The Republican governor of South Dakota will meet a group of transgender students for the first time on Thursday as he weighs whether to sign a bill mandating public school bathroom use by gender, based on “chromosomes and identified at birth by a person’s anatomy”.
If Dennis Daugaard signs the bill, it would make South Dakota the first state in the nation to assign public school bathroom use based on the restrictive definition of gender, an act that has already led to opposition in the state.
“History has never looked kindly upon those who attack the basic civil rights of their fellow Americans, and history will not treat kindly those who support this discriminatory measure,” said Human Rights Campaign president Chad Griffin, in denouncing the bill. He said he hoped the governor’s meeting with transgender students would show the governor “daily challenges they face, and the damage this bill will inflict on their lives”.
The American School Counselor Association said the bill would “[create] an unnecessarily hostile environment, further marginalizing students who already face stigma and scrutiny” and asked the legislature to reconsider.
More broadly, on social media, a hashtag developed by the state’s tourism board, “#hifromSD”, was used by many who opposed the law, many vowing not to travel to the state.
Some who claimed to be South Dakotan described themselves as “ashamed” or “embarrassed” by the legislation.
When discrimination laws are passed: the day I'm embarrassed to be from South Dakota. #HB1008 #hifromSD
— Jessie Alls (@mynameisjessie_) February 16, 2016
#sdleg would ❤️ to have tourists visit SD. But only if they're straight & cis gendered. #hifromsd
— Tory Stolen (@TorryStorry) February 16, 2016
Daugaard, as of Thursday, had only addressed the bill directly twice. On 22 January he told reporters: “In concept, I don’t see any problem with that … It seems like a good accommodation.” On 11 February he said he still hadn’t made a decision about the bill, and when asked said “I have not met a transgender person that I’m aware of”, according to the Argus Leader.
The law, passed Tuesday by the state’s legislature, seems to anticipate a fight. It has only two major provisions: the first mandating bathroom use by chromosome and anatomy at birth, the second promising the state will pay for any litigation that stems from public schools adhering to the law.
