Wisconsin
When an anti-LGBT group forced a school district to cancel a reading of I am Jazz, nobody expected the community to rally around transgender youth, but that’s exactly what happened this week.

Yahoo News lays out the background:

In a 5-page letter full of legalese and bluster, Liberty Counsel threatened to sue if the school proceeded with its plan to share the book with students. The school cancelled the reading, surely a painful decision in light of the first grade transgender student whose own social transition was not about to be postponed. (For those keeping score, the first grade student did transition to presenting herself full-time as a girl, and her 6-year-old classmates dealt with it and moved on.)

But what could have been a tragic story exploded into something beautiful. Immediately, the Mount Horeb community rallied around this transgender child and her family. Within days, the local high schoolers organized an early morning flagpole reading of I Am Jazz, carrying hand-painted signs that read, “Close the Book on Hate.” More than two hundred people showed up, standing outside in light snow at 7:30 in the morning, to show their support.

Jazz Jennings, the 15-year old co-author of the book, initially responded to the fracas, Seventeen Magazine reports:

After hearing about the controversy over her book, Jazz shared the best response ever on Facebook. It was one word and there’s no way to know if it was directed at the Liberty Council or ​Mount Horeb Primary Center​ (or both), but either way, her response is definitely fitting..

“Meanies”

By midweek, the community in Mount Horeb had turned out in huge numbers, The Wisconsin State Journal reports:

In a turnout that stunned organizers, nearly 600 people filled the library here Wednesday night to hear a public reading of a children’s book about a transgender girl, with many in the crowd expressing strong support for a local family with a transgender child.
Most stood, as all of the library’s 80 chairs were quickly taken. Lead organizer Amy Lyle said she initially hoped for 15 people — not because there isn’t support for the family, but because peoples’ lives are busy.
“I knew that our Mount Horeb community was a loving, compassionate and inclusive one for all kids — I knew that in my heart — but you all have just shown that to be overwhelmingly true,” Lyle told the crowd, her voice cracking.
The village of 7,000 is about 25 miles southwest of Madison. The library event — and another reading at the high school on Wednesday morning that drew about 200 — followed the cancellation last week of the reading of the book “I Am Jazz” at the Mount Horeb Primary Center, a public elementary school where a 6-year-old student had just transitioned from a boy to a girl.

The family of the young transgender student released a statement about the readings, according to HRC:

“Our family would like to express our sincere appreciation for the overwhelming support that this community has shown to us. Many of you may not even know who we are, but have stepped up to do a truly amazing thing and show us that you are behind us 100 percent,” the family of the transgender child said in a statement. “This has not been easy for us, but you have provided us with the light we needed in an otherwise uncertain and difficult time. We are proud to be a member of this community and want to truly thank everyone who has provided us with such caring and compassionate words and actions. In the midst of all of the media attention that this important matter has stirred up, we just want everyone to remember that at the center of this is a brave little girl who can now be who she really is. And you have all helped to make that happen in a positive way for her and her family. For that we are, and always will be truly thankful.”

Jazz Jennings also responded to the situation, the Advocate reports:

My parents and I want to personally thank Johnson for being a such strong leader and ally for the transgender girl at her school. The student at Mt. Horeb is so lucky that she has supportive parents, and a principal, teachers, and many, many parents and students who want to support her and make her feel welcome at school! That is so cool! I know it will make a huge difference that soon she may be her true self at school without the risk of being treated badly, or pushed away by her school community.
So I was sad to find out that a small group of parents forced Johnson to cancel the reading from “I Am Jazz.” Thank you to the other people who stood up and decided to have readings in other places, and thank you to the many people who are showing their support for kids like me.

Mount Horeb isn’t the only community in Wisconsin addressing transgender inclusion in recent weeks. Oshkosh is considering a proposal in the next few weeks, the Northwestern reports:

The Oshkosh Area School District Policy and Governance Committee hopes to have a policy regarding transgender students set Monday for the school board to vote on Dec. 16.
The proposed policy can be viewed on the Policy and Governance Committee page on the school district website. It was tabled at the committee’s November meeting so members could clarify language about school staff working in partnership with parents to accommodate transgender students.

Iowa
Republican presidential candidate told an Iowa audience on Saturday that LGBT people should not be allowed in the military, NBC News reports:

Republican presidential candidate Dr. Ben Carson told veterans at a town hall here Saturday that while he would never deny qualified women from combat positions, he doesn’t appreciate “using our military as a laboratory for social experimentation.”
“You know, we have too many important things to do,” Carson said at a “Veterans and Military Town Hall” hosted by the Concerned Veterans for America. “When our men and women are out there fighting the enemy, the last thing that we need to be doing is saying what would it be like if we introduced several transgender people into this platoon.”
“You know, give me a break. Deal with the transgender thing somewhere else,” Carson said before saying he prefers the old “don’t ask, don’t tell” military philosophy that ended in 2011.

The Iowa State Daily profiled the university’s Safe Zone program:

Everybody, no matter what their gender identity, sexual identity or gender expression might be, should always be able to feel safe, especially on their own college campuses.
This is the motto of the LGBT Student Services, which is trying to help make people feel safe at Iowa State by providing the Safe Zone program.
The Safe Zone program varies its focus from school to school.
“The way we [at Iowa State] come at it is thinking about how we can make our campus inclusive and welcoming to people all over the spectrum of gender and sexuality,” said Clare Lemke, student services specialist in the Dean of Students Office.
The Safe Zone training program sessions, which people can register for online, are led by Lemke and Brad Freihoefer, director of LGBT Student Services.
“We really try to make it as interactive as possible,” Lemke said. “We have different activities that walk people through the concepts of sexuality, sex (biological) and gender. Safe Zone 101 is really about, at the personal level, how do we address and acknowledge our own personal biases that we have when we interact with people in our everyday life.”

North Dakota
A transwoman is suing her former employer for discrimination, the Advocate reports:

A North Dakota transgender woman has launched a federal lawsuit against her former employer, Sanford Health, for discriminating against her based on her gender identity,according to the Associated Press.
Faye Seidler worked as a technician at Sanford hospital in Fargo, N.D. As a patient, she also received gender-affirming health care at Sanford, beginning hormone therapy two years ago.
“As the months went on, they interrogated and intimated me about my gender identity, disregarded that I was being misgendered, had me change in an emergency shower room, and told me educating employees about gender was the same as forcing them to learn about the Muslim religion as part of their job,” Seidler told The New York Times. Her lawsuit says that she was forced to quit because the onerous workplace conditions prevented her from executing her job humanely.