South Dakota Transformation Project

Rapid City folks! Laidlaw Counseling is hosting a free support group this summer for parents of transgender youth! There will be about 10 spots available.

Contact Mary at 605-316-3343 for more information.

LGBTQ Career Development Interest Form We’re excited to bring free educational sessions focused on career development and job hunting specifically designed for the LGBTQ+ community in South Dakota. These workshops will be held virtually, s...

🌈Calling all LGBTQ+ community members in South Dakota! We’re putting together free virtual workshops focused on career development and job hunting, and we want your input! Take a minute to let us know which topics you'd be most interested in by filling out this short survey forms.gle/HEbED8vXC4KS...

CALL FOR ART! Seeking arts inspired by moths, metamorphosis, and transformation. All mediums welcome!
Email submissions to bat.haus.siouxfalls@gmail.com and maisy@transformationprojectsd.org by May 14th.

METAMORPHOSIS! Benefiting Transformation Project
Gallery showing May 29th
at The Prism Center

We are thrilled to be the official non-profit partner for SCREAMS BY NIGHT | HALFWAY TO HALLOWEEN CON! 🎃👻

Join us on Saturday, April 26, 2025, from 11:00 AM - 5:00 PM at The Social in Sioux Falls, SD for a frightfully fun day filled with horror, cosplay, and all things spooky!

tinyurl.com/2nznrwjt

If you're a high school senior and you're looking for a safe space to have your graduation party, consider the Prism Center! 🏳️‍⚧️🏳️‍🌈 We have a lot of space, many different seating areas, gender neutral restrooms, and an out door patio! Limited spots remaining, inquire today! tinyurl.com/35watwt3

Happy TDOV!🏳️‍⚧️✨️ Visibility is powerful—it fosters understanding, challenges prejudice, and creates space for everyone to live authentically without fear. Together, we can work toward a world where trans rights are fully realized, and safety and dignity are guaranteed for everyone.🩵💕🏳️‍⚧️

Tonight is D&D 4th Fridays at 18+ Hang Out Hours! Every fourth Friday of the month we’ll have a Dungeon Master at drop-in hours, ready to lead you on an adventure! Beginner friendly and you jump in any time!

🏳️‍⚧️🏳️‍🌈LGBTQ2S+ Adult Hang Out Hours are every Friday 5-9pm at the Prism Center.

A rainbow and a butterfly. Text "Parents and guardians of LGBTQ2S+ Youth. Help guide future programming for your child. Take our short survey! Your answers are confidential and anonymous."

📣 Hey Parents & Guardians! We want to hear from YOU! 🧡
We’re shaping future programming at Transformation Project and need your insight 🎯 Take our short & confidential survey to share how comfortable you feel talking with your youth about health topics! 💬✨

📝 forms.office.com/r/8R7SzDNe77

🏳️‍⚧️ On Monday, TDOV itself, we will be outside to rally together in community. Listen to speakers and make your voice heard. Or watch the rally on Zoom! us02web.zoom.us/meeting/regi...

📅March 31st
🕕️6:30pm - 7:30pm
📍at Van Eps Park
300 N Minnesota Ave, Sioux Falls, SD
www.facebook.com/events/19127...

🏳️‍⚧️ Celebrate TDOV with us! Trans folks & their families are invited to join us for a day of community, games, art, and discussion all centered around sharing our trans joy!

📅March 30th
🕐️1pm - 4pm
📍at the Prism Community Center
500 N. Western Ave. Sioux Falls, SD
www.facebook.com/events/52999...

LGBTQ2S+ High School Hang Out Hours are tonight at the Prism Community Center in Sioux Falls from 3:30-7:30pm.
🌈🏳️‍⚧️ Join a group activity, read, a book, use our computers, its up to you!

Thank you for showing up at the community support rally yesterday in Sioux Falls despite the freezing weather! It’s so heartening to see our community come together to support each other & continue to make it known that we oppose anti-trans legislation like HB 1259.
💛🏳️‍⚧️
📷 by Everett Palmer Creative

📢 BREAKING: Governor Rhoden has officially signed HB1259 into law.
We are incredibly heartbroken to learn that Gov. Rhoden signed HB 1259 into law yesterday, behind closed doors. The "Bathroom Ban" will go into effect on July 1, 2025.

This is not the end—this is a call to action. 🌈✊

📢 BREAKING: Governor Rhoden has officially signed HB1259 into law.

This bill is yet another attack on our transgender, Two-Spirit, and gender-diverse community in South Dakota. We are deeply disappointed—but we are not backing down.

This is not the end—this is a call to action. 🌈✊

We are incredibly heartbroken to learn that Gov. Rhoden signed HB 1259 into law yesterday, behind closed doors. The "Bathroom Ban" will go into effect on July 1, 2025.

Read the statement here news.sd.gov/news?id=news...

A person stands facing away and holds a trans flag above their head. Text "Celebrating Transgender Day of Visibility. Sunday, March 30th, Sharing Joy. Prism Community Center, Sioux Falls, SD. 1pm to 4pm. Monday March 31st. Rally. Van Eps Park, Sioux Falls, SD. 6pm to 7pm. TDOV."

We are celebrating TDOV two ways!✨️

🏳️‍⚧️ First up, for trans folks and their families, a day of community, games, art, and discussion all centered around sharing our trans joy!

🏳️‍⚧️ And on TDOV itself we will be outside to rally together in community. More details coming soon!!

"In response to President Trump’s Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government executive order, VA announced today that it will phase out medical treatments for gender dysphoria."

Full statement from VA News news.va.gov/press-room/v...

We are closing the Prism Center tonight due the bad weather! And please note that there's no Adult Hang Out Hours this week because of the @transadvocacysd.bsky.social Gala happening that night.

The South Dakota Network The South Dakota Network provides live access to South Dakota's government.

Tune in now to watch live coverage of the South Dakota House of Representatives where they will hear HB 1259 and HB 1260, two bills that are dangerous attacks on trans people. Thank you to those who reached out to their legislators to urge them to vote no on these bills!!

Watch here www.sd.net

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE February 13, 2025 CONTACT Gillian Branstetter, gbranstetter@aclu.org Tom Warnke, twarnke@lambdalegal.org BALTIMORE – In a victory for transgender youth, their families, and their medical providers, a federal district court today issued a temporary restraining order blocking enforcement of a Trump administration executive order attempting to shut down access nationwide to gender-affirming medical care for transgender people under 19. The decision by Judge Brendan Hurson was issued from the bench with a written order to come soon. The nationwide restraining order prohibits federal agencies from conditioning or withholding federal funding based on the fact that a healthcare entity or health professional provides gender-affirming medical care to a patient under nineteen. “Good and decent parents of transgender kids should never be in the frightening position of having their child’s prescribed, medically necessary care canceled at the whim and threat of a politician. But that’s exactly what President Trump’s executive order did to PFLAG families with trans youth and young adults nationwide,” said Brian K. Bond (he/him), Chief Executive Officer of PFLAG National. “Today’s decision rights a grievous wrong to our nation's families and children, and PFLAG families will be vigilant to ensure our transgender loved ones receive the healthcare they need—as this legal ruling demands.” “Forcing providers to withhold medically-necessary, evidence-based care not only threatens patient health and well-being, but also undermines the integrity of our healthcare system in its entirety,” said Alex Sheldon (they/them), GLMA executive director. “Today's intervention by the court underscores the cruelty and recklessness that is embedded in this order and affirms our commitment to resist the administration’s extremist agenda that targets trans and non-binary young people and privileges political ideology over medical expertise. We are hopeful that…

In the first week after the order was signed, some hospitals across the country — in Massachusetts, Maryland, Washington, Colorado, and Virginia at least — abruptly halted medical care for transgender people under age 19, canceling appointments and turning away patients, including some who had been receiving this care for most of their life. This prompted protests of support for transgender youth and in opposition to the order nationwide. On Feb. 4, a lawsuit was filed by the American Civil Liberties Union, Lambda Legal, the ACLU of Maryland, and law firms Jenner & Block and Hogan Lovells on behalf of transgender young adults and adolescents and their families whose health care has been disrupted by President Trump’s order. Also joining the case as plaintiffs are PFLAG National, the nation’s largest organization supporting LGBTQ+ people and their families, with over 550,000 members and supporters and nearly 350 chapters across the country; and GLMA, the country’s largest organization of LGBTQ and allied health professionals. "Across the country, this unlawful order from the president has sown fear among transgender youth and confusion among their providers,” said Joshua Block, senior staff attorney for the ACLU’s LGBTQ & HIV Project. “But today’s decision should restore both their access to healthcare and protections under the Constitution. Providers who’ve suspended healthcare for their transgender patients should be left with no doubt that they can lift those suspensions and continue to provide healthcare and act in their best medical judgment without risking their funding or worse. “The president’s orders sought to take away from transgender young people the very care that they, their families, and their medical providers all agree is best for them – medical care that is evidence-based and well-established. But these decisions are for patients, their families, and their doctors to make, not for politicians or Washington bureaucrats,” said Omar Gonzale…

Incredible news!

The Trump administration's under 19 trans care ban has been BLOCKED in federal court via a bench temporary restraining order.

The administration CANNOT withhold funds from hospitals providing trans youth care.

ACLU statement here:

For any trans youth whose care has been impacted due to a political attack, @southernequality.bsky.social Trans Youth Emergency Project can help with:

🧭 Patient navigation for care
🎁 Renewable emergency grants of $500
☂️ An ecosystem of care

Get support: transyouthemergencyproject.org

🏈✨ Super Bowl Watch Party at the Prism Center! ✨🏈
We're teaming up with SEPSA to bring the community together for a fun night of football, food, and friends.

📅 Sunday, February 9
⏰ Kickoff at 5:30
📍 at The Prism Center

🍕 Potluck Style! Bring a snack or non-alcoholic drink to share

Statement on Executive Order Banning Gender-Affirming Care for Youth — Transformation Project Advocacy Network The administration issued an executive order banning gender-affirming care for transgender and nonbinary youth under the age of 19, and we fully expect this to be challenged in court.

Read our statement on the executive order banning gender-affirming care for youth - www.transadvocacysd.org/news/stateme...

Until we have more info, we are advising a pause in updating your SS/passport gender. Wait for more clarification before seeking to make these changes. Keep notes of any interactions including date, time, agency, specific address, names, and under what authority are they confiscating documents.

There have been multiple reports of denied passports and threats of supporting information like changed birth certificates being confiscated. Documents may be at risk if visiting a Passport office to update gender marker or renew a previously amended passport.