What’s happening for LGBT folks in the state’s neighboring Minnesota? Each week, we will recap the news from Wisconsin, Iowa, South Dakota and North Dakota as it relates to the struggle for equality.

Wisconsin
Gov. Scott Walker’s administration is trying to get the marriage equality suit brought by eight couples dismissed.

A grocery in Milwaukee responded to one customer complaint by blocking out the covers of a magazine that pictured two brides on the cover. Jim Stingl wrote about the fracas in the Milwaukee Jourrnal Sentinel.

I get that Sendik’s Fine Foods wants to keep its customers happy and sell lots of groceries, but did it really need to block a tame Milwaukee Magazine cover showing two brides getting married?
One shopper thinks so. And it took just that one complaint to cause the Brookfield store owners to put a black board over the magazine in racks near its checkout lanes. Only part of the magazine name was left showing

South Dakota

A lesbian couple is mounting a challenge against South Dakota’s anti-marriage equality ban. The couple applied for a marriage license in Pennington County and were denied earlier this week.

State Sen. Phil Jensen has taken flack for introducing a bill that would allow businesses to deny services to same-sex couples. He also said the government should not have any laws against discrimination, prompting an uproar.

North Dakota
An evangelical Christian weighs in on whether marriage equality will ever come to North Dakota.

For the record, I would like to point out that I am a born again Christian. That being said, I personally could not support any efforts to legalize same-sex marriages in North Dakota. However, in no way does this mean that I hate gay people. Not at all.
In fact, I have a number of colleagues at the place of business where I work who happen to be gay, and I would have to say that we get along in the workplace just fine. The subject of their individual sexual preferences just doesn’t come up, and I would prefer to keep it that way. Do I treat them any differently on a day-to-day basis? Absolutely not. Do I respect them? Mostly, yes. However, I cannot in due conscience respect the sinful and clearly unbiblical lifestyle they’ve chosen to embrace. Do gay people have rights? Absolutely, they do.
Will there ever be a day when North Dakota joins that alarmingly-fast growing list? It’s very difficult to say, but given the ultraconservative nature of North Dakota in general; if I were a betting man, I would have to say the odds are still pretty strong against North Dakota joining this list.

Iowa
The Daily Beast profiles the new face of the GOP in Iowa with “Meet the Anti-Gay Wingnut Who Will Run the 2016 Iowa Caucuses.” They are talking about Danny Carroll, a former legislator and darling of Iowa’s religious right.

After leaving office, Carroll became Chairman of the Board of the Iowa Family Policy Center, part of The FAMiLY LEADER, a social conservative political organization that “provides consistent, courageous voice in the charges, in the legislature, in the media, in the courtroom, in the public square…always standing for God’s truth.” In particular, the organization has been very active on gay marriage, which has been legal in Iowa since 2009 after a unanimous decision of the Iowa Supreme Court. The group and Carroll were active in the effort to successfully recall three of the court’s judges in 2010 in retaliation for their pro same-sex marriage decision.

Republican hopefule for the U.S. Senate in Iowa tussled over whether Iowa should have an Arizona-style “discriminate against gays” law. An example from the Waterloo Cedar Falls Courier:

“College professor Sam Clovis called Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer’s veto a mistake because religious freedom is a 1st Amendment right that means ‘our religious faith, our religious doctrine should be protected and there are no exceptions.'”