North Dakota
The representatives of the Roman Catholic Church in Fargo are suing the federal government for the right to discriminate against transgender people in the Church’s hospitals and other Catholic health organizations, the Capitol Journal reports:

The Catholic Diocese of Fargo joined a national healthcare association in suing the federal government over new regulations they say will force Catholic organizations to provide abortions and gender-transition surgeries which would violate their teachings. the Associated Press reported Thursday.
Catholic News Service said the federal regulation scheduled to take effect Jan. 1 redefines the term “sex”, for anti-discrimination purposes, to include sexual orientation and gender identity.
That would require Catholic health care providers to perform or provide gender transition services, hormonal treatments and counseling “as well as a host of surgeries that would remove or transform the sexual organs of men or women transitioning to another gender,” CNS reported.
The Fargo diocese, which covers about 85,000 Catholics in eastern North Dakota, joined with Catholic Charities of North Dakota and the national Catholic Benefits Association in the lawsuit filed in Fargo federal court.

Wisconsin
Transgender state employees in Wisconsin might have insurance that covers transition-related medical care — or they might not, the Capital Times reports. It’s unclear how the weekend’s decision in Texas will affect the decisions of the state Group Insurance Board:

Health benefits and services based on gender identity will be covered by healthcare that covers state employees starting in 2017, but that coverage could be rescinded, the state’s Group Insurance Board decided Friday.

Coverage for services, supplies and procedures related to gender reassignment and sexual transformation will become available Jan. 1, but could be rescinded if certain contingencies are met, the state Department of Employee Trust Funds said in a statement. Those contingencies include:

A court ruling or an administrative action that enjoins, rescinds or invalidates the rules set by the federal Department of Health and Human Services (HHS);
Compliance with state law, Section 40.03 (6)(c);
Renegotiation of contracts that maintain or reduce premium costs for the state; and
A final opinion of the Wisconsin Department of Justice that the action taken does not constitute a breach of the Board’s fiduciary duties.
Earlier in the year, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services ruled the Affordable Care Act’s nondiscrimination provision requires that health care providers not discriminate on the basis of gender identity.

A young transgender woman living in southern Wisconsin was the focus of a profile piece in the Chicago Tribune last week:

Yorke gained notoriety when she was nominated for Portage High School’s prom queen in May. As Northwest Indiana’s first transgender young woman to be nominated as such, she came in first runner-up, but gained a sizable following of people on social media who’re inspired by her.
It’s easy for the now 19-year-old to forget that she’s known the world over, thanks to social media. After graduating from high school in June, she moved to southern Wisconsin. She now juggles two jobs as a server and retails sales associate, jobs that require her to be in the public eye.

Iowa
Drake University in Des Moines is facing a lawsuit alleging anti-LGBTQ discrimination, the Des Moines Register reports:

A former Drake University assistant women’s basketball coach was forced to resign from her job after head coach Jennie Baranczyk learned that she was gay, according to allegations made in a federal lawsuit.
The university denied the allegations and said a state panel rejected an earlier claim by the former assistant.
The lawsuit filed on behalf of former assistant coach Courtney Graham claims that Baranczyk pressured her to quit approximately six months after the head coach learned that Graham was gay, violating Iowa’s anti-discrimination law. Graham’s lawsuit also claims that her sexual orientation and mental health became the focus of office gossip that was started by Baranczyk.
Graham, who spent her own college basketball career at Mississippi State University, joined the Drake coaching staff in 2012.