Trevor Mitchell’s article on what life is like for transgender folks in South Dakota concludes a note that Oliver Dickman, who helped beat anti-trans and anti-science House Bill 1108 with his testimony before Senate State Affairs, doesn’t plan to stick around for more bullying from the Republican caucus in Pierre:
Dickman is looking at out-of-state colleges, noting that he’d prefer to live somewhere where his employment and housing would be protected by an anti-discrimination law, which South Dakota lacks [Trevor Mitchell, “What Does It Mean to Be Transgender in South Dakota?” that Sioux Falls paper, updated 2019.03.14].
Dylan Daniels, who has suffered anti-trans discrimination in men’s rooms and a USD classroom, tells Mitchell that fighting the Legislature can wear a trans guy out:
That work can be exhausting. Daniels said there’s moments when he feels “it’d be easier to start fresh, go somewhere else and just be me” [Mitchell, 2019.03.14].
Recent Iowa transplant Holli Finch says she’d leave Sioux Falls if she could afford it:
If she had the means, Finch said she would already be somewhere else — especially with this year’s winter weather, she added with a laugh.
But there are aspects of life in South Dakota she enjoys, specifically a support group for transgender people she attends. Some of the attendees are kids, and she said it feels good to use her experiences to help them [Mitchell, 2019.03.14].
Note that Finch is held here by lack of means, a reminder of how our pro-corporate low-wage policies attenuates a moderating middle class and leaves a larger, less mobile lower class for the predator-elites to exploit. At the same time, the good things keeping Finch here aren’t unique to South Dakota. Our transgender neighbors can find support groups anywhere in America; the difference is perhaps that in South Dakota, they are held together by a stronger “in the trenches” mentality imposed on them by misinformed and misinforming bully-legislators.
Susan, the mom of a transgender boy, acknowledges that “life would be easier somewhere else” but stays because of a trench loyalty similar to Finch’s:
It’s a similar experience to what made Susan decide against moving, as tempting as it seems: Seeing the light in her son’s eyes and the smile on his face from being excited about who he was, and knowing that South Dakota can become an easier place for others to experience that same feeling.
“If I leave, I’ve given up on our state,” she said. “And I’m not willing to do that” [Mitchell, 2019.03.14].
I’m proud of any South Dakotan who is willing to stay and fight the bullies who dominate our politics and our damage our reputation. I hate giving up and letting bullies win. But I also am hard-pressed to demand that Susan, Holli, or Dylan stay and fight or to criticize Oliver for choosing to go to school someplace else, where he can focus his energy on other, more important fights than the petty bullying he experiences at the hands of South Dakota Republican legislators.
Related Events Elsewhere: Transgender South Dakotans and other folks not sufficiently orthodox to adopt in South Dakota can buzz up to Fargo on March 29 for a conference on LGBTQ+ suicide prevention. It’s a daylong event at the Delta by Marriott, $65 for regular folks, $25 for students. Speakers include Caitlin Ryan, Ph.D., ACSW, Director, Family Acceptance Project at San Francisco State University; Jody L. Herman, Ph.D. Scholar of Public Policy at the Williams Institute at the UCLA School of Law; and Chris Bright, Senior Training and Education Manager, The Trevor Project.
The pick-and-choose morality is destructive and hypocritical. Again, culture war issues are used to vaneer the real problems facing SD and the nation – real problems that elected officials choose to ignore by ginning up hatred and animosity for the sole reason distraction – the ultimate red herring of political leadership. The self-aggrandizing moral “superiority” is so destructive to the fabric of a decent society.
All this had to happen so that there would not be serious discussions of income inequality, fair taxation, health care, affordable education, climate conservation . . .
Too bad things here have changed so much since the “halycon days” of August, 2017…
https://dakotafreepress.com/2017/08/16/usd-swimmer-finds-south-dakota-more-accepting-of-homosexuality-than-colorado/
Remember the “if you can play, you can play” recruiting video for USD? It appears we are becoming more intolerant by the day.
God made you the way he wanted. Quit trying to be somebody your not.
If a Divine Creator is responsible for everyone’s nature, then that Creator is responsible for transgender people, who are evidently born with outwards that don’t match their inwards. Discuss.
Our transgender friends would contend they are indeed trying to be whole they really are, not the false identity that Senator Jim Bolin and the other bullies in the Legislature want to force them to be.
How can any one of us say with authority who someone else is supposed to be? How can anyone of us speak with authority to what lies in the soul of another?
Oliver is a good young’un. ‘Nuff said.
Don’t worry about how God made other people Jan, just treat others the way you would want to be treated.
O, you know I don’t do conspiracy theories, but your comment gets me thinking it’s all part of a plot:
The Republicans know that a lot of the people who would lead serious conversations about “serious discussions of income inequality, fair taxation, health care, affordable education, climate conservation . . .” are the same people who will mobilize to defend women and minorities from right-wing culture-war madness. So they let the Jim Bolins and Steve Haugaards have the spotlight for much of the Session. They draw out the social justice warriors (a term I use with respect) to burn up their ammunition that the GOP establishment doesn’t really want to pass, in part because it’s nice to be able to bring it back for more distraction next Session. They wear us down with the debates over where we can take a pee or what our doctors can tell us, and then that many more of us are too tired to lobby effectively on those other bread-and-butter issues that, if they occupied more airspace during Session, would better reveal the emptiness, ignorance, arrogance, and contemptuousness of Republican governance and rally more people to vote Democratic.
Instead, the Republicans convince a fair portion of the potential opposition that it’s not worth fighting the vile bullies in Pierre, leaving Republicans a freer hand to govern poorly.
O just maybe on to something,
Exhibit A: The recent South Dakota legislative session.
Send the people who are sick and tired of the SDGOP to Minnesota. They are legally protected here, cared for and liked. Minnesota approved a constitutional amendment for marriage for all by popular vote of the citizens.
That’s what the GOP and its Christian Whitopians want, Debbo. That’s why they revolt so hard at any suggestion that we be more like Minnesota. being like Minnesota means offering more of the progressive openness and inclusivity that makes the Republicans’ natural political opponents (people of decency and good sense) feel more at home.
If there was a way Republicans could find a way to stop making LGBTQ babies, trust me they would.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hXpOA3jPC04
But, this MN DFL legislator says it best, “how many more gays must god create before we accept that he wants them around?
Well said Cory; however, you forget a couple things that your comments would require many elected members of our Legislature to do: analyze and think!