PIERRE, S.D. (AP) — A South Dakota bill (HB1005) that would ban transgender students from using school bathrooms that match their gender identity has cleared its first hurdle in the Legislature. The House State Affairs committee sent the bill (Jan. 31, 2022) to a vote on the House floor. The Republican-controlled Legislature has taken up several bills aimed at transgender youth this year. Transgender advocates and organizations representing school districts say the bills will only increase the bullying and alienation trans students face. But many Republican lawmakers have shown a refusal to accept trans students’ gender identity. They instead insist that students should be assessed based on the biological sex on their birth certificate.
The ACLU of South Dakota opposes HB1005 saying it singles out transgender youth and violates federal and constitutional law.
“This bill isn’t motivated by privacy concerns. It’s motivated by ignorance, misinformation and fear,” said Jett Jonelis, ACLU of South Dakota advocacy manager. “It doesn’t infringe on anyone’s rights to share spaces with those who are different. Like previous efforts to expel people of color, people with disabilities and others from communal spaces, these arguments for privacy just mask a fear of difference. Eroding the fundamental rights of transgender people is dangerous for every one of us. When the government has the power to deny legal rights to one group, all Americans’ rights are severely threatened.”
ACLU-SD says as courts have repeatedly recognized, those who are uncomfortable with sharing such spaces can seek out private spaces for themselves rather than force transgender people to be stigmatized and isolated.
Last year, the Supreme Court declined to review lower court decisions in Grimm v. Gloucester County School Board, ruling that the school board’s discriminatory restroom policy for transgender students violated Title IX and the Constitution. The Gloucester County School Board has been ordered to pay more $1.3 million in attorney’s fees and costs for the case.
South Dakota lawmakers attempted to pass similar legislation in 2016 with House Bill 1108, which Gov. Dennis Daugaard vetoed.
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