South Dakota
*A move to repeal the South Dakota High School Activities Association’s transgender-inclusive high school athletics policy failed in the Senate Education Committee on 4-3 vote, the Associated Press reports. The policy, adopted last summer, allows transgender students to participate in athletics based on their gender.

*The American Clarion, a part of the anti-LGBT Dakota Voice media group, chastised Republicans in South Dakota for not passing a “religious freedom” bill allowing discrimination against the LGBT community:

The South Dakota Legislature recently had another chance to consider protecting the religious freedom of South Dakotans from homosexual activists and others who seek to force their will on others. HB 122o was submitted to protect the free exercise of religion in South Dakota–something under heavy attack nationwide and which may soon be under full attackhere in South Dakota.

With governments are trampling religious freedom across the country in recent years, it certainly seems that the supposed religious liberty is of convicted criminals is more important than the religious liberty of decent, law-abiding God fearing people. Criminals already have the government jumping through hoops to protect alleged religious freedom, while Christians have their liberty trampled, and “Republicans” unwilling to take further measures to protect authentic religious liberty.

*The University of South Dakota is creating gender neutral housing in order to create a safer environment for LGBT students. It will be the first college in the state to have gender neutral housing, the Associated Press reports:

Director of University Housing Todd Tucker said the idea is to be more inclusive toward a variety of students, particularly those in the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender community.
“Knowing they have this option to be more free in who they are. That’s something that hasn’t really — that’s taken a long time for any person to get to feel comfortable with themselves and comfortable with the people around them,” Tucker said.

*Black Hills State University’s paper, the Jacket Journal, published a piece titled, “South Dakota drags its feet as country legalizes gay marriage”:

We are making good progress as a country but South Dakota seems to be lagging behind. After all it was only eight years ago that South Dakota passed Amendment C, with 52 percent, which made gay marriage unconstitutional. Jacob Felix, who is 21 years old, is a second year student at Black Hills State University and a South Dakota native. He works at the Northern Hills Cinema in Spearfish and happens to be roommates with a former BH student who is openly gay. “The whole situation is ridiculous,” Felix said. “What people do in their relationships is their own business. It doesn’t effect heterosexual people so why should they care? It’s a basic human right for people to be happy” he said with conviction. The only reason this law has yet to change, according to Felix, is the unwillingness of our statesmen and women to accept fault in denying an entire demographic of their rights. “They are and should be ashamed.”

Iowa
*The State of Iowa Youth Advisory Council is asking legislators to pass a law that would prohibit conversion therapy on minors under 18 years of age, according to KCRG:

The group is also calling for an all-out ban of gay conversion therapy in Iowa. That’s a mental health treatment believed to convert gay patients into becoming straight. Several national mental health organizations have ruled the practice as fraudulent.
“These kids and these students are being harmed mentally and physically in order to change their sexual preference,” [Dubuque Senior High School student Anne] Edwards said.

*WOI has a story about the real consequences of the ban on blood donations by gay and bisexual men:

One metro man, who didn’t want to be identified said the change to the policy doesn’t go far enough.

He says he wasn’t aware gay sexually active men weren’t allowed to donate until he went into a metro blood center Monday, and was turned away.

“My grandma passed away in October, she had to take in a bunch of blood, and I felt like I should give back to the center,” said the man.

The tribute however, didn’t happen when he noticed the pamphlet that stated he wouldn’t be allowed to donate.

“I was ashamed, embarrassed,” he said. “I feel like people would rather die than take my blood. There’s nothing wrong with my blood, I’ve been tested I’m safe.”

*Jan Mickelson, the longtime host AM 1040 WHO, called LGBT rights activists “same-gender nazis,” according to Media Matters.

North Dakota
*Community members in Fargo hosted a screening of the film, Pride, and held a panel discussion which touched on a pending bill to ban discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity, WDAZ reports:

Also discussed was the LGBT bill recently passed in the Senate and headed to the House.
If passed, it would legally end discrimination in the state based on sexual orientation.
Lillian Jones/ND Women’s Network, “As long as you show up to work, you do your job, you go home, right? And it shouldn’t matter what you do anywhere else.”

Wisconsin
*The Badger Herald, a student newspaper at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, took a look at LGBT homelessness:

In the midst of same-sex marriage legalization and the fight for Madison’s homeless, a LGBT homeless community finds itself in a unique struggle to find shelter each night.
Homeless services in Madison are not even enough for all the homeless people in Madison who are not LGBT, said Steve Starkey, executive director of the OutReach Community Center.
Each year, Madison conducts a point-in-time study to determine the number of homeless people who receive services from the city. On average, about 800 people are involved in the study, Starkey said.
The study gathers age, race and a variety of other demographic information. Last year, the study began to ask participants their sexuality, Starkey said.