Brookings is trying to counter the bad press our yahoo Legislature and milquetoast Governor* are bringing to our state. On Tuesday, the Brookings City Council, Brookings Area Chamber of Commerce, Brookings Economic Development Corporation, and Brookings School Board issued a formal statement opposing “any legislation that targets our LGBTQ community“:
The City of Brookings and strategic partners strongly value inclusive laws, policies, and services for LGBTQ residents who proudly live and work in the Brookings area. It is because of these values that the City of Brookings once again received a score of 100 on the Municipal Equality Index (MEI) in 2019.
The City of Brookings and strategic partners are committed to fostering diversity and inclusivity to the highest level in the Brookings region. Through diversity-forward initiatives in conjunction with Brookings Human Rights Commission, South Dakota State University, Brookings Area High School and more; we oppose any discriminatory legislation and support the equal treatment of all [link added; City of Brookings, press release, 2020.02.11].
That’s a darn sight better approach to building community than the Al Novstrup approach of telling people who aren’t like him to leave South Dakota.
As examples of anti-LGBTQ legislation that hurt diversity, inclusivity, and economic development, Brookings leaders point to these bills:
- House Bill 1057: ban on medical treatment for transgender youth (killed Monday in Senate Health and Human Services)
- HB 1215: Rep. Tony Randolph’s effort to ignore the Supreme Court and outlaw gay marriage again (and drag queens in libraries, and dildoes… still waiting for a committee willing to embarrass itself by hearing Randolph’s arguments)
- Senate Bill 88: proposal to breach school counselor confidentiality to rat out transgender kids (withdrawn by sponsor February 4 in favor of a broader parental revocation of counselor confidentiality in HB 1167)
- SB 93: proposal to let parents refuse treatment for transgender kids (withdrawn by sponsor February 4)
- SB 109: proposal to allow doctors, hospitals, insurers, and others involved in health care to deny service to patients for pretty much whatever reason they want, including thinking kids need to pray away the gay.
Brookings leaders need to have a talk with one of their legislators, Rep. Doug Post. He co-sponsored HB 1057 and HB 1167. District 7’s Representative and former Brookings maor Tim Reed and Senator V.J. Smith have kept their names off those anti-LGBTQ bills.
*If Governor Kristi Noem really wanted the world to see that South Dakota is “open for business,” she’d swing the big stick on her Senate and House Majority Leaders and tell them to knock off all the culture-war nonsense and focus on taxes, education, and the budget. But instead of full-throatedly denouncing her party’s sabotage of all of South Dakota’s marketing efforts, she expresses vague concerns and lets the crazy train thunder along on its own.
The Brookings Train ~ chugging along on the right side of history
Good on you, Brookings, for being on the right side of civil and equal rights in 21st century what used to be United States of America.
https://www.rawstory.com/2020/02/iowa-anti-lgbtq-bill-is-so-extreme-it-would-require-teachers-to-notify-parents-if-they-are-going-to-talk-about-pete-buttigieg/
Well, wingnuts control the state, just not with fool proof majorities and hopefully not for much longer.
I just spent 3 days in Memphis.
Yesterday we toured the American Civil
Rights Museum and I am now in Birmingham, AL.
Let me tell you, my eyes are more open today than they were yesterday.
Unfortunately, I see the same undertow
of Bigotry in my home state of South Dakota.
The Dope Queen and her GOP buddies
use cruelty instead of compassion.
Rejection instead of inclusion.
It makes me sick.
But….I’m not going anywhere.
South Dakota does not belong to the
Arnolds, Noems and the Ravnsborgs.
It belongs to us.
You’re right, Mark: South Dakota belongs to everyone who’s willing to come here and live and work and put up with the winters. Leaders in Brookings recognize that fact.
Hey, maybe the hate spewed by our Legislature and countenanced by Governor Noem will pay off for more inclusive local governments. While other towns spend hundreds of thousands of dollars in tax breaks and other bribes to entice businesses, maybe towns like Brookings will be able to spend less on the Toyota lottery and just tell employers and other movers, “Hey, we’re not yahoos like the folks in Pierre. You’re welcome here.”
I prefer to call all the backwards regressive people in South Dakota “inbred hillbillies” instead of “yahoos,” because I’m a jerk like that, but I guess that’s sort of insulting to inbred hillbillies to compare them to the SD powers-that-be, isn’t it?
Anyway, well said, Cory. And Mark. It definitely “belongs to us,” which is why I tell anyone on FB who suggests that we dissenters “should leave if we don’t like it” what I, ahem, think about their ideas.
I remember when Cory was campaigning against Nostrap and Cory honestly related that Nostrap and his pals had lied about several things. Poor Nostrap came up to the podium, looking so wounded, and explained that he just tried to “be nice.” I guess if you fit his razor thin version of the right kind of person, he and rest of the SDGOP will “be nice” to you. Everyone else can get lost.
I guess being polite and respectful got Mr. Novstrup, the elder, reelected. Or perhaps it was the rudeness of out-of-state name-callers that got Mr. Novstrup, the elder, reelected.
Goat. Mine.
You’re drinking again, aren’t you grudzie? I can tell. Like you say, there’s no real pride in a Republican being elected in a state that’s this gerrymandered. It just means you’ve been artificially surrounded by people who think like you do. People that tell you you’re right when it’s obvious to “out of state truth tellers” that you’re full of it up to your third lip.
No, Grudz, lying got him elected, by people who tolerate lies in favor of partisan branding and other erroneous motivations.
Being nice means welcoming people who disagree with us into South Dakota. Being nice does not mean expecting ideological conformity.
Grudzilla’s eyes are so narrow they blocked his sinuses. He can’t smell the stench of one party rule when he is in the middle of it.
This is from an excellent article in the Strib on the Forum on Workplace Inclusion in Minneapolis. It’s a big organization with a business focus, but covers all areas. Good businesses know that the more inclusive their business, on all levels, the better it performs. The interviewer is retired Strib columnist Gail Rosenblum. The interviewee is the president of the Forum, Steve Humerickhouse, an old white guy.
Q: Describe the best qualities for an effective 21st-century leader.
A: Empathy — being able to put yourself in another’s position. Transparency and vulnerability. If you’re going to expect your people to do what you want them to do, you have to be able to call it out for yourself: “Here’s where I am biased. Help me with this.” That will garner the kind of support you want to get the job done.
is.gd/WGWM3Y
Here’s something else that’s bad for humans, low pay. This comes from a filler piece in today’s Strib Science and Health section. I’ve searched the online edition, but can’t find it so no link.
A paper published in the Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health shows that increasing the minimum wage reduces suicides, aka, deaths of despair. Specifically, a $1 increase corresponded to a 3.4-5.9% decrease in the suicide rates of people with a high school diploma or less in the 18-64 age group.
Other studies have found that minimum wage increases are connected to less smoking, higher birth weights and fewer work absences for health reasons.
It sounds to me like a higher minimum wage pays off in reduced costs in many areas and greater workforce productivity overall.
It’s a “business friendly” government policy.
Try this, Debbo…..https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2020/01/08/794568118/raising-the-minimum-wage-by-1-may-prevent-thousands-of-suicides-study-shows
Thanks Mike. Perfect.