Wisconsin
*Madison will host the International Gay and Lesbian Football Association’s North American Championship. The event is the largest LGBT soccer tournament in North America. It was last held in Vancouver, British Columbia.

“The International Gay and Lesbian Football Association) is extremely pleased to have the 2015 IGLFA North American Championship II hosted by one of the most progressive cities in the USA, Madison, Wisconsin. It’s also exciting to know that Madison is one of the Top 10 sporting cities in the country so we should see a great local participation as well,” said IGLFA co-president Kimberly Hadley

*The Superior School Board voted against banning a children’s book about a girl with two moms. WDIO reports:

A parent had filed a complaint against the book Emma and Meesha My Boy, which tells the story “of a little girl with two moms as she learns to be nice to her cats.”
…The book is designed for kindergarten to third grade students, according to Superintendent Janna Stevens.
Stevens says they cannot remove a book based on one parent’s complaint.
“No challenged material may be solely removed because it presents ideas that may be unpopular or offensive to some,” said Stevens as she read from the policy.
Also at the meeting tonight, the consideration of a possible contract with a construction firm to move forward with a referendum was tabled without discussion.

North Dakota

*The Forum News Service gives an update of where the marriage equality suit in North Dakota is at:

In September, both sides submitted their final beliefs and at that time, United States District Judge Ralph Erickson had taken the case under advisement. Since then, there has been no action in the North Dakota suit. According to Minneapolis attorney, Joshua Newville, who filed the lawsuit on the behalf of gay couples, Erickson should have issued an option, but he is unsure why the judge didn’t do so.

Iowa
*Freedom to Marry is launching a campaign in Iowa to support Republicans who support marriage equality and to change the state party platform to remove anti-equality planks, according to Politico:

“It’s time for the party to modernize on this issue,” said Margaret Hoover, a Republican strategist, CNN commentator and native Iowan who is part of the Freedom to Marry delegation making the trip to the key early presidential state.

*The anti-LGBT group, The Family Leader, announced last week that it will host four events for Republican candidates for President, Politico reports:

“We look at 2016 and think there’s going to be too many candidates” to take them one-by-one around Iowa, said Bob Vander Plaats, who runs the group. “This exposes our entire base to the candidates and the candidates to our entire base.”

South Dakota
*Rapid City will host the first annual Dakotas Equality Summit in mid-January, according to KOTA TV:

The summit includes breakout sessions focusing on building support systems, finding communities, workplace protections and equalities, bully-proofing your life, as well as the history of the LGBT community.
BHCFE Board President David Patton believes building communities and spreading awareness are only two of many important topics included at the summit.
“The end goal is full equality,” he said. “In that, LGBT Plus people are protected in every way that everyone else is. That they are protected in housing, that they can’t lose their job for being gay. That they can’t lose their housing for being gay.”