South Dakota’s governor vetoed a bill that would have made the state the first in the U.S. to approve a law requiring transgender students to use bathrooms and locker rooms that match their sex at birth.
Republican Gov. Dennis Daugaard, who initially reacted positively to the proposal but said he needed to research the issue, rejected the bill Tuesday after groups such as the American Civil Liberties Union and the Human Rights Campaign insisted it was discriminatory.
In his veto message, Daugaard said the bill “does not address any pressing issue” and that such decisions were best left to local school officials. He also noted that signing the bill could create costly liability issues for schools and the state. The ACLU had promised to encourage legal action if the bill became law.
“I am so happy right now. You have no idea,” said 18-year-old Thomas Lewis, a transgender high school student in Sioux Falls. Lewis said he has support at his school, but that the veto shows such support goes beyond his friends.
“The government’s not going to hold me back from who I really am,” he said.
The bill’s sponsor, Republican Rep. Fred Deutsch, said he would ask lawmakers not to override the veto, saying more focus on the issue would detract from the Legislature’s other accomplishments this year. The Republican-controlled Legislature approved the bill last month, with supporters saying it would protect student privacy.
Transgender rights have become a new flashpoint in the nation’s cultural clashes following the landmark U.S. Supreme Court ruling that legalized same-sex marriage last year. The high court victory encouraged advocates for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender rights to push harder, prompting backlash from conservatives.
Caitlyn Jenner, the transgender activist and former Olympic decathlon gold medalist, had called on Daugaard to veto the bill. Opponents also used the South Dakota Tourism Department’s Twitter hashtag to take aim at the state’s roughly $3.8 billion tourism industry.
Other high-profile cases include last week’s vote in North Carolina by the Charlotte City Council to allow transgender people to choose a bathroom. The vote was immediately criticized by Gov. Pat McCrory, who said it denied privacy rights for those who expect to share restrooms or locker rooms only with people born with the same anatomy.
In Texas, Houston voters soundly defeated an ordinance that would have banned discrimination against transgender people after opponents alleged it would allow sexual predators to go into women’s bathrooms.
Daugaard initially offered a positive reaction to South Dakota’s proposal, but said he wanted to listen to testimony before making a decision. Last week, he met with three transgender individuals and heard their personal stories; before the meeting, the governor said he had never knowingly met a transgender person.
Opponents said the legislation was an attack on vulnerable transgender students that would further marginalize them at school. They also criticized comments made by some lawmakers, including Republican Sen. David Omdahl.
“I’m sorry if you’re so twisted you don’t know who you are,” Omdahl said when asked about the bill last month. “I’m telling you right now, it’s about protecting the kids, and I don’t even understand where our society is these days.”
Under the plan, schools would have been required to provide a “reasonable accommodation” for transgender students, such as a single-occupancy bathroom or the “controlled use” of a staff-designated restroom, locker room or shower room.
Supporters said the proposal was a response to changes in President Barack Obama administration’s interpretation of the federal Title IX anti-discrimination law related to education. Federal officials have said barring students from restrooms that match their gender identity is prohibited under Title IX.
Deutsch had said the plan pushed back “against federal overreach and intrusion into our lives.”
Heather Smith, executive director of the ACLU of South Dakota, said Tuesday that had the governor signed the bill, schools would have been forced to choose whether follow state or federal law. She also said her organization would have encouraged any student harmed by the new law to file a federal civil rights complaint.
Smith said people from across the state and country reached out to the governor to urge this veto. She said that’s the true testament of democracy.
Chad Griffin, president of the Human Rights Campaign, added that the governor “chose to do the right thing.”
“Today, the voices of fairness and equality prevailed, and these students’ rights and dignity prevailed against overwhelming odds and vicious opponents in the state Legislature,” Griffin said.
The Associated Press contributed to this article.
Thank God I’m not from South Dakota! Nothing like using what’s “politically expedient” as a basis for making a decision like this. He should be ashamed of allowing himself to be manipulated like this.
The human plumbing should always dominate!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Vote him out the next election, he must be a fag too
this election shows people are tired of this kind of a–hole,absolutely vote his but out but he has already done damage,but how much more will he do who knows
Here is another no B..l s Repub turning tail and running. I wonder how many ladies will have their privacy violated. Transgender do not have to prove anything. They just say they are and that is it. How many perverts will take advantage of this?
Once again we see a politician who was elected by conservatives as a conservative who governs as a liberal. The law sounds like a commonsense law to me. This governor has just extended a welcome banner for sexual predators to prey on school children in the state.
Hopefully voters will make sure there is a political price for this guy to pay for taking this action.
establishment republican people have to get away from that
I agree with having 3 different restrooms in all public buildings; “males”, “females”, and “its!”
The normal women using the bathroom should have a little conference and when the sicko with male parts enters the bathroom, have a little gonad kicking contest. “Ve know nothink’ -he must have slipped in the shower…then, the parents get their chance. “He must have tripped and fallen in front of the bus”…
Heather and Chad need to knock it off!just because these people say they’re whatever and no proof that thereby endangers and shames normal straight students girls are girls and deserve facilities that are females only. Boys should be accorded the same dignity. The others could have an “it’s” or a single bathroom with a female/male connotation on the door as is seen in many places now. Quit with the ignorant ” I’ll sue” crap !!
What a sad shape our country is in. Straight people are losing what rights they had. It amazes me that one person that says they are transgender, with no proof, can have all the rights they want but, never mind the rights of all the other students, women, children, and even men. I had just gotten to the point that I would even allow my 11 year daughter to go to the restroom by herself when we are out somewhere. Now, I have had to backtrack and tell her that she will no longer be allowed to go to the restroom by herself and I, of course, had to explain exactly why. This is certainly not how I envisioned that the world would be as she is growing up. Just what next? Gay marriages, transgenders, businesses that can not be run according to the Christian beliefs and values of the owners without repercussions, threats of lawsuits, harassment, and so much more. GOD BLESS us all as these times will only grow more perverted and favor those that have turned against God because of the evil that is in them and in this world.
It’s simple…..if you have to stand up to “P”, guess what you go into the door, marked “Boys/Men’s”, now if you have been sitting down to “P”, guess what, your butt, goes into the “Girls/Woman’s” room of pleasures. That’s the long and or the short of it, you can be any damm thing you want to be [EXCEPT] in a PUBLIC RESTROOM, notice the word’s PUBLIC. Really, what has happen to this country?. Let’s make this as simple as possible, you can do what ever you want to do at home or where ever you find yourself, but in public, you are what you came into this world with, either your standing up or your sitting down……simple as that!. Like it or get over it!!!
Bruce Jenner was married to two women and claimed to love and be attracted to them. He has no plans to have a relationship with men according to him. Is he different than other transgender men or is he the “norm”. I have heard other transgender men say that transgender has nothing to do with sexuality. So they are wanting to put transgender men or boys that may be attracted to girls. Sounds like a perfect setup for these guys to get their sexual fantasies answered all under guise of transgender are interested in looking at the girls. As a nurse took care of pregnant transgender woman going through process of becoming man. She had a beard while giving birth. The doctor who gave her male hormones while she was pregnant should have had his medical licence pulled. Poor baby, they kept it, should have given it up. A very confused woman, she got pregnant while cheating on her girlfriend.
This horse shit has got to end.
The parents better stand their ground on this issue no matter what state your in
If a person is born a man and thinks they are a woman – they are declared to be normal and not mentally ill.
So if a person is born mortal and thinks they are Jesus Christ will the authorities discriminate against such a person?
Just wondering what is the numbers of biological female transgenders that are clamoring to use the male restrooms or locker-rooms.
No problem one bathroom one person and lock on the door. If they are looking for privacy go with gods choosing who cares. If you think you should be able to go in both sex bathrooms you are a pervert and need to be watched you will do the unthinkable you’re spending too much time thinking and worrying about sex way. Too early in life grow up and take care of your problems as an adult with no help from the do gooders who realy don’t have a clue but think they know every thing about how we should respond to any and all of life’s problems. Please think for yourself and who you will hurt by listening to those that think they know how to make things better for one person and too h&$L. with the rest of the world.