Out Magazine crows, “No one is harmed by allowing transgender people to compete consistent with who they are.”
South Dakota lawmakers killed a bill that would’ve required trans student athletes to compete according to their sex assigned at birth.
The state’s Senate Education Committee decided in a 5-2 vote Thursday to defer action on Senate Bill 49 until the 41st legislative day of the session, The Daily Beast reports. This decision effectively killed the bill as the legislative session is shorter than 41 days, TDB senior reporter Samantha Allen notes.
“We’re thrilled with the committee’s decision,” said Libby Skarin, policy director for the American Civil Liberties Union of South Dakota, in a statement. “No one is harmed by allowing transgender people to compete consistent with who they are. The committee’s motion to kill this bill sends a clear message of inclusion and acceptance for our transgender friends and neighbors and that there is no place for discrimination like this in South Dakota.”
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Some SB49 proponents, like Family Heritage Alliance director Norman Woods, said that supporting the bill wasn’t about “valu[ing] one student group over another” but about preserving “a basic standard of fairness.” Other proponents, like South Dakota Catholic Conference executive director Christopher J. Motz, used their time before the committee to undermine trans identities and gendered self-determination.
“Being a male or female is a physical reality,” said Motz. “To be male or female doesn’t proceed from one’s inner experience. It comes through one’s physical body.”
www.out.com/news-opinion/2019/1/24/south-dakota-lawmakers-kill-bill-targeting-trans-student-athletes