The Dakota House of Representatives were not able to meet the required two-thirds majority to override the governor's veto regarding the proposed law for transgender students using public school bathrooms. The veto was given by Republican Gov. Dennis Daugaard on Tuesday.
According to Time, the transgender bathroom bill would have required public school students to use facilities such as the bathroom and locker rooms as per the dictates of their gender when they were born and not the gender that they are identified with now. The override vote in favor of the bill fell ten votes short as 36 agreed and 29 did not. Five members of the House of Representatives did not vote.
As per Daugaard issuing a veto to the proposed law, he said that the issues regarding gender and facility usage at public schools should be handled locally rather than statewide as it could lead to lawsuits being filed, Yankton Daily reported.
The bill has received an immense amount of backlash from advocacy groups such as the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the Human Rights Campaign. Tourists have also voiced out saying that they will cancel their trips to the state if the bill is passed as they believe that transgender youth are being treated unfairly.
The Department of Justice and civil rights groups have also expressed that denying transgender, both children and adults, to use facilities that aligns with their gender identity is a form of sex discrimination under Title IX, Raw Story reported.
The same bill has been proposed in other states such as Arizona, Kentucky, and Maryland but South Dakota was supposed to be the first state to ever sign it into law in case Daugaard did not veto it. Opponents of the bills being proposed say that the legislation will only further marginalize transgender students or people.
Daugaard's veto comes a month after the United States appeals court heard the arguments about a high school in Virginia allowing a transgender male to use the boys' bathroom. It also comes days after local lawmakers in Charlotte, North Carolina allowed transgender people to use public bathrooms in line with their gender identity.
