Iowa
Modern Farmer profiles queer farmers, including an Iowa couple:

Paul says the Colorado experience has prevented him from coming out while taking up work on farms in Iowa. “Socially, everything is moving forward and what I think matters is the farm work,” Paul says. “But I’m still reluctant to talk about it and they don’t ask. The day hasn’t come when I can say: ‘Hi, I’m Howdy. Can I work for you, and by the way, I’m also gay.’”
‘When I first started doing research … I’d put queer farmer in Google, and all that would come up is porn.’
Yet Matt Russell and his husband, Patrick Standley, who farm the 110-acre Coyote Run Farm in Lacona, Iowa, have experienced a welcoming community. “There’s no gay ghetto in Iowa, and even though it’s not a bastion of liberalism, they let you live your life the way you want here,” says Russell, the State Food Policy Project Coordinator at Drake University.
When moving to the area in 2005, Russell says they made it a point to introduce themselves to their neighbors. Having grown up in rural Iowa, Russell knew that knocking on doors and not keeping to themselves prevented locals from “writing their own story about us.” He adds, “If you don’t let them know about you, they will come up with something lots wilder.”

*Conservative Christians protested a protest by conservative Christians in Iowa last week. They countered Westboro’s homophobia with a bit of their own:

The leaders of Iowa-based Patriots for Christ, along with other Christian conservative organizations and individuals, spoke out strongly against reported plans by the members of the Westboro Baptist Church to protest in the state over the weekend and on Monday….
“Both the homosexuals and the WBC pervert God’s Word,” said former state Rep. Tom Shaw. “It has been the Christians, the patriotic conservatives, who have physically showed up time and again to prevent these people from disrupting military funerals and inflicting more unnecessary grief and suffering on the families of those who have paid the ultimate price defending our country.”

*Meanwhile, Quad Citians confronted such messages of hate, according to Quad Cities Online:

On one side of the street, members of the Westboro Baptist Church carried signs that read “Fear God,” “God hates proud sinners” and “America is doomed.” On the other, Quad-Citians raised signs that read “If there is anything better than to be loved, it is loving,” and “God is love.”
More than 100 Quad-Citians came out Saturday to the corner of Belmont and Devils Glen roads in counter protest of about a half-dozen members of the Westboro Baptist Church, who came to picket the nearby Bettendorf Christian Church….
Among the Quad-Cities counter-protesters was Liz Mayer, of East Moline, who wore brightly colored tights beneath her shorts, and giant rainbow wings.
“I came out today in solidarity with the people that the Westboro Baptist Church spew hate toward,” Ms. Mayer said. “They are not going to do this in my town. Their message is against everything I believe in.”

*The Republican Party of Iowa has hired a communications director that is supportive of LGBT equality, the Iowa Statesman reports:

The Republican Party of Iowa announced today the hiring of six new staff members in a press release. But, the past comments of one of the new employees, Communications Director Charlie Szold, have surprised a number of Iowa conservatives.
The Iowa GOP’s press release highlighted Szold’s efforts on Richard Tisei’s congressional campaign in Massachusetts. Tisei ran in the Sixth Congressional District of Massachusetts in a campaign that aimed to be historic because he was running as an openly gay Republican. Tisei and his partner Bernie Starr were “married” in 2013.

*GOP hopefuls for president gathered in Iowa for the Iowa Freedom Summit, organized by one of the most anti-LGBT members of Congress, Rep. Steve King. But, the attendees largely ignored LGBT issues, even when pressed, the Huffington Post reports:

Many topics animated GOP officials, activists and operatives that gathered at Saturday’s Iowa Freedom Summit, which marked the unofficial start of the 2016 presidential primary.
But an issue that once faced vehement opposition within the party — gay marriage — remained conspicuously absent from the lips of many speakers who took the stage, demonstrating how dramatically politics around the issue has shifted in just a few years.
Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) denounced the president’s executive actions on immigration and the Affordable Care Act as unconstitutional overreach. Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich excoriated the State Department for failing to curb global terror. And Iowa’s newest Republican senator, Joni Ernst, urged Washington to balance the budget, cut spending and lower taxes, all proposals that resonated with the audience. Yet most speakers steered away from social issues near and dear to many Iowa evangelicals.

Wisconsin

*Chippewa Herald profiles a Wisconsin-based organization that helps LGBT prisoners:

This is where Martinez comes in. She’s part of LGBT Books to Prisoners, a Madison-based, all-volunteer effort that last year mailed more than 7,000 free books to hundreds of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender inmates in 45 states.
It is the largest and most active of the very few groups of its kind that cater expressly to LGBT prisoners.

*The Wisconsin State Journal takes a look at a heated race for the state Supreme Court where marriage equality is the main topic:

State Supreme Court candidate James Daley said Tuesday deciding whether same-sex couples should be allowed to marry is a matter for states, not the federal courts, which in the past year have repeatedly struck down state gay-marriage bans as unconstitutional.
On Friday, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to settle the question after a flurry of recent court decisions has overturned same-sex marriage bans, including in Wisconsin.
Daley, a Rock County Circuit Court judge, is running for a 10-year term on the court against incumbent Justice Ann Walsh Bradley on April 7. Each spoke separately before the Wisconsin Technology Council board of directors in Madison.

North Dakota
*A North Dakota judge has put a marriage equality lawsuit in that state on hold until the U.S. Supreme Court takes up the issue in March.

*Democrats in North Dakota are pushing for an employment nondiscrimination bill, the Grand Forks Herald Reports:

Sen. Carolyn Nelson, D-Fargo, is the primary sponsor of Senate Bill 2279, which is similar to bills brought forward in 2009 and 2011 that failed to pass. “The reason I think that this bill is important is that I think that the young people are looking at not only getting a good job but moving to communities that are accepting,” Nelson said. “Despite the fact that Fargo and Grand Forks are pretty liberal and above board, there are a lot of places in North Dakota that are not yet there.”