LGBTQ people, allies dodge $1,500 fines in North Dakota

By TRISHA AHMED
Associated Press/Report for America

As more than a dozen states consider passing anti-transgender legislation this year, North Dakota lawmakers rejected a bill Friday that would have made people pay $1,500 each time they refer to themselves or others with gender pronouns different from the ones they were assigned at birth. That would’ve applied to people in public schools, state agencies and other places that get state funding. Republican sponsor Sen. David Clemens, of West Fargo, says he had hoped the bill would discourage schools from “promoting transgenderism.” Reed Eliot Rahrich, who identifies as transgender, says the proposal was an “affront to human rights.”