Republican South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem should be required to go to every resident of the state and collect their individual 30¢ portion of the $300,000 her transphobia cost them for illegally canceling a state grant with a transgender advocacy group, per the Daily Beast report. She won’t though; Noem even staffed out the letter of apology the state was required to provide according to the settlement.
In 2022, Noem canceled a $136,000 grant with the Transformation Initiative, a transgender rights group that was helping members of the LGBTQ community, saying the state didn’t want to be involved with “this organization’s efforts.” The organization assists transgender youth and their families, and helps educate the community to reduce bias and violence against transgender people, something Noem apparently supports.
“On behalf of the State of South Dakota, I apologize that the Transformation Project’s contract was terminated and for treating the Transformation Project differently than other organizations awarded Community Health Worker contracts,” South Dakota Health Secretary Melissa Magstadt wrote on the letter of apology because Noem didn’t want her name on it. “All South Dakotans are entitled to equal treatment under the law — regardless of their race, color, national origin, religion, disability, age, or sex.”