Here’s what’s happening in Iowa, Wisconsin, South Dakota and North Dakota this week

Iowa
Drag superstar Sharon Needles joined students at the Governor’s Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender or Questioning Youth Conference to talk about preventing bullying. “It seemed like it was other people that struggled or had issues with my sexuality or the way I visually presented myself,” she told attendees according to the Quad City Times.

A new comic book out of Iowa features a prominent religious right figurehead as the villian.
“We created Mighty Moxy to show that anyone can be a superhero by standing up to bullying, whether it exists in the classroom or outside the classroom. Unfortunately, many on the extreme right — Bob Vander Plaats is a prime example of this — but many on the extreme right use hateful rhetoric to do what we consider political bullying,” Progress Iowa executive director Matt Sinovic told Radio Iowa.

Wisconsin
Gypsy Vered Meltzer was elected the first transgender member of the Appleton City Council on Tuesday. “It’s important to get more young people involved in politics. As someone who’s part of various subcultures, I want to show everyone that the door’s open, come on in and be part oflocal government,” Meltzer told the Post Crescent.

University of Wisconsin-Superior has joined the You Can Play Project to combat homophobia and discrimination in sports.

South Dakota
Authorities say a hate crime that occurred near Rapid City will not be prosecuted as a hate crime because South Dakota does not include sexual orientation in its hate crimes laws.

Minnesota’s own Prof. Dale Carpenter will give a lecture on sexual orientation and the law at the University of South Dakota on April 7.