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North Dakota bills restricting transgender health care, sports participation head to Burgum’s desk

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North Dakota bills restricting transgender health care, sports participation head to Burgum’s desk


BISMARCK — The North Dakota Senate on Monday, April 3, superior a raft of payments affecting transgender folks, together with restrictions on well being care and sports activities participation that now go to Gov. Doug Burgum.

All the laws handed the state Home of Representatives and Senate by veto-proof margins.

A few of the payments will return to the Home to agree on Senate amendments. Home-Senate convention committees would reconcile any variations that may come up over the payments.

Supporters say the payments defend equity in sports activities, security and privateness of girls in restrooms, and the innocence of kids.

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Opponents say the laws is dangerous and discriminatory towards transgender folks, who usually tend to endure from psychological well being points.

Burgum final week vetoed a invoice that will prohibit how colleges deal with transgender college students’ most popular pronouns. The Senate overrode his veto, 37-9. The Home on Monday

sustained the veto, 56-36.

The Senate voted 37-10 on Monday to cross

Home Invoice 1254,

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which might ban and criminalize gender-affirming look after transgender minors. The invoice will go to Burgum’s desk.

Below the proposal sponsored by Rep. Invoice Tveit, R-Hazen, medical doctors who carry out intercourse reassignment surgical procedures on minors can be responsible of a Class B felony, punishable by as much as 10 years in jail and a $20,000 effective.

The laws additionally would cost medical professionals who prescribe hormone therapy or puberty blockers to transgender minors with a Class A misdemeanor, punishable by as much as 360 days in jail and a $3,000 effective.

The Senate rejected amendments that will have softened the legal penalties for prescribing hormone therapy and puberty blockers. The failed amendments additionally would have allowed medical doctors to prescribe puberty-blocking medicine to transgender minors if that they had undergone at the very least one yr of psychological well being care.

Supporters of the laws say it will defend kids from irreversible hurt to their our bodies. They allege that medical doctors who carry out gender-affirming care are

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preying on adolescents for monetary achieve.

Sen. Keith Boehm, R-Mandan, referred to gender-affirming care as “youngster mutilation” and

falsely acknowledged

that puberty blockers “completely sterilize a toddler.”

“If somebody, as soon as they’re an grownup, desires to sterilize themselves or reduce off physique components, they’ve each proper to take action — not kids,” Boehm stated.

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Sen. Keith Boehm, R-Mandan.

Contributed

Physicians, psychological well being professionals and LGBTQ advocates have contended that outlawing the prescription of puberty blockers and hormone therapy to transgender adolescents would have disastrous results for a bunch that’s already at excessive threat for suicide, psychological well being points and drug abuse.

Sen. Judy Lee, a West Fargo Republican who chairs the Human Companies Committee, stated passing anti-transgender laws offers the looks that North Dakota is “closing our doorways to all people who doesn’t assume and look and act identical to us.”

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“What any individual else does with their life has no influence on you or me,” Lee stated.

Medical doctors who carry out gender-affirming care

have testified in invoice hearings that transgender minors by no means bear intercourse reassignment surgical procedure in North Dakota.

Youngsters identified with gender dysphoria might obtain puberty blockers to delay the event of secondary intercourse traits, like facial hair or breasts. In some circumstances, they could obtain hormone therapy, often within the type of estrogen drugs or testosterone injections.

Greater than a

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half-dozen Republican-led states,

together with South Dakota, have handed bans on gender-affirming look after minors, although a number of of the legal guidelines have been blocked by judges.

The Senate handed two payments that will prohibit transgender women and girls in Okay-12 and collegiate sports activities, Home Payments 1249 and 1489, respectively, by Rep. Ben Koppelman, R-West Fargo.

Home Invoice

1249

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handed 38-9. Home Invoice

1489

handed 40-7. Supporters stated the payments would guarantee no sex-based physiological benefits in sports activities. Opponents stated the payments discriminate towards transgender folks, with no proof of transgender athletes in North Dakota.

The 2 payments go to Burgum, who in 2021 vetoed a invoice just like 1249.

The North Dakota Excessive College Actions Affiliation’s Government Board

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final yr altered a rule

making use of to transgender college students after the NCAA made an identical change to its coverage.

The

revised coverage primarily bans transgender ladies

who’ve undergone hormone therapy from collaborating in ladies sports activities, however the affiliation’s director might permit a trans pupil to take part in ladies sports activities if the varsity demonstrates by means of medical proof that the athlete has no bodily aggressive benefit.

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The

earlier rule

allowed trans ladies to play ladies sports activities after finishing one yr of hormone therapy.

The affiliation has taken no stance on the proposed laws.

Nineteen states,

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together with South Dakota, have handed payments limiting transgender ladies’ participation in sports activities.

The Senate by a 42-5 vote accredited Home Invoice

1473

by Rep. SuAnn Olson, R-Baldwin, which might require jails, prisons and public faculty dorms to designate bogs and showers “to be used completely for males or completely for females.”

The laws would require the general public services to make particular restroom and bathe lodging for transgender folks “as deemed applicable by the administrator.”

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Proponents of the invoice say it protects weak ladies from organic males getting into restrooms. Opponents see the laws as one other try and deny transgender folks fundamental rights.

The amended invoice will return to the Home, which beforehand accredited a unique model of it.

A separate proposal,

Home Invoice 1522,

would prohibit transgender Okay-12 college students from utilizing bogs that align with their gender id. The Senate voted 37-10 to approve the invoice Monday, sending it again to the Home to agree on amendments.

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The laws introduced by Rep. Scott Dyk, R-Williston, additionally would bar a faculty from adopting a coverage that “requires or prohibits any particular person from utilizing a pupil’s most popular gender pronoun.”

An modification tacked onto the invoice Monday would bar college districts and their governing boards from creating insurance policies to accommodate transgender college students until mother and father give specific permission. Academics additionally can be prohibited from withholding details about college students’ “transgender standing” from mother and father.

The modification introduced by Sen. Larry Luick, R-Fairmount, mirrors language in his Senate Invoice 2231, which Burgum rejected. The Home sustained the veto Monday.

Home Invoice

1297

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by Rep. Jim Kasper, R-Fargo, handed 41-6. The state Home of Representatives handed the invoice 81-11 in February.

The invoice would ban modification of intercourse designation on start information “because of a gender id change,” with a couple of exceptions, akin to a knowledge entry or if “the intercourse of the person was modified with anatomically appropriate genitalia for the recognized intercourse as licensed by a medical supplier.”

The invoice primarily would make regulation the present observe of the state Very important Information Division.

The invoice goes again to the Home for concurrence on amendments, which primarily modified the invoice’s title, not its intent.

Olson’s Home Invoice

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1474

handed the Senate 35-12. The Home handed the invoice 74-18 in February.

The Home-passed model outlined “father,” “feminine,” “mom,” “male” and “intercourse,” and sought to mandate college districts and very important statistics businesses determine folks based mostly solely on their intercourse assigned at start.

The Senate Human Companies Committee eliminated that provision, leaving the invoice solely with definitions for “feminine,” “male,” “intercourse” and the addition of the definition of a scrap steel vendor to appropriate a cross-reference to the definition of an individual in state regulation.

The invoice goes again to the Home for concurrence on amendments.

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‘Ladies’s invoice of rights’

The Senate additionally adopted by voice vote Olson’s Home Concurrent Decision

3010

, which urges public colleges and very important statistics businesses “to guard ladies’s rights by distinguishing between the sexes in accordance with organic intercourse at start for the aim of offering equal alternatives and making certain the privateness and security of girls and ladies.”

Eight Home Republican ladies introduced the decision, which the secretary of state will ship to the state superintendent, superintendents of every college district and the state Division of Well being and Human Companies commissioner.

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Olson has referred to as the decision “a ladies’s invoice of rights.”

Jeremy Turley is a reporter for Discussion board Information Service. Jack Dura is a reporter for The Bismarck Tribune.





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Could a Bismarck woman become North Dakota's 1st saint?

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Could a Bismarck woman become North Dakota's 1st saint?


BISMARCK — Christmas Day marks the ninth anniversary of 31-year-old Michelle Duppong’s death. While her family and friends will feel her absence on this day, they also feel the love, kindness and faith she demonstrated during her short life, along with abundant hope that she not only shared while alive but continues to share in death, which is one of the reasons she is slated to become the first person from North Dakota to become a Catholic saint.

Michelle Duppong

Contributed

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In June 2022, Bismarck Bishop David D. Kagan announced the opening of a diocesan investigation into Duppong’s “holiness of life and love for God,” officially starting the long and arduous process of canonization to a saint. On Nov. 1, 2022, Kagan deemed Duppong a servant of god.

Duppong is on track to be the first North Dakotan and one of few around the world to be canonized, said Father Tom Grafsgaard, of Hazen, North Dakota. According to Catholic publications, only 11 people from the U.S. have become canonized saints.

“It’s never happened in the history of North Dakota in either (the Bismarck or Fargo) Diocese,” Grafsgaard said. “It’s quite exceedingly rare for this to be happening.”

In the process of canonization, the Catholic Church declares people “saints.” There are three paths to sainthood: to have died as a martyr for Catholicism; if one lived an expression of love and died a rather quick and unexpected death; or if they gave a heroic example of living all the Christian virtues.

The process of canonization is governed by a strict canonical or juridical procedure established by St. John Paul II in 1983.

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After Kagan began the process, Duppong’s cause entered the diocesan phase of investigation into her life. The Michelle Duppong Guild was created — a group tasked with promoting an awareness of her life. Officials are poring over Duppong’s writings, work, demonstrations of faith and the great number of lives she touched while alive, which are illustrated through interviews with those who knew her, Grafsgaard said.

Her case will be built up and eventually sent to the Dicastery for the Causes of the Saints in Rome for the Roman Phase of canonization. A Vatican panel will also investigate and determine if Duppong lived a heroically virtuous life. The Dicastery can then issue a “decree of heroic virtue” in which Duppong would be given the new title of “Venerable Servant of God.”

The third step, beatification, then begins. During this phase, it must be proven that one miracle has been granted by God through Duppong’s intercession. If the Pope declares a true miracle occurred, then Duppong would be declared “Blessed.” Last, a ceremony of canonization would take place where the church declares her a Saint in heaven with God.

“The process is very long,” Grafsgaard said. “I often say, ‘It takes as long as it takes.’ ”

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Michelle Duppong overlooking Jerusalem-2013.jpg

Michelle Duppong overlooking Jerusalem in 2013.

Contributed by michelleduppong.org

Michelle Christine Duppong was born Jan. 25, 1984, the fourth of six children to parents Ken and Mary Ann Duppong. She grew up on the family farm in Haymarsh, North Dakota, where her parents said she loved to help with chores, including caring for sheep but especially gardening, mowing, pruning, weeding, harvesting and canning, according to her mother.

Duppong was named valedictorian and president of her senior class and later attended North Dakota State University, where she earned a degree in horticulture.

After earning her degree, she became a FOCUS missionary at four college campuses, including the inaugural year at the University of Mary, mentoring college students to draw them deeper into the faith. FOCUS is an apostolate dedicated to evangelizing college and university students.

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In 2012, she became the director of faith formation for the Bismarck Diocese, where she led parish missions, launched a podcast and spearheaded a three-day Eucharistic conference that drew thousands to the Bismarck Civic Center in 2013.

In the fall of 2014, Duppong was experiencing sharp abdominal pains that doctors initially thought were ovarian cysts, a common but painful issue for women that will sometimes dissolve and go away without major medical treatment. But by December, the pain was unrelenting, and an outpatient surgery was scheduled that month to remove the cysts.

According to Mary Ann Duppong, surgeons were “shocked to find” Michelle Duppong’s abdomen was “full of stage four cancer.”

Doctors expected the young woman to die within months, and hospice care was recommended.

“Michelle was not one to blame anyone for anything,” Mary Ann Duppong said. “Her attitude was, ‘If God wants me to go through this, I will go through this.’ “

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Despite the diagnosis, Michelle Duppong continued her life for nearly a full year.

According to the website that outlines the canonization process for Michelle Duppong and its status, she told one of the sisters providing hospice care that she believed she would pass on Christmas Day. Michelle Duppong died at 11:23 p.m. on Dec. 25, 2015.

Shortly after Bishop Kagan initiated the process for Michelle Duppong’s canonization, U.S. bishops affirmed their support for the cause’s advancement.

In this first stage, the primary focus is to raise awareness of Michelle Duppong and the push for her sainthood by spreading as much information about her and her life as possible, which is done through the creation of a guild and much of which can be found at

www.michelleduppongcause.org.

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Michelle Duppong2.jpg

An undated photo of Michelle Duppong at the Duppong farm.

Contributed.

In January, a FOCUS-produced documentary titled “Thirst for Souls: The Michelle Duppong Story,” was screened at a FOCUS convention in St. Louis. Afterward, Michelle Duppong’s parents were inundated for hours with comments about how much the movie and Michelle had influenced viewers.

While one cannot necessarily predict when or if Michelle Duppong will become a saint, Grafsgaard said a bishop must believe canonization is likely to begin the process.

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“For a bishop to initiate a cause, there should be a well-founded hope for its success,” he said. “There certainly was reputation in her life, and she continues to have it in her death.”





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Obituary for Grace Mary Kegler at Gregory J. Norman Funeral Chapel

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Obituary for Grace Mary Kegler at Gregory J. Norman Funeral Chapel


Grace M. Kegler, 94, of Grand Forks, ND passed away Monday, December 23, 2024, at Edgewood Vista in East Grand Forks, MN. Memorial Liturgy 1100 a.m. Saturday, December 28, 2024, with a 1030 a.m. Rosary Service in the Historic Norman Funeral Home Chapel. Family Greeting 1000 a.m. to 1100 a.m.



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Alabama's AP Poll ranking revealed after wins vs. North Dakota, Kent State

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Alabama's AP Poll ranking revealed after wins vs. North Dakota, Kent State


Coming out of a difficult non-conference span of games, this past week was likely a step down in competition for the Alabama Crimson Tide basketball team.

Beginning on Wednesday night, the Crimson Tide did what most programs do not often do, traveling across the country mid-week for a true road game against the North Dakota Fighting Hawks. Alabama would however win that contest in a closer game than most expected, 97-90, and then returned home Sunday for a showdown with the Kent State Golden Flashes in which they were victorious, 81-54.

Because of these results, Alabama now sits at 10-2 overall for the 2024-25 season with the Crimson Tide’s non-conference schedule winding down, and the start of SEC play looming in early-January.

However, just how much did these results affect Alabama’s AP Poll Top 25 ranking, if at all?

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After carrying a ranking of No. 6 last week, Alabama rose one spot up to No. 5 in the latest AP Poll released Monday afternoon. The Crimson Tide were also the third highest-ranked SEC team, trailing only No. 1 Tennessee and No. 2 Auburn.

Riding a four-game winning streak, the Crimson Tide will officially be back in action this upcoming Sunday, Dec. 29 at home against South Dakota State, with tipoff set for 3 p.m. ET on either SEC Network+ or ESPN+.



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