Wisconsin
A Wisconsin transgender student won a victory when a judge issued an injunction barring the school from allowing him to use the school’s bathrooms, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports:

The Kenosha Unified School District must allow a transgender student to use bathrooms consistent with his gender identity while his lawsuit progresses through the courts, a federal judge in Milwaukee ruled Tuesday.
The decision by U.S. District Judge Pamela Pepper was the second victory in as many days for Ashton Whitaker, the Tremper High School senior who accused the district of discriminating against him.
On Monday, Pepper rejected a motion by the school district to dismiss the case. A day later, she issued a temporary injunction barring Kenosha Unified from enforcing its policy prohibiting Whitaker from using the boys’ bathroom while the case is pending, saying continuing to do so could cause the teen irreparable harm.
“There’s no question that Ash has already suffered harm and has had physical repercussions from the policy as well as emotional repercussions,” said Pepper, who challenged the district’s argument that its local school board — and not the courts or an individual student — should determine its own policies.

The Transgender Law Center released a statement praising the court’s decision:

A federal court today ruled that a Wisconsin school must immediately halt its discriminatory policy of singling out a transgender boy, Ashton Whitaker, and forcing him to use a restroom separate from all other students. Whitaker, represented by Transgender Law Center and Relman, Dane & Colfax PLLC, asked for the preliminary injunction so that he could use the restroom during his senior year of high school as the court heard arguments in his case challenging KUSD’s discriminatory treatment of him.

“For the first time this year, I feel like I can actually make it through my senior year of high school just like any other boy in my class,” said 17-year-old Ash Whitaker. “It’s awful going to school every day with the constant stress and stigma from being segregated from my peers and from administrators watching my every move just because of who I am. I’m so relieved I’ll be able to just go to class, apply to college, and graduate without worrying if I’ll get in trouble for using the restroom.”

U.S. District Judge Pamela Pepper read her decision aloud from the bench, holding that Ash would continue to suffer irreparable harm if KUSD continued to deny him access to the boys’ restroom during his senior year. In her decision, Judge Pepper explicitly recognized the emotional, psychological and physical harm Ash has endured under KUSD’s discriminatory policy and the importance to transgender people of being treated in accordance with their gender identity.

“We are thrilled for Ash, and grateful that the court recognized the urgent need to address the harm the school’s policy has caused him,” said Transgender Law Center Executive Director Kris Hayashi. “Transgender students, like all students, should have the opportunity to go to school and get an education without being singled out for harassment and discrimination by school administrators.”

The State of Wisconsin is appealing that injunction, Wisconsin Public Radio reports:

Speaking to reporters afterward, the district’s attorney Ron Stadler said he plans to immediately file an appeal with the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago, and will ask Pepper to stay her ruling.
In court Tuesday, Stadler argued the law doesn’t allow students to pick their own gender.
“There is no support in the law for that proposition,” Stadler said.
Stadler also argued Whitaker’s anxiety and inability to focus could be caused by issues other than bathroom usage.
Stadler also raised potential privacy concerns. But if Whitaker’s male classmates object to sharing a bathroom with Whitaker, they can leave and duck into another one, Pepper noted.

Taye Diggs will headline AIDS Walk Wisconsin, the Wisconsin Gazette reports:

Actor/singer Taye Diggs is familiar to fans of stage, film and television. But his appearance at AIDS Walk Wisconsin & 5K Run on Oct. 1 will mark his first time headlining a fundraiser to help people living with the disease.
Still, “The fight against HIV/AIDS is something that’s been close to my heart for quite some time,” he says.
“I was exposed (to the epidemic) at an early age,” explains Diggs. “My mother was very active in our community theater (in Rochester, New York) and, unfortunately, she lost a few of her really, really good friends.”
Those childhood losses had an impact on Diggs, and as his own career in the performing arts developed, he experienced firsthand the devastation the pandemic wreaked on his close-knit professional community.
Diggs’ career includes performances in some iconic queer musicals, and he’s joked with interviewers about channeling his “inner homosexual.” His playfulness around sexuality, combined with his roles and good looks, have gained him iconic status in the gay male community — a community that he loves back, he says.

Manitoba
The University of Manitoba will have its first LGBTQ homecoming, the Manitoban reports:

The University of Manitoba’s LGBTTQI* alumni (UMqueer) community will host its first-ever event Friday, dubbed “Queers, Cheers and Homecoming Years.”
The event will coincide with the U of M’s homecoming celebrations and will be hosted in Marshall McLuhan Hall in University Centre.
U of M vice president external John Kearsey said the inaugural event will “bring people together and celebrate our diversity and who we are in a very safe environment here on campus.”
The event will feature Winnipeg DJ and U of M alumnus Joe Silva and a speech from engineering alumnus Mitchell Haw.
Haw, who graduated in May, was the inaugural recipient of the Jeff Kushner and Randall McGinnis Scholarship for LGBT engineering students.
The scholarship was introduced in 2015 to encourage more LGBT students to enter fields of study that have historically been less accommodating to the LGBT community.
The reception comes at a time when the U of M has shown greater support for the LGBTTQI* community on its campuses.

Iowa
The Daily Times Herald profiled a gay student who is receiving a lot of community support after constant bullying started a few weeks ago:

Before two weeks ago, no one had ever said anything negative — at least to Loew’s face — about him being gay.
He was working an all-day shift at St. Anthony Regional Hospital as a dietary aide the day after the texts flew between several of his peers Sept. 9.
But after someone printed out the group text conversation and left it on the head football coach’s windshield, the details spread quickly. They eventually made their way to Loew.
First was a Snapchat apology Loew got from one of the texters.
What are they apologizing for?
Then, hours later, a deluge. Texts, calls, voicemails.
Loew didn’t see the actual content of the text exchange for awhile. He didn’t want to.
“I wanted to maybe think that what they said wasn’t that bad,” he said.
But eventually, the conversation made its way to him, while he was helping out at a family friend’s farm that Saturday evening, caring for the alpacas, goats and dogs there.
His parents found out about the incident about the same time.
Shelly Loew’s first reaction was anger: How could someone say this about my son?
That was immediately followed by fear: Tyler is out at the farm by himself.
Then, sadness. She cried, for days: How could someone say this about my son?
At school, reactions were swift and potent.
Several football players erupted with anger at their teammates. Many checked with Loew each day, asking him how he was doing and if he needed anything.
Students at Carroll and Kuemper Catholic high schools wore rainbow-colored and tie-dyed clothes to sports events last week — a sign of gay pride.
At last Friday’s football game, when four players — who sent the disparaging text messages — sat out, Loew was there, front and center in the student section that was a cascade of tie-dye and rainbow face paint.
When Carroll won, Loew cheered as loudly as everyone else.