Pro-Homosexual Group Announces South Dakota Legislative Candidate Endorsements

The pro-homosexual group "Equality South Dakota" has released a list of South Dakota legislative candidates they are endorsing, along with $15,000 they are contributing to the general election.

I don't see the announcement up on their website yet, but this announcement comes via the SD Watch blog of Todd Epp, who is a member of the group.

Here is a list of the candidates Equality South Dakota is endorsing, from Todd's blog:

Eric Abrahamson, House Dist. 32, D

Suzy Blake, House Dist. 13, D

Elaine Elliott, House Dist. 2, D

Mitch Fargen, House Dist. 8, D

Dennis Finch, Senate Dist. 33, D

Mary Ann Giebink, House Dist. 10, D

Nyla Griffith, Senate Dist. 31, D

Jacey Harmon, House Dist. 14, D

Bernie Hunhoff, House Dist. 18, D

Everett Hunt, House Dist. 28A, R

Daniel Kaiser, House Dist. 2, R

Fern Johnson, House Dist. 35, D

Paula Johnson, House Dist. 12, D

Kevin Killer, House Dist. 27, D

Greg Kniffen, House Dist. 12, D

Larry Lucas, House Dist. 26A, D

Curtis Marquardt, House Dist. 35, D

Fred McPherson, House Dist. 29, D

Jeff Nelson, House Dist. 33, D

Nic Nemec, Senate Dist. 23, D

Dennis Nemmers, House Dist. 6, D

BJ Nesselhuf, Senate Dist. 17, D

Janelle O’Connor, House Dist. 16, D

Kevin O’Dea, House Dist. 31, D

Mark Remily, House Dist. 3, D

Kim Sargent, Senate Dist. 24, D

Darrell Solberg, House Dist. 11, D

Bob Stevens, Senate Dist. 14, D

Bill Thompson, House Dist. 13, D

Craig Tieszen, Senate Dist. 34, R

Martha Vanderlinde, House Dist. 15, D

Nate Welch, Senate Dist. 11, D

Bethany Wojahn, House Dist. 32, D

I noticed there were only a couple of "R"'s on the list, but all should be taken note of. I counted 33 endorsements, so that's a lot of legislative races.

I noted the first candidate listed, Democrat Eric Abrahamson. In addition to running for Lieutenant Governor in 2006, in 2004 he defended the controversial link on the South Dakota state library website to the Planned Parenthood site for young people called TeenWire.

From the Rapid City Public Library website:

State library board member Eric Abrahamson of Rapid City was the single board member to vote against removing the teenwire link. He said Monday that the governor doesn't understand the function of a library. A library's purpose is to provide an array of information and points of view on many topics. "Libraries historically are protected from executive authority to insulate them from political pressure,"

That link has since been removed, but TeenWire is still out there. The website contains "advice" for young people that essentially amounts to advice to do whatever you want, whenever you want, however you want, with who ever you want.

Some of the topics teens can learn about at TeenWire:


- "Communication is key when it comes to oral sex"

- "Yeast Infections 101"

- Sexual arousal

- Losing your virginity

- Relationships ("My boyfriend wants oral sex all the time, but I hate doing it")

- Is there a type of condom that's best for homosexual guys?

- I dress up in women's lingerie when I masturbate. Does this mean I'm gay?


You can read more about what Abrahamson defended at TeenWire here. Or go to the TeenWire website for yourself, if you dare.

From their website, the mission of Equality South Dakota is

The mission of Equality South Dakota (EqSD) is to secure, protect, and support the rights and the well being of LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) South Dakotans and their families.

At least it's clear in these races what you're voting for. So vote accordingly.

Thanks for the tip, Todd.