While
Washington state and
Virginia trans peeps have been able to fight off attempts to pass unjust anti-trans bills in their respective states, unfortunately the unjust HB 1008 has kept chugging through the legislative process pushed by
Republicans eager to oppress, bully and demonize trans people.
But as Kara Thrace, one of my fave characters in Battlestar Galactica once said, "We do what we always do. Fight 'em until we can't."
That's the attitude trans South Dakotans and their allies are adopting to push back against this unjust transphobic bill as it passed the GOP controlled South Dakota House 58-10 and is winding its way through the GOP controlled South Dakota Senate toward a vote on the Senate floor after clearing the Senate education Committee on a 4-2 party line vote.
The unjust HB 1008
would demonize transgender South Dakota students and violate Title IX in doing so. It would also put federal funding for South Dakota schools at risk just so some Republican legislative bigots can get their jollies on.
When Gov Dennis Daugaard (R) said in a press conference that he'd never met a transgender person he was aware of, activist Kendra Heathscott
wrote an open letter reminding him he had.
South Dakota native and attorney Case Strangio has also
penned an open letter imploring his home state to not pass anti-trans hate legislation.
Here's hoping that the governor will veto the unjust HB 1008 bill when it gets to his desk. In the meantime what you can do for our trans brothers and sisters in South Dakota is call his office and urge him to do just that.
TransGriot Update. The unjust HB 1008 was passed by the South Dakota Senate on a 20-15 vote. it now goes to Gov. Daugaard for his signature.
