South Dakota
*Minneapolis attorney Josh Newville is asking a federal judge in South Dakota to lift the stay on same-sex marriages in that state after a ruling that the state’s ban is unconstitutional, the Associated Press reports:

Minneapolis lawyer Josh Newville says the couples should not have to wait and filed a motion Tuesday asking Schreier to set aside the delay of her decision.
He argues it doesn’t take into consideration other cases in which the Supreme Court allowed states to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples while those cases were appealed.

*South Dakota lawmakers are attempting to repeal a policy that allows transgender high school student to play on the team of their gender, Bilerico reports:

But HB 1195 sponsor Rep. Jim Bolin, a Republican, objects to this common-sense policy, claiming — against all available evidence — that it changes “the nature and character of high school athletics.” Bolin’s measure declares that “the sole determinant of a student’s sexual identity [sic] is the sexual identity [sic] noted on the student’s certificate of birth,” essentially forcing most transgender students to misgender themselves if they want to participate in high school sports.
On Twitter, Equality South Dakota called the advancement of HB 1195 “unfortunate” but applauded trans students, PFLAG, the SDHSAA, labor leaders, and educators for testifying against it. In a statement provided to The Bilerico Project, EQSD board member Tamara Urban said the proposed law is a “direct violation of Title IX of the Civil Rights Act.”

*The Associated Press notes that the anti-transgender bill passed a key committee and the bill’s author called the policy a “significant error.”

The House State Affairs Committee voted 10 to 2 to support a measure voiding a High School Activities Association policy on transgender student participation in sports.
The association in June adopted a policy requiring it to review requests by transgender students or their guardians to decide on which team the student can participate.
Republican Rep. Jim Bolin of Canton, who is sponsoring the measure to void the policy, said the association made a “significant error.” Mark Chase, president of the South Dakota Family Policy Council, a conservative group, pushed the committee to support Bolin’s measure and said there are anatomical differences between girls and boys that the policy doesn’t adequately address.

Iowa
*Iowa lawmakers are considering a bill to ban sexual orientation conversion therapy, Fox 28 reports:

The language is simple and bans mental health providers from attempting to change the sexual orientation of a minor. But what it says when you read between the lines is huge. “I think it’s a critical message for the state to be sending, for the public to be receiving,” said Mount Mercy Director of Marriage and Family Therapy Dr. Randy Lyle. “To that degree, the law is quite useful.”

*The community of Pleasant Hill, Iowa, is demanding the Southeast Polk High School implement stronger anti-bullying policies after the suicide of an LGBT student there, KCCI reports:

A year and a half ago, Sheryl Moore lost her spunky, smiling 16-year-old son to suicide.
“I’m thankful to have these memories, but it’s also sadness that I don’t have him to share my new memories with him,” Moore said.
She said her son, AJ Betts, was tormented daily at Southeast Polk High School. She said he was a target because he was gay and biracial.
“Why couldn’t the people who picked on AJ see this? That he was a person, that he was my baby. He was my child,” Moore said.
Betts’ death in July 2013 marked the fifth time in five years a Southeast Polk High student committed suicide. Now, an online petition created in AJ’s honor aims to tackle the sensitive subject.

*An effort to overturn marriage equality in Iowa appears to be dying in a legislative committee, Bleeding Heartland reports:

Two years ago, the marriage amendment failed to come up for a vote in the Iowa House, but a majority of Republican lawmakers still co-sponsored the legislation.
Now, signs point to Iowa House Judiciary Committee Chair Chip Baltimore letting the marriage amendment die quietly, as he did in 2013. Fewer than a quarter of the 57 House Republicans signed on to the latest effort to turn back the clock on marriage rights. At the same time, only one GOP lawmaker is “loud and proud” about supporting the right of all Iowans to marry the person they love.

North Dakota
*North Dakota lawmakers are considering a bill that would ban discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity, and the issue has become a staple in regional newspapers.

The Forum of Fargo-Moorhead came out in favor of the proposal last week:

The “special rights” canard collapses under honest scrutiny. If that argument were valid, then existing North Dakota anti-discrimination laws based on race, sex, religion, national origin, age and disabilities would be seen in the same light. Do the forces aligned against civil rights for gay North Dakotans believe existing protections in law create special classes of individuals because the laws are based on race, sex, religion, national origin, age and disabilities? If so, they should be working tirelessly to remove those specific definitions from law. Don’t bet the farm that will happen.
The other argument advanced by opponents of the rights bill is that an anti-discrimination mandate would hurt business. That’s nonsense. In fact, the private sector is way ahead of North Dakota’s lawmakers. Many large and small business already have in place anti-discrimination policies and practices in regard to sexual orientation. Fargo and Grand Forks have laws in place. The State Board of Higher Education adopted a policy in 2009. North Dakota State University and other schools have similar polices. Smart mangers and entrepreneurs understand that standing against discrimination is good for business.

*The bill’s authors provided their own take in the Grand Forks Herald:

Discrimination is not a North Dakota value. Plain and simple.
We do not value our friends being fired for reasons having nothing to do with job performance. We do not value our family members being turned away from housing opportunities. And we do not value our neighbors being unable to seek aid from the Department of Labor should discrimination occur. It’s this very reason that Senate Bill 2279 was introduced for the third time in the state Senate.

Wisconsin
*Authorities in Wisconsin lost the battle to maintain a ban on same-sex marriage and the plaintiffs want to reimbursed after winning the case to the tune of $1.2 million. The Wisconsin DOJ says they don’t want to pay up, according to the Associated Press:

“The DOJ filed a brief Tuesday saying that the claim grossly exceeds the market rate for civil rights attorneys in Crabb’s jurisdiction and questioning the attorneys’ hours.”