BREAKING: South Dakota Governor Vetoes Dangerous Bill Attacking Transgender Children

Today HRC responded to the decision by South Dakota Governor Dennis Daugaard to veto HB 1008 — outrageous legislation attacking the rights of transgender children in public schools by attempting to force them to use restrooms and other facilities inconsistent with their gender identity.

“Governor Daugaard chose to do the right thing and veto this outrageous legislation attacking transgender kids. Today, the voices of fairness and equality prevailed, and these students’ rights and dignity prevailed against overwhelming odds and vicious opponents in the state legislature,” said HRC President Chad Griffin. “Unfortunately, another anti-LGBT bill is still pending in the South Dakota Legislature — and we must keep up the fight to ensure today’s veto holds and this other odious bill never makes it to Governor Daugaard’s desk.”

HRC mobilized its members across South Dakota and the nation to fight back against HB 1008. HRC has also worked closely with local advocates, including the ACLU of South Dakota and the National Center for Transgender Equality (NCTE), to try to stop this outrageous bill from becoming law. HRC provided on the ground support, mobilized members and supporters for a community day of action, conducted patch through calls to the governor’s office, and urged fair-minded South Dakotans to speak out against the bill through several action alerts and a robust social media campaign. HRC’s action, along with ACLU of South Dakota and other coalition partners, helped deliver over 80,000 signatures urging the governor to do the right thing and veto HB 1008.

HRC encouraged the American School Counselor Association (ASCA) to speak out, and the ASCA pleaded with the Senate to abandon the bill. As Governor Daugaard contemplated his decision, HRC also worked with seven national child welfare, medical, and education groups — including the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Counseling Association, the American School Counselor Association, the Child Welfare League of America, the National Association of School Psychologists, the National Association of Social Workers, and the National Education Association — to release an open letter to all of the nation’s governors expressing their grave concerns and objections to this type of legislation.

The profoundly negative impact this dangerous bill would have had on lives of young people and their families would have been completely unacceptable, and the governor’s veto stopped this outrageous attack dead in its tracks. But we have more work to do: other discriminatory bills are still up for consideration in the Mount Rushmore State, and we urge lawmakers to prevent these attacks on fairness and equality from moving any further.”

Before making his decision, Gov. Dennis Daugaard said meeting with transgender South Dakotans “put a human face” on the impact the legislation would have had and helped him to see things “through their eyes.”

HRC is working with the ACLU of South Dakota to keep another extreme bill, HB 1112, from passing. Two other discriminatory proposals in the state, HB 1209 and HB 1107, have been tabled.

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The New York Times on PrEP: “More Must Be Done”

Yesterday, The New York Times’ editorial board issued a poignant op-ed calling attention to impact of HIV on Black and Latino men who have sex with men (MSM). The editorial comes in direct response to a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which revealed startling differences in lifetime risk of HIV.

According to the CDC, gay and bisexual men continue to the group most affected by the HIV epidemic, despite a decrease in the overall number of HIV diagnoses. If current trends continue, one in six MSM will be diagnosed with HIV in their lifetime. The numbers are even more alarming for MSM of color. One in two Black MSM will contract HIV in their lifetimes. For Latino MSM, the odds are in one in four.

Where the CDC report fails to provide reasons for such stark differences, “health experts say that lack and Latino men are at higher risk because sex between men continues to be strongly stigmatized in those communities,” the Editorial Board explained. “Many are reluctant to get tested for H.I.V. or to consider taking PrEP because doing so would mean acknowledging behavior they are ashamed of.”

While there are certainly many factors at play, it’s worth noting that individual behavior is not one of them. For example, Black gay and bisexual men are less likely than their white counterparts to have sex without condoms or use drugs like crystal meth during sex. 

The editorial board is right to point out that more can and should be done to address these disparities. HRC is committed to educating LGBT people and allies about the current realities of HIV, including Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP); mobilizing grassroots support for HIV prevention and treatment efforts, and upholding the rights and well-being of people living with and affected by HIV. We are especially invested in developing the next generation of leaders who are critical to ending this epidemic, including gay and bisexual men and transgender women of color.

For more information about PrEP or HRC’s effort to combat the HIV epidemic and the stigma surrounding HIV, click here.

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Get the Facts: Donald Trump’s Record on LGBT Issues Spells Trouble

Tonight, 12 states will hold caucuses and primaries that will dramatically alter the Presidential campaign landscape. For some, today could mean the end of their journey to the White House. For others, they’ll receive the necessary boost to break ahead of the pack. For the Republican party, frontrunner Donald Trump is the one to beat. For the LGBT community, a Trump nomination could spell big trouble.

In recent months Trump has:

• Told Fox News Sunday he would appoint justices to the Supreme Court who would reverse nationwide marriage equality.
• When asked to clarify by ABC’s George Stephanopoulos, Trump refused to say he would defend marriage equality.
• Agreed to support the so-called “First Amendment Defense Act,” which would lead to more Kim Davis-like discrimination across the country.
• Told CBN’s David Brody that evangelical voters can “trust me” to oppose marriage equality.
• Would commit to religious liberty as an “absolute litmus test, not just to the Supreme Court, but to all courts.”

We need an LGBT advocate in the White House. That’s why HRC is standing with Hillary Clinton for President.

www.hrc.org/blog/get-the-facts-donald-trumps-record-on-lgbt-issues-spells-trouble?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss-feed

Mormon Elder Gets it Wrong; Declares “There are No Homosexual Members of the Church”

In a recent meeting caught on camera, Mormon Elder David A. Bednar claimed there are “no homosexual members of the church.”

Bednar, a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, went on to explain his reasoning, arguing that, “Simply being attracted to someone of the same gender is not a sin…It is when we act on the inclination or the attraction, that’s when it becomes a sin…We do not discriminate and we are not bigots.”

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons) is now the fourth largest Christian denomination in the United States and counts over 13 million members worldwide. The Church includes many LGBT people, including one percent of LGB people who identified as Mormon in a recent Pew Research poll.

The comments come at a time when LGBT-affirming Mormons and allies are highly concerned about large number of suicides of LGBT youth. A group of mothers of faith who are supportive of LGBT youth have been tracking the suicides of more than 30 LDS young people since the Church passed a new policy in November that includes a ban on the baptism of children of same-sex couples and labels the couples “apostates.” Late last year, thousands of members of the Church resigned in protest of the policy. 

A recent report released by Pew Research shows growing acceptance of the LGBT community by members of the Mormon church. In the new report, 36 percent of Mormons said they agree with the statement, “homosexuality should be accepted by society,” a 12 percent increase from 2007.

LGBT Mormons and allies are using the hashtag #Iexist in response to Elder Bednar’s claims.

To learn more about the Church’s stance on LGBT issues, click here.

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