Dangerous anti-trans bill passes through South Dakota legislature, sitting on Governor's desk

In an unprecedented move, the South Dakota Senate has passed an appalling anti-trans bill, HB 1008. This is the first time that an anti-trans state bill has made it all the way through any state legislature. HB 1008 prohibits trans students from using restrooms and locker rooms that match their gender, singling them out for discrimination and hurting all South Dakota students and schools in the process.

 

It’s now up to the governor to decide whether this bill becomes law. Once it reaches his desk, Governor Duagaard has five business days to sign or veto HB 1008—meaning that South Dakotans need to contact the governor now to urge him to oppose this bill.

 

Over a dozen states have considered anti-LGBT bills this legislative session—but none has moved as far as South Dakota’s. If the governor signs this bill into law, South Dakota will be the first state with a law prohibiting trans students from using the right restrooms. If this bill passes, it might make it more likely that similar anti-trans bills in other states gain traction, putting students around the country in grave danger.

 

In the debate before today’s vote, many South Dakota senators from both parties recognized that this bill is not only harmful, but also wholly unnecessary. Multiple senators said that the vast majority of South Dakota students don’t see their transgender classmates’ use of restrooms as even remotely a problem and are mystified about why their representatives are even debating this issue. In fact, hundreds of South Dakota students have signed a petition opposing HB 1008—and not a single South Dakota resident testified in favor of the bill at Senate hearing last week. Governor Duagaard should listen to the real experts on the ground—South Dakota students, teachers and school administrators—and reject this discriminatory legislation.

 

This bill, which is part of a package of anti-LGBT bills before the South Dakota legislature, would force schools to choose between violating state and federal law, which requires them to treat all students according to their gender identity and provide them with equal access to restrooms and other facilities. If passed, it would open schools up to costly and time-consuming lawsuits and put them at risk of losing their federal funding.

 

It also imposes an impossible burden on schools by requiring them to police restroom use based on people’s chromosomes. Contrary to some common assumptions, you can’t tell a person’s chromosomes just by looking at them or checking their birth certificates. Thousands of people live their whole lives not realizing that their sex chromosomes are different than what they expected. The only way for schools to properly enforce this bill is to require every student to undergo genetic testing to determine their chromosomes. South Dakota schools shouldn’t have to waste their scarce resources testing students’ chromosomes—and those that do would be committing a grave violation of children’s medical privacy.

 

NCTE urges Governor Duagaard to protect South Dakota students and schools and veto this bill. Join us by signing on to two new national petitions urging the South Dakota governor to veto a bill attacking trans students, available here and here. Find out what else you can do to help by checking out NCTE’s Action Center.