South Dakota Republican Governor Dennis Daugaard vetoed the bill that asked transgender students to use the restrooms in public schools according to their gender at birth. If the bill was not vetoed and was signed by Daugaard, South Dakota would have been the first United States state to impose such law.
In a report by Yahoo News, the bill has been returned to the legislature. It would need a two-thirds vote in both chambers for it to be passed. The state house has approved the bill last January.
The proposed bill will be requiring transgender students to use not only restrooms but also locker rooms in public schools, which corresponds to their gender when they were born and not the gender they identify with currently.
The reason behind Daugaard vetoing the bill is because the bill "broadly regulates in a manner that invites conflict and litigation" which he says will only be diverting the energy and resources from the education of the children of South Dakota. The bill will also be requiring public schools, if it will be passed, accommodations for transgender students such as single-occupancy restroom, a unisex restroom, or the controlled use of a restroom, locker room or shower room.
According to KPBS, opponents of the proposed law called on Daugaard to veto the bill. These include American Civil Liberties Union and the Human Rights Campaign, both of which support the LGBTQ community.
Daugaard initially said that the bill could provide accommodations for both sides. It is unclear what influenced his decision to veto the bill but reports say that the governor met with transgender students and their parents. Daugaard noted that after having meetings with them, he saw "things through their eyes." The law, if passed, would impact around 1, 360 youth in South Dakota, who are identified as transgenders.
Similar bills have been proposed in other states such as Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Missouri, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Virginia, Washington, and Wisconsin, CNN reported. South Dakota is the only state from all of the aforementioned who's bill has gotten as close as it being a law.
The veto of Daugaard comes a month after a U.S. appeals court heard arguments over a high school in Virginia wherein a transgender male student wanted to use the boy's bathroom. Also, last week, lawmakers in Charlotte, North Carolina have voted to allow transgender people to use public bathrooms in line with their gender identity.
