Transgender issues

The Pennington County Courthouse and jail complex in Rapid City, in June 2023. (Seth Tupper/South Dakota Searchlight)

Rapid City prosecutors inch toward decision in year-old homicide of transgender woman

BY: - September 7, 2023

Prosecutors in Rapid City have connected with the family of Acey Morrison, a transgender Native American woman shot to death more than a year ago by a man who says he shot her in self-defense. Pennington County State’s Attorney Lara Roetzel met with Morrison’s family to discuss the case this week, spokeswoman Katy Urban told […]

A collage of photos of Acey Morrison at a younger age. Morrison was killed on Aug. 21, 2022 by a man who claimed self defense. (Photos courtesy of Cheryse Hawkins, illustration by Josh Haiar/South Dakota Searchlight)

One year later, no decision in slaying of transgender woman in Rapid City

BY: - August 22, 2023

It’s been a year since a Rapid City man shot Acey Morrison to death in a trailer home north of town. Pennington County prosecutors have yet to decide whether to charge the shooter or close the investigation into her death. Morrison, a transgender Native American woman, was shot after meeting a man on the dating […]

An opponent of the state's ban on gender-affirming health care for transgender children holds a sign during an event at Van Eps Park in downtown Sioux Falls on July 28, 2023. The protesters called for state lawmakers to repeal the ban. (Joshua Haiar/South Dakota Searchlight)

Why hasn’t a lawsuit challenged SD’s trans health care ban?

BY: and - August 4, 2023

Twenty-one states have implemented laws or policies banning gender-affirming care for transgender children. Nearly half of the laws have been challenged in court, but not South Dakota’s. That’s partly because a similar ban was already blocked by a federal judge in Arkansas earlier this summer. The American Civil Liberties Union challenged the Arkansas law in […]

U.S. Air Force ceremonial guardsmen from the 28th Bomb Wing present the colors during a change of command ceremony at Ellsworth Air Force Base, June 23, 2023. (U.S. Air Force Photo by Airman 1st Class Yendi Borjas)

Johnson votes yes on defense bill that targets abortion access, trans health, racial equity

BY: - July 14, 2023

The U.S. House approved Friday an annual defense authorization bill loaded with GOP rollbacks of Pentagon policies on abortion and transgender health care, as well as efforts to boost racial equity. Republican amendments targeting social policy issues turned a typically bipartisan measure preserving the nation’s military security into another front for the culture wars, similar […]

Harleigh Walker, a 16-year-old transgender girl from Alabama, testifies before the U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary about how the Equality Act would protect transgender kids. (Screenshot from Senate Judiciary Committee webcast)

‘Lobbying for my right to exist’: US Senate panel examines how states target trans kids

BY: - June 23, 2023

WASHINGTON — Harleigh Walker wants U.S. senators to understand she is a typical 16-year-old girl. She likes Taylor Swift. She enjoys being on her school’s debate team. And she listens way too loudly to music in her room. “I’m just trying to be a teenager in America,” she told senators on the U.S. Senate Judiciary […]

Hundreds of people gathered at Washington Square Park in New Orleans on March 31, 2023, for a march to mark Transgender Day of Visibility. (Greg LaRose/Louisiana Illuminator)

U.S. House Republicans spar with HHS secretary over transgender youth, child labor

BY: - June 13, 2023

WASHINGTON — U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra on Tuesday defended access to health care for transgender people, as well as his agency’s actions in connection with unaccompanied migrant children. Republicans at a U.S. House Education and the Workforce Committee hearing grilled Becerra about gender-affirming care for transgender minors, including puberty […]

A collage of photos of Acey Morrison at a younger age. Morrison was killed on Aug. 21, 2022 by a man who claimed self defense. (Photos courtesy of Cheryse Hawkins, illustration by Josh Haiar/South Dakota Searchlight)

Nine months and counting: Slain transgender woman’s family frustrated by wait for justice

BY: - May 26, 2023

Prosecutors in Rapid City know who shot and killed Acey Morrison.  They’ve known since Aug. 21, 2022. That was the day the transgender member of the Oglala Sioux Tribe was shot in the mobile home of a man she’d met for an ill-fated hookup attempt that began on a dating app. What they don’t know […]

(Illustration by Joshua Haiar/South Dakota Searchlight)

Transgender rights group’s lawsuit against state unlikely to be resolved until 2024

BY: - May 17, 2023

More than a year could pass before a lawsuit alleging gender discrimination by the state of South Dakota is resolved. The Transformation Project, a nonprofit advocacy group working on behalf of transgender South Dakotans, filed a federal lawsuit against Gov. Kristi Noem and the South Dakota Department of Health late last year after the department […]

Joey is a 12-year-old transgender boy living in South Dakota. After the latest legislative session, where lawmakers passed a bill that would ban gender-affirming care for minors in the state, his family is planning to move. (Makenzie Huber/South Dakota Searchlight)

‘Children are political targets’: A family’s struggle with SD’s trans health care ban

BY: - April 28, 2023

Joey enjoys playing basketball and baseball. He’s a sixth grader, and he wants to be an exotic animal vet when he grows up. He likes to build with Legos and he loves science, but he’s not a fan of math. He’s teaching himself how to play the guitar, he plays trombone in the school band […]

Rebekah Bruesehoff, a transgender student athlete, speaks at a press conference on LGBTQ rights at the U.S. Capitol on March 8, 2023, in Washington, D.C. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

Biden proposal on transgender student athletes met with praise but also questions

BY: - April 28, 2023

WASHINGTON — Transgender legal scholars and advocates say they were relieved to see the Biden administration extend some protections for transgender students’ sports participation at a time when bans are being enacted by multiple states. But they say they remain cautious about the effect on high school and college sports.  For two years, the U.S. […]

A protester displays a sign at the "Stop Criminalizing Trans Existence" protest in Sioux Falls on Feb. 1, 2020. The protest was in response to bills introduced during the 2020 legislative session. (Makenzie Huber/South Dakota Searchlight)

U.S. House approves bill banning transgender student athletes in girls sports

BY: - April 20, 2023

WASHINGTON — U.S. House Republicans voted Thursday to prohibit transgender student athletes from competing on girls sports teams consistent with their gender identity, at the same time multiple GOP-dominated states are making similar moves. The bill, H.R. 734, which would apply to K-12 schools as well as colleges that receive federal funding, passed on a […]

A protester displays a sign at the "Stop Criminalizing Trans Existence" protest in Sioux Falls on Feb. 1, 2020. The protest was in response to bills introduced during the 2020 legislative session. (Makenzie Huber/South Dakota Searchlight)

Biden rule on transgender athletes would set conditions on school sports bans

BY: - April 6, 2023

The Biden administration will advance a rule to make it more difficult for schools to exclude transgender youth athletes from competition based on their gender identity, a senior U.S. Education Department official told reporters Thursday. The proposed rule would prohibit blanket bans of transgender athletes competing in sports consistent with their gender identity. But it […]