A large sigh goes out to South Dakota as their legislature becomes adult versions of schoolyard bullies. Thankfully, with heavy pressure placed on Governor Dennis Daugaard from the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and other human rights and medical advocacy groups, he vetoed bill HB 1008, which would have severely hindered the lives of trans and intersex children alike because of an unfoundedfear of transness. According to the Human Rights Campaign, Daugaard vetoed the bill on the last possible day to do so before it would automatically become law.
Intersex, by the way, is one of many chromosomal, hormonal, or physical variations that cause a person’s chromosomes or reproductive system to not easily fit into the category of male or female. According to the Intersex Society of North America, up to one in every 100 live births could be defined as intersex and many of the variations are so minor or invisible (such as a chromosomal variation which differs from XX or XY but does not cause noticeable genital ambiguity) that a person may never know they are intersex.
South Dakota has been very busy trying to pass harassing legislation. No, not anti-harassment legislation, legislation that harasses. Transgender children are the target of the day.
South Dakota is attempting to push through state legislation policies that explicitly target transgender students and nullify existing protections. The goal is to keep trans students out of sports and from using bathrooms they are comfortable using. They intended to enforce this through a different bill still in the legislative process that would make anything that is written on a person’s birth certificate count as automatic fact. This includes gender markers, as well as other information such as parent names, which could make an adopted cisgender child’s existence rather difficult if the school is only allowed to accept the people listed on the person’s birth certificate as the parents of the child.
In addition, this bill would have violated federal policies such as Title IX and would have forced the federal government to rescind all federal funding therefore making South Dakota public schools even worse funded than Mississippi public schools.
Even if you do not believe that trans people exist (the American Psychiatric Association and the American Medical Association, as well as many foreign entities would dispute that notion), which is as valid as the opinion that the earth is flat, does a child claiming to be trans really matter that much to you that you would stoop to bullying tactics? Would you employ measures akin to “we do not like you, so you cannot sit with us” behaviors that we discourage from elementary schoolers?
The legislature is supposed to be composed of mature adults. They need to start acting like it.
Now, I came across a curious article in the anti-LGBT publication The Federalist entitled “South Dakota Stands Up to the Transgender Mafia” which lauds the South Dakota legislature for a choice that “must be celebrated and defended.”
The title of the article struck me as so absurd that I did not initially believe my friend that it was real until I looked it up for myself. When I found it and read through it (which took me several tries because I had to take several breathers from the painfully erroneous assumptions and accusations presented therein), I was torn on whether to laugh and take on the moniker “the entire transgender mafia” for myself on group chat apps, or be deeply upset that there are people in the year 2016 that legitimately believe trans people are “delusional” and are all sexual deviants from whom children should be protected at all costs. I chose the former because I can only roll my eyes so hard without hurting myself.
