This is an email from Kathleen Vinehout, potential candidate (she formed an exploratory committee) for Wisconsin Governor. I'm not committed to Vinehout as I don't know enough about her yet. I have received her emails for sometime, and ALL of them are consistently sane, fact-based analysis and practical solutions to state issues. So far I dig her.
Once again I acknowledge that I am not a lawyer. But news is news.
In Wisconsin the Kenosha Unified School District is having a tough time digesting their loss at the US Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit in the case of high school senior Ash Whitaker.
Wisconsin was the first state to provide legal protection from discrimination for LGB people. That happened in 1982. But the state has never sought to include transgender people as well.
If a miracle occurs and the bill actually passes, Wisconsin would become the 20th state to ban discrimination against transgender people.
The Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that the Kenosha, WI, Unified School District violated the rights of a trans boy, Ash Whitaker, when it refused to let him use the boys' bathroom.
We lost because our coalition broke down. It broke down because the Democratic party has abandoned a key constituency, failing to fight for its interests while nominally paying lip service to their concerns.
US District Judge Pamela Pepper on Monday rejected a motion by the Kenosha Unified School District to dismiss the case brought by Ashton Whitaker accusing the district of discriminating against him. On Tuesday Pepper issued a temporary restraining order barring the district from enforcing its policy prohibiting Whitaker from using the boys' restroom while the case is pending.
There's no question that Ash has already suffered harm and has had physical repercussions from the policy as well as emotional repercussions.
--Judge Pepper, who challenged the district's argument that its local school board — and not the courts or an individual student — should determine its own policies
I'm very excited to call Ash to tell him what the judge decided. The case is certainly not over, but we're happy she recognized that his harm is real.
--Joseph Wardenski, attorney for Ash and his mother
National Updates
A FreeState Justice has filed a lawsuit in Federal court against Talbot County on behalf of a 14-year-old Maryland transgender boy accusing an Eastern Shore school system of violating Title IX by denying him access to locker rooms consistent with his gender identity.
The boy, who was not identified in the lawsuit, will be a ninth grader at St. Michaels Middle-High School, and wants to try out for soccer in August, according to Jer Welter, FreeState Justice's deputy director and managing attorney.
During last school year, the boy used a gender neutral restroom far from the gym and his classrooms.
This has been a problem. It is stigmatizing for him. It marks him as different from the other students.
--Welter
quick rundown
many polling places are logging numbers of 100 voters per hour, steady throughout the day. Some areas have 40 minute wait times. While the state clerk expects a 40% total statewide turnout, the highest for a primary in over 30 years, many locations are reporting and expecting much heavier turnout. For example
