A state Senate committee is unanimously rejecting a proposal that prevents transgender South Dakotans from amending the sex designation on their birth certificate.
Republican Fred Deutsch says the courts should not let people change the sex designation on their birth certificate He says judges are ruling inconsistently on such cases. .
Deutsch says he wants legislation that works for the state and transgender South Dakotans.
“Let’s talk about what we can do to help you and make this a win-win,” Deutsch says. “So we stop conflating sex and gender on vital records.”
Deutsch says birth certificates are vital records and should be preserved as state health statistics.
Susan Williams is the founder of the Transformation Project, a group that advocates for transgender South Dakotans. She says the senate rejection is a good outcome for transgender individuals worried about discrimination.
“I also hope it sets a precedent for future bills that might have been thought of to harm transgender individuals that they may think twice and that people aren’t wanting discriminatory legislation in our state, maybe I won’t bring it.”
However, Williams says another bill in the House is also discriminatory.
Representative Rhoda Milstead, of Sioux Falls, is bringing a bill that prevents transgender females from playing on female high school sports teams.
“What’s happening in the last several years—you’ve seen it in Connecticut, you’ve seen it in Idaho, you’ve seen it even in our state on a smaller scale—is that women are being replaced by biological males. We just want to make sure it’s fair for women.”
The state’s high school athletic association says there are no transgender females playing in high school sports. Milstead wants the bill in place to prevent it from happening.
