A young person's call for change in South Dakota

from Libby Tramell in the Sioux Falls Argus Leader Letters...

Congress is considering the Employment Non-Discrimination Act. The bill, which has 192 co-sponsors in the U.S. House of Representatives and 43 in the Senate, would prohibit discrimination based on someone's sexual orientation or gender identity and would therefore help to make my generation feel more confident and excited about our futures.

I know two young men who are straight A students and who would be great assets to South Dakota. They are planning to attend school out of state, however, because they think they will feel safer about their sexual orientations in a place that is more accepting of them.

Is this the image we want to set forth for the rest of the world to see? I think not.

South Dakota needs this to move forward: economically, and spiritually. In this economy we can't succeed if we turn good people away, and discrimination is wrong. It's that simple.

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