Wisconsin
Madison.com’s the Capitol Times takes an in-depth look at Wisconsin’s incarceration of transgender women and the possible civil rights violations in the case of Lisa Mitchell:

Her primary fight, though, is not about whether she should serve time in jail for her crimes, it’s how she’s treated while she’s locked up.

Born biologically male and with the legal name of “Roy,” Mitchell has been repeatedly housed with men in jails, prisons and shelters and claims she has suffered discrimination both from other inmates and from criminal justice officials.

She has filed multiple civil rights complaints in U.S. District Court against criminal justice entities, including officials at the Dane County Jail and the state departments of Corrections and Health Services. The cases detail a series of incidents ranging from a Dane County sergeant labeling Mitchell a “hermaphrodite” to claims her parole officers required her to dress in male clothes.

A gay catholic Wisconsinite has been invited by President Obama to see the Pope, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports:

A Marquette University grad’s poignant note to President Barack Obama about his hopes as a gay man and a Catholic have garnered him an invitation to join the president when Pope Francis comes to the White House on Sept. 23.

Aaron Ledesma, 23, who has been chronicling his return to the church in a blog titled The Gay Catholic, first thought he was being punked when he answered a call from a blocked number on Aug. 13.

A Wisconsin pastor was among those rallying in support of jailed Kentucky clerk Kim Davis:

Wisconsin pastor Matthew Trewhella told those assembled, “She said that she was doing this under God’s authority”, according to the AP. The judge had little choice but to hold her accountable for failing to meet her responsibilities.

Iowa
Sioux City hosted the first ever Miss Gay Iowa drag pageant, the Sioux City Journal reports:

The pageant will feature a roster of special guests like Miss Gay United States Brandonna Dupri LaReese who will be opening the show, as well as a former Mr. Gay United States, Miss Iowa Continental and Sasha Belle, an Iowa City drag queen who recently competed in season 7 of the TV show “RuPaul’s Drag Race.”

Competitors will take part in a number of different categories. The first is being dubbed “Americana Runway” where those competing must wear color combinations of red, white and blue. Afterward is when they can display their evening gowns and be asked onstage questions.

An Iowa conservative radio host raised eyebrows last week when she lambasted Jewish members of the U.S. Supreme Court and their recent decision on marriage equality, Media Matters reports:

Jan Mickelson claimed Supreme Court Justices Elena Kagan and Ruth Bader Ginsburg should have recused themselves from the Supreme Court case on same-sex marriage not only because they had officiated same-sex weddings prior to the case’s decision, but because they are also “liberal Jews.”

North Dakota
The lawyers who filed suit in favor of marriage equality want their money back, the Associated Press reports:

A national gay rights group that sued North Dakota on behalf of a same-sex couple is seeking $124,000 in legal fees, a figure the organization calls modest compared with amounts other states have paid after similar lawsuits.

Lambda Legal filed a lawsuit in June 2014 on behalf of Jan Jorgensen and Cindy Phillips, who live in Fargo. The couple married in Minnesota and sued North Dakota because the state wouldn’t recognize their marriage.

The Fargo-Moorhead LGBT Film Festival celebrated its 7th season over the weekend, the NDSU Spectrum reports:

“I started the festival with a belief that people heal when they are able to see images and hear stories that reflect their own lives,” said Raymond Rea, an associate professor of film and video production at Minnesota State University Moorhead. He is the principal organizer of the Festival.

“As someone who also makes queer film and sees the other side of the LGBT festival circuit, I am honored to be a small part of a very large cultural world,” Rea said.

A forum was held in Bismarck to strategize getting a LGBT nondiscrimination ordinance passed, the Bismarck Tribune reports:

Police continue to investigate an alleged hate crime at UND, WDAY reports:

UND Police expect to finish in the next week or two their investigation of allegations a hate crime occurred at a UND fraternity, according to UND Police Department Sgt. Danny Weigel.

“I think that’ll be very clear within the next week what exactly happened,” Weigel said.

South Dakota
Al Jazeera takes a look at the the legal costs states have incurred by defending bans on same-sex marriage. It appears that South Dakota is fighting to not pay its tab:

Disputing the bill could enlarge it for South Dakota, a state that continued to fight same-sex marriage even after the Supreme Court ruled in June. Newville said the tab is about $300,000 — and the meter is still running.

“They’re doubling down to try to get out of paying the fees,” said Newville, who settled with North Dakota for far less because that case didn’t make it far in the courts before the matter was taken up by the Supreme Court. “That’s only going to add to the final cost.”