South Dakota is marking a controversial first. The state is one signature away from becoming the first in the country to enact a law that would ban transgender students from using bathrooms, locker rooms and shower facilities of the gender with which they identify if it does not correspond with their biological sex.
The South Dakota Senate approved the bill Feb. 16 by a vote of 20-15. Now, the measure has been sent to Republican Gov. Dennis Daugaard's desk for his approval.
Under the proposal, transgender students who do not want to use the facilities based on their biological gender would have to submit a request to their school district for accommodation in separate facilities.
LGBT-rights organizations registered their disgust at the bill's passage. "House Bill 1008 is an attack on some of the most vulnerable members of our community, transgender young people," said Kyle Palazzolo, staff attorney in the Midwest Regional Office of Lambda Legal, in a statement.
"An attack like this is unprecedented and extreme. South Dakota would be the first state that goes to such lengths to target and harm transgender youth. Shame on the members of the South Dakota Legislature who voted in favor of this bill for ignoring the fundamental obligation that schools have to create a safe learning environment for ALL students."
View early coverage of the bill by the Argus Leader at www.argusleader.com/story/news/politics/2016/02/16/sd-senate-transgender-bill/80453170/ .
Lambda Legal press release: South Dakota legislature passes discriminatory bill targeting transgender students; Lambda Legal urges Governor to veto
"House Bill 1008 is an attack on some of the most vulnerable members of our community, transgender young people. An attack like this is unprecedented and extreme."
(Pierre, South Dakota, February 16, 2016) — Today the South Dakota Senate passed House Bill 1008, a discriminatory bill that prevents transgender students from accessing restrooms and single-sex facilities that correspond with their gender identity. Lambda Legal is calling on Governor Dennis Daugaard to veto the bill.
"House Bill 1008 is an attack on some of the most vulnerable members of our community, transgender young people," said Kyle Palazzolo, Staff Attorney in the Midwest Regional Office of Lambda Legal. "An attack like this is unprecedented and extreme. South Dakota would be the first state that goes to such lengths to target and harm transgender youth. Shame on the members of the South Dakota Legislature who voted in favor of this bill for ignoring the fundamental obligation that schools have to create a safe learning environment for ALL students. This bill sends a dangerous message and may limit the potential educational outcomes for already vulnerable transgender students. We strongly urge Governor Daugaard to veto this bill upon arrival."
House Bill 1008 prohibits public schools from allowing transgender students from using the restroom or facilities that corresponds to their gender identity by defining "biological sex" so narrowly that it would be impossible for any transgender person to ever use the facilities that they feel safest and most comfortable in. The Department of Justice has made clear that prohibiting transgender students from using the facilities that correspond with their gender identity is sex discrimination for which penalties can include loss of federal funding. The state of South Dakota depends on more than $205M in federal funding for education.
"Many transgender students already feel isolated and are bullied because they are perceived as different," said Palazzolo. "Middle school and high school are stressful and difficult times for any young person, but especially for young transgender people. A law like this could have devastating effects on transgender students who already feel vulnerable and alone."
ACLU of South Dakota press release: South Dakota legislates discrimination, passes shameful transgender bathroom panic bill
Pierre, S.D. — Today the South Dakota Senate voted to pass HB 1008, a bill that would single out and stigmatize South Dakota transgender students and force them to choose between isolated accommodations or those that do not correspond to their gender identity. The bill now heads to Governor Daugaard for veto consideration.
From Heather Smith, Executive Director, ACLU of South Dakota:
"Today South Dakota Senators voted to pass a bill that targets vulnerable transgender students for discrimination and could cost the state millions of dollars in federal education funding. Lawmakers heard from South Dakota parents, teachers, students, school counselors, clergy, and mental health professionals who wrote emails, and traveled to Pierre from all corners of the state to testify and demonstrate the ways in which this bill does real harm to transgender students. The only people to testify in support of this harmful, discriminatory bill were lobbyists—not one South Dakota citizen testified to the necessity of this bill. And that's because it's not necessary and we don't need discrimination codified. South Dakota stands to lose.
It begs the question; do our state politicians truly represent the people of South Dakota, or do they represent outsider lobbyists and interest groups.
Governor Daugaard should listen to his actual constituents and veto this bill and send a strong message that discrimination isn't a South Dakota value and there's simply no place for it in our schools, community, and state."
From Libby Skarin, Policy Director, ACLU of South Dakota.
"With serious and complex issues like teacher pay and healthcare needing to be addressed this year, it is disturbing that this session so far has launched one of the worst attacks on vulnerable transgender children in the entire country. Bill after bill seems fixated on where kids can go to the bathroom, how they can identify themselves, and on what sports teams they can play. It is this type of hostility toward young trans people from adult leaders that contributes to the devastating bullying against and high rates of depression and even suicide among transgender young people."
From Rebecca Dodds, parent of a transgender teenager
"My son struggled with his identity until he was 18 years old. I'm a protective parent, and I would have done anything to make his time in school bearable, but the truth is that he felt vulnerable and afraid. I'm asking South Dakota lawmakers to think of my son, who spent so much of his time at school living in fear. If he had been allowed to be himself in a supportive and accepting environment, maybe he wouldn't have been plagued by those feelings of fear and exclusion. Maybe the suicidal thoughts would not have troubled him so much. Forcing schools to adhere to a policy that singles out transgender children like my son makes them more likely to experience harassment and violence in school."
From Jean Morrow, Pastor at Spirit of Peace United Church of Christ
"As pastors, we are often the people who attempt to pick up the pieces when bullying, discrimination, shame and isolation beat a transgender kid down. Sometimes we are called to visit them in the hospital after they have been beaten up or after they have attempted suicide. And then, sometimes, we are the ones who are called to bury them, because they have either been murdered or have completed suicide. The same babies we baptized with great hope, we bury because of horrendous discrimination — discrimination that this bill creates and supports. I've heard from South Dakota lawmakers who support this bill. They say that they want to protect our children, but transgender children and youth are our children. Who protects them from discrimination?"
From Thomas Lewis, transgender high school student
"People go to the bathroom. It's one of the most natural things a person can do. No student should be fearful or anxious about which bathroom to use simply because of who they are. When I see a bill like HB 1008 that targets transgender people like me, it hurts. It makes me feel ashamed to call South Dakota my home. And it makes me feel different, as if I am not human. This bill would single out transgender students like me by forcing me to choose between using a different bathroom from the rest of my peers and using a bathroom that doesn't correspond with my gender identity. This is only going to further bullying, harassment and discrimination. It opens the door to ridicule and public insult by our peers when really, lawmakers should be focusing on passing legislation where every student can be free to be open about who they are in an accepting environment."
From Terri Bruce, transgender South Dakotan
"When I think about House Bill 1008 the feelings I had in high school come back to me. I feel the pain the transgender kids in South Dakota will feel when they are not allowed to use the bathroom of the gender they identify with. I feel the pain they will feel when they are segregated from their peers because some adults are uncomfortable with them. There will be intense emotional pain. There will be tears. There will be missed school days. There will be suicide attempts. And there will come a day when one of those attempts is successful. I don't think this bill is worth the life of even one child."
Press release: NCTE urges South Dakota Gov. Daugaard to veto bill targeting trans students
Washington, D.C. — Today, South Dakota's State Senate passed a bill that will force transgender students to either use restrooms that do not match their genders or to be segregated to single-user restrooms. This worsens the harm that transgender students already face on a daily basis. The bill had previously passed the State House of Representatives.
Gov. Dennis Daugaard now has five business days to veto this bill before it becomes law.
This bill is completely unprecedented, as the first piece of legislation that attacks transgender people to ever pass out of a state legislature. However, it is only one of several anti-transgender bills that the South Dakota legislature is voting on this month.
In light of this bill's passage, NCTE Executive Director Mara Keisling said: "This bill hurts transgender students, takes away control from local schools, and doesn't solve any problems. In fact, it does more harm than good to both trans kids and South Dakota's reputation."
Beyond being cruel to transgender students, enforcing this bill would also be expensive and invasive. The bill would require that bathroom use be "determined by a person's chromosomes and anatomy as identified at birth." Chromosomal testing to determine which restroom someone should use is an unrealistic burden on schools and South Dakotan students, as well as a threat to students' privacy.
NCTE urges Gov. Daugaard to veto this harmful bill in order to avoid setting a dangerous precedent that could have repercussions for vulnerable transgender students around the nation.
The National Center for Transgender Equality is the nation's leading social justice advocacy organization winning life-saving change for transgender people. As a national social justice organization, NCTE is devoted to ending discrimination and violence against transgender people through education and advocacy on national issues of importance to transgender people.
