S. Dakota governor’s website posts unauthorized photos of Ohio girls

HUDSON — A website launched by Republican South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem to promote her campaign to ban transgender women and girls from women’s sports used photos of Hudson High School girls without permission from the school district.

The photos of Hudson student-athletes on Noem’s “Defend Title IX Now” website were taken down this week after criticism from Hudson officials, including

State Rep. Casey Weinstein, a Democrat from Hudson, near Cleveland.

“If you did not secure permission to feature the Hudson Lady Explorers, I must ask you to remove their photographs immediately,” Weinstein wrote Wednesday in a letter to Noem. “It is inappropriate to promote minors who do not necessarily agree with your transphobic policies as the faces of your campaign.”

Later Wednesday, Weinstein posted on social media that Noem’s website had removed the photos, some of which came from the school district’s website.

Sheryl Sheatzley, a spokeswoman for the Hudson City School District, said the district did not give permission for the photos to be used and took issue with them being part of a political endeavor.

“The purpose of our students being photographed during competition is to honor our high school players as student-athletes and to celebrate their accomplishments,” Sheatzley said.

“In addition, we are protective of and do not condone any student photos being used for third-party purposes without prior district consent.”

Noem created the “Defend Title IX Now” campaign after facing backlash from social conservative groups over her partial veto of a bill to ban transgender women from women’s sports.

Noem spokesman Ian Fury said the website is not run by the state and claimed the developer obtained the rights for all photographs. The images on the site, Fury said, “reflect the very girls that Governor Noem’s coalition is fighting to protect.”