children. They also hope the complaint could help encourage insurance providers to cover IVF for male couples across the nation.

A city spokesperson said it would review the couple’s complaint once it was received.

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Groundbreaking trans journalist alleges bias in termination from South Dakota Public Broadcasting

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A transgender journalist is filing for wrongful termination after being fired from South Dakota Public Broadcasting, alleging the state-run media outlet treated them with bias.

Stel Kline shared on Twitter April 18 that they had been let go from their position with SDPB News on the grounds they are “not objective” and “have a problem with authority.” But the reporter said their most recent job review didn’t include any areas for improvement.

Kline suggested that the concerns about “objectivity” are directed at their efforts to defend against anti-transgender attacks lobbed against them on Twitter.

“I was encouraged by the comms team to create a twitter and share my experiences in [South Dakota],” Kline wrote in a Twitter thread. But when they shared that they were experiencing verbal harassment because they are trans, Kline explained, “the director of journalism content tells me I have lost credibility. That I am not objective.”

Kline noted that they discussed objectivity in their interview for the position.

“In my interview I was very clear that as a trans person I am unable to be impartial about attacks on my humanity. Objectivity is not a static identity, but when wielded as such becomes the language of those with the most power,” they said. “Declaring someone not objective is a selective practice used effectively to exclude POC / queer journos.”

Kline referenced fellow trans radio journalist Lewis Raven Wallace, who was fired from Marketplace after publishing a personal blog post about the ethics of objectivity as a transgender journalist. Wallace has since written a book about his experiences.

But it wasn’t just the disagreement about objectivity, Kline said. Bias related to their gender allegedly started on the first day of the job, when they learned an article announcing their hire would run without using their pronouns.

“A half hour before beginning my first day of work I received a call informing me the head of communications directed the editor of the membership magazine to remove all instances of my pronouns from an article set to run announcing my hiring,” Kline wrote. “Instead of using ‘they’ to refer to me in the third person she was told to use my last name, Kline.”

According to Kline, the director claimed the decision was made to prevent listeners from pre-judging them based on their transgender identity.

“When confronted, the director said he wanted me to make the best impression with listeners – so they would judge my stories and voice without being clouded by the fact that I am trans,” Kline said. “The director of journalism content added that it would be a grammar issue for the older readers.”

Kline noted that SDPB is owned by the state of South Dakota, and that they are drawing inspiration from trans trailblazers as they move forward with their appeal.

“[A]s I begin my wrongful termination appeal I am guided by the resistance and courage of other trans state employees – especially Teri Bruce,” they wrote. “Teri was an archeologist at the South Dakota State Historical Society Archaeological Research Center. He began a lawsuit to get state health insurance to cover gender affirming care. The lawsuit closed when Teri died by suicide in 2019.”

South Dakota state statutes do not address discrimination based on gender identity or sexual orientation. Neither Kline nor SDPB responded to a request for comment by press time.

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