Several pictures of female high school athletes from Hudson are posted on a defend Title IX website started by South Dakota’s governor.
Gov. Kristi Noem launched Defend Title IX Now, a coalition that seeks to ensure that, as it states on its website "only girls play girls sports." State Rep. Casey Weinstein of Hudson calls it transphobic. He said he is concerned with why the campaign chose Hudson photos and if the coalition had permission to use them.
“So I think this comes down to an issue of privacy and giving these young people the right to say if their images, their faces, and their names are associated with a campaign they might not agree with. It’s deeply concerning to me,” Weinstein said.
Noem says the coalition is not about trans people.
"This coalition is specifically formed around girls playing girls sports. It’s on the differences between men and women and the competitiveness of how they are built,” Noem said.
Yet Weinstein says it’s part of a coordinated Republican campaign against transgender athletes. He has not yet received an answer to a request for information about why these photos were picked, and he’s concerned how the photos being associated with the coalition will affect the students.
“When these young folks are applying to jobs, applying to schools, have they had a say in whether their name is being associated with this campaign?” he said.
In a press release, the district says it did not give consent for the photos to be used and has asked the coalition to remove them.
Noem’s office says the website developer obtained rights to use the pictures.
