Anti-transgender sports bill will be heard on the House floor

Today, in an 8-4 vote, the House Heath and Human Services Committee voted to advance House Bill 1225, a discriminatory bill targeting transgender high school students, to the House floor with no recommendation.

The ACLU of South Dakota opposes House Bill 1225, legislation that would restrict participation in high school athletic activities to the gender listed on a person’s birth certificate. The bill is another attempt to codify discrimination against transgender youth under state law and undermine the oversight and authority of the South Dakota High School Activities Association to ensure equitable and fair participation in high school activities.

“All young people should have the opportunity to play high school sports and have their personal dignity respected. Transgender students are no different,” said Libby Skarin, policy director for the ACLU of South Dakota. “No one is harmed by allowing transgender people to compete consistent with who they are. House Bill 1225 is clearly fueled by a fear and misunderstanding of transgender youth in our state.”

In addition to the ACLU of South Dakota, organizations like the South Dakota High School Activities Association, the Human Rights Campaign, the Sioux Falls Chamber of Commerce, the Large School Group and the Nasional Association of Social Workers, South Dakota Chapter, also oppose House Bill 1225.

The SDHSAA procedure for transgender athletes now in place puts South Dakota in line with at least two dozen other states with inclusive policies for transgender students at some or all high schools, including Minnesota, Colorado and Wyoming. If House Bill 1225 passes, South Dakota would be the first and only state in which the state legislature intervened to override a policy put in place by the association that knows high school activities the best.