Wisconsin
Wisconsin Republicans held a hearing on Thursday on a proposed bill that would bar transgender-inclusive school policies across the state. Media Matters flagged an exchange during the hearing:

State Representative Mandela Barnes (D) called out Alliance Defending Freedom for working to criminalize homosexuality abroad during the hearing on the bill:

BARNES: I don’t know how much people really know about Alliance Defending Freedom. They’re not really a friendly group.
REP. JEREMY THIESFELDT (R): Representative Barnes, Alliance Defending Freedom is not on trial here today.
BARNES: Oh, I understand that.
THIESFELDT: Keep your comments to the bill, please.
BARNES: But it’s sort of the company we keep and where the ideas come from. We should be really aware of that, really conscious of where some of this policy is coming from. Because this is an organization that’s tried to criminalize homosexuality in other countries. And I don’t think that’s the type of place where we should be getting any of our policy here in the state of Wisconsin.

The Wisconsin Gazette Editorial Board slammed the Republican-backed bill:

Once a pioneering state on lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights, Wisconsin lacks a statewide law banning bias based on gender identity. What exists are partial piece-meal protections in more progressive communities and more progressive school districts.
Now, Republicans are keyed up to roll back limited protections for transgender students in dozens of districts and halt any further reform.
AB 469, the Student Privacy Protection Bill, seeks to ban transgender students in K-12 schools from using the gender-segregated facilities that align with their gender identity and would require school districts to repeal anti-discrimination reforms and accommodations policies. The legislation is contrary to best-practice recommendations from leading medical and mental health groups, civil rights organizations and education associations. And the proposal is in conflict with findings and guidelines from federal agencies — from Labor to Justice, HUD to Education.

Groups continue to come out against the bill. One Wisconsin Now stated:

Singling out transgender youths and students is the latest giant leap backwards being considered by the Assembly Republican legislative majority. The legislation, Assembly Bill 469 (AB 469), before the Assembly Education Committee for a public hearing today comes courtesy of State Representative Jesse Kremer, who also advocates for segregated grocery stores for low income Wisconsinites receiving public assistance.
“There is not a single thing in this bill that will make our public schools or the students they serve better, safer or more welcoming,” said One Wisconsin Now Executive Director Scot Ross. “The reprehensible attitudes and ugly discrimination that this bill represents ought to be condemned to the dustbin of history, not enshrined in state law.”
Under Kremer’s bill, transgender students in state public schools would be barred from using the restroom for the gender with which they identify. The bill further threatens school districts with legal action, including financial liability for “damages,” if complaints from parents or students about other transgender students are not resolved to the satisfaction of the complainant.

The Human Rights Campaign condemned the bill after it was granted a hearing:

Today, HRC condemned the decision by the leadership of the Wisconsin Assembly to allow a hearing today on disgraceful anti-transgender legislation that would expose trans and gender nonconforming students to heightened risk of bullying, harassment and discrimination. Not only is the bill–known as AB 469–shameful and horrific public policy, passing it would put the state in conflict with federal law.
An earlier hearing on the bill was scheduled for November 5, but was postponed after a similar school district policy in Illinois was found to violate Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 by the U.S. Department of Education.
“This bill doesn’t belong on the floor of any state legislature–it belongs in the garbage,” said HRC Legal Director Sarah Warbelow. “All members of the Wisconsin Assembly should be deeply concerned about how AB 469 will place transgender and gender non-conforming students at risk for discrimination and harassment. This reckless and irresponsible bill would put school districts and educators in direct conflict with federal law, creating unnecessary confusion and liability for schools all across Wisconsin. The legislature should abandon this proposal, focusing instead on creating an inclusive learning environment that enables all students to succeed, regardless of their sexual orientation or gender identity.”

A Milwaukee Alderman is hoping the city council will vote to condemn the bill, the Wisconsin Gazette reports:

Ald. Tony Zielinski (14th Ward) plans to introduce a resolution to the Milwaukee Common Council on Tues., Nov. 24, condemning Assembly Bill 469 — the so-called “bathroom bill.”
The Assembly’s Republican leadership introduced the measure yesterday. It would prevent transgender students and citizens from using restroom and locker facilities that do not conform to their birth gender. The bill also would overturn laws passed by municipalities and local public school policies that allow transgender people to use facilities consistent with their actual, self-identified gender.

The Associated Press notes that if Wisconsin passes the bill, it will be the first state to do so:

Republicans pushed Thursday for Wisconsin to become the first state in the nation to prohibit transgender public school students from using a bathroom or locker room assigned to the gender with which they identify.
Opponents, including students who stood and sat on the floor in a packed hearing room, argued the proposal is a violation of federal Civil Rights law. The soonest that the state’s GOP-controlled Legislature could act on the bill is January, and it’s unclear whether the measure has enough support to pass.
The issue has roiled communities in Wisconsin, including in the district of the bill’s lead sponsor, and across the country as more children identify as transgender at younger ages. Several school districts in Wisconsin have their own policies, but Rep. Jesse Kremer said a statewide law is needed to protect them from lawsuits and create a unified standard.
But Leland Hilliard, a 15-year-old transgender student, said he prefers to use an all-gender bathroom at his Madison high school, which would not be allowed under the proposal.
“I would feel my right to be safe and protected in public schools would be jeopardized,” Hilliard said. “My mental health would be flushed down the toilet I’m not even allowed to use.”

The Journal Times notes that the issue hits the Racine area especially hard:

Two Racine transgender teens who died by suicide in the last two years were on the minds of some during a Thursday hearing on a state bill to regulate use of bathrooms in public schools by transgender students.
The bill — proposed by state Rep. Jesse Kremer, R-Kewaskum and state Sen. Steve Nass, R-Whitewater — would bar transgender public school students from using a bathroom or locker room assigned to the gender with which they identify. School boards would have to designate bathrooms and locker rooms as exclusive to one gender.
Several school districts in Wisconsin have passed policies addressing the issue and the Racine Unified School District plans to soon propose a new policy, but Kremer said a statewide policy is needed to protect from lawsuits and create a unified standard.
But members of the group Voces de la Frontera and its youth branch Youth Empowered in the Struggle, based in Milwaukee with members in Racine, headed to Madison Thursday to show opposition to the bill at the hearing before the State Assembly’s Education Committee.

Right-wing media outlets are claiming that a University of Wisconsin-Madison professor gave extra credit for attending rallies at the capitol against an anti-transgender bill. Media Tracker, a conservative organization with alleged credibility issues made the claim last week:

A University of Wisconsin Madison professor offered students in her LGBTQ studies class extra credit if they visited the state Capitol on Thursday to testify against a bill she opposes.
Dr. Elizabeth Cabell Hankinson Gathmanis a graduate of UW Madison’s sociology department and this semester she is teaching Intro to LGBTQ Studies(SOC/GWS 200), a required class for students in the LGBTQ studies certificateprogram.
On Wednesday, Prof. Gathman related to her students that she would give them extra credit on their final course grade if they went to the state Capitol to testify in opposition to AB 469, a bill that establishes uniform policies for how Wisconsin public schools will handle locker room and restroom accommodations for transgender students.
A slide from her classroom presentation tells students to “Write-up [sic] analysis of proposed law” and “email instructor photo of self waiting to testify” to get a boost to their grade.

The Wisconsin Gazette profiled members of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence:

They call each other “Sister” when they don their habits. In their street clothes, Sister Causa de Change calls Sister Mae Nora by a different name: Mom.
As members of the gleefully over-the-top Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, Joshua Shumaker and Lynne Stiglitz are believed to be the only mother-son combo in this global order that spans 32 North American cities and 17 other locations around the world. The two are active in the Milwaukee chapter, the Abbey of the Brew City Sisters, which was founded in 2008 and has a membership of 12.
When they are “manifesting,” they and their fellow sisters are easily recognizable in their whiteface, brassy makeup and nun garb. (To top off this eye-catching ensemble, each chapter designs its own distinctive “coronet.” In honor of its Wisconsin roots, the Milwaukee group’s are made from cheesehead hats wrapped in cloth.)
Although they are best known for passing out condoms at gay bars to promote safer sex, the sisters also raise funds, make small grants and provide volunteer support for a range of LGBT-related causes. Since the first chapter was founded in San Francisco in 1979, the SPI has raised and distributed more than $1 million.

LGBT Weekly takes a look at a new report on anti-LGBT policies at universities 60 years ago. The University of Wisconsin-Madison had particularly harsh policies:

The paper details incidents at the University of Texas, the University of Wisconsin and the University of Missouri, where students or faculty presumed to be homosexual were expelled or fired. Two of the universities – Wisconsin and Missouri – created administrative machinery to track students and faculty that were purged, helping to hinder their future success.

“In LGBT history, very little attention is paid to anything before the Stonewall riots in 1969,” said Margaret Nash, an associate professor at UC Riverside’sGraduate School of Education. “When people do take note they say, ‘Oh, that’s part of McCarthyism.’ But, in these cases, it wasn’t. These cases preceded McCarthyism. Who knew?”
In 1948, four University of Wisconsin students pleaded guilty to engaging in homosexual activities and were given one year’s probation and a warning from the judge that they had caused an “indelible mark” to be placed against them. Two years later, one of those students, “Keith Pritchett,” who was about to graduate at the time he was given probation, asked the university of grant his degree. The World War II veteran expected to be called back to active duty because of the Korean conflict and wanted the degree so he could be promoted. Despite positive recommendations from military officials, the university denied his request.

Iowa
Des Moines Register columnist Rekha Basu wonders why Republican candidates won’t call out a pastor who has called for the execution of LGBT people:

Three Republican presidential candidates spoke at a forum in Des Moines this month hosted by a pastor who raved approvingly that the Bible justifies killing gay people — “and I am not ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ.” But neither Texas Sen. Ted Cruz (since endorsed by Iowa’s Congressman Steve King) nor Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal nor former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee rebutted Kevin Swanson incendiary statements.
They chose instead to talk about a war on Christianity.
Calls and emails seeking a reaction to Swanson’s remarks by spokespeople for Cruz and Jindal (who suspended his campaign Tuesday) went unanswered. Huckabee’s spokeswoman Alice Stewart asked for documentation and was sent a video link. She responded the next day saying, “Gov. Huckabee appreciated the opportunity to speak with an audience in Iowa about the importance of standing up for our religious liberties.”

About a dozen progressive leaders in the state have signed on to a letter in the Des Moines Register criticizing the campaign by Iowa religious right maven Bob Vander Plaats to promote civility, calling it a “campaign designed to confuse the public and soften his extreme views and rhetoric.” The letter writers note:

Despite his new found support for civility, Vander Plaats has not changed one bit. He has publicly compared homosexuality to pedophilia, compared the Supreme Court’s ruling in favor of same-sex marriage to past rulings on slavery, and supported conversion therapy to ‘cure’ LGBTQ youth. His organization, the Family Leader, has long been affiliated with the Family Research Council, an anti-gay hate group (as designated by the Southern Poverty Law Center). He has consistently orchestrated attacks against those providing resources and education to prevent the bullying of LGBTQ students. And earlier this month, Vander Plaats delivered a keynote address at an event with pastor Kevin Swanson, who says the Bible calls for the punishment of homosexuality by death.
These are the actions of a political bully, not of a friend.

The letter was signed by Alicia Claypool, former chair, Iowa Civil Rights Commission; Sue Dinsdale, executive director, Iowa Citizen Action Network; Cathy Glasson, president, SEIU Iowa; Danny Homan, president, AFSCME Iowa Council 61; Mark Langgin, board member, Progress Iowa; Nate Monson, executive director, Iowa Safe Schools; Sally Pederson, former lieutenant governor; Connie Ryan Terrell, executive director, Interfaith Alliance of Iowa; Ken Sagar, president, Iowa Federation of Labor AFL-CIO; Chris Schwartz, Iowa organizer, Americans for Democratic Action; Matt Sinovic, executive director, Progress Iowa.

Vander Plaats’ group hosted a slew of Republican candidates over the weekend, Right Wing Watch reports:

Ben Carson, Ted Cruz, Carly Fiorina, Mike Huckabee, Rand Paul, Marco Rubio and Rick Santorum will all be speaking at the forum, at which the candidates are arranged family-style around a Thanksgiving table. (At the 2011 forum, Michele Bachmann memorably took it upon herself to serve water to all of the male candidates.)
The endorsement of Vander Plaats, whose backing helped catapult Huckabee and Santorum to Iowa caucus victories in 2008 and 2012, is one of the most coveted in the state. While most observers think that Cruz will nab Vander Plaats’ endorsement, the activist is keeping his options open. Vander Plaats told a reporter that although Donald Trump was unable to make tonight’s forum, he told him, “If you can guarantee me your endorsement, I will turn the plane around and get there.”
As Vander Plaats’ previous endorsements of Huckabee and Santorum show, he has a powerful machine ready to push an ideologically pure social conservative. Back in 2010, Vander Plaats also led a successful effort to remove three Iowa Supreme Court judges who participated in the court’s landmark unanimous marriage equality decision.
But to get that endorsement, candidates must cater to an activist far the right of mainstream voters. Not only does Vander Plaats want to remove from office or defund the courts of judges who find in favor of marriage equality, he believes that anything, like gay marriage, that “goes against the law of nature” is by definition unconstitutional . He argues that the government is an institution of God and therefor its purpose is “to promote righteousness” and to apply “God’s principles and precepts.” He once warned that God might withdraw his blessing from America because of a Wiccan prayer at the Iowa state capitol.

The community at Iowa State University gathered last week for the Transgender Day of Remembrance, the Iowa State Daily reports:

About 50 students, administrators, faculty and community members gathered Monday evening in the Campanile Room at the Memorial Union for the Transgender Day of Remembrance.
The event started with a brief speech from Brad Freihoefer, director of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Student Services. Freihoefer explained what the goal of the evening was.
“We planned this event not as a presentation where we talk to you, but as a community dialogue where we can mourn together and work together to make our community safer for, and more inclusive of, trans people,” Freihoefer said. “Tonight we will memorialize individuals who lost their lives because of anti-transgender violence.”

North Dakota
The Bismarck Tribune reports that new HIV infections have been increasing in North Dakoya over the last 5 years:

The number of people living with HIV or AIDS in North Dakota has risen sharply in recent years, partly reflecting the state’s population growth.
“Over the last five years the number of cases has really risen,” said Lindsey VanderBusch, the HIV/AIDS program manager for the North Dakota Department of Health. “Things have definitely increased.”
The number of newly reported cases of HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, almost tripled from 2010 to 2014, increasing from 25 to 74. The number of new cases hovered between 16 and 28 from 2000 to 2008, and jumped to 39 in 2009, according to state figures.
Increased testing and better access to health care, partly due to the Affordable Care Act, account for most of the increase in recent years, VanderBusch said.
“Our cases are increasing at a steadier rate than our population,” she said, adding that about two-thirds of last year’s new HIV cases were people who moved to the state with the diagnosis.
The primary risk factor for HIV infection was male-to-male sexual contact, followed by heterosexual contact and intravenous illicit drug use.
African-Americans in North Dakota figured disproportionately in the rate of HIV infection. The rate of African-Americans with the infection equates to about 1,000 per 100,000, significantly greater than the 42 for whites and 88 for American Indians.