PIERRE — The South Dakota Senate passed a bill 27-6 on Monday at the Capitol prohibiting transgender people from using public restrooms or changing rooms aligned with their gender identity.
Some of the language in the bill was amended, which means it must go back to the House of Representatives for consideration of the changes.
Supporters said the legislation is a necessary measure to protect the privacy and security of women and girls.
“Our laws and policies should recognize and respect that males and females are biologically different,” said Sen. Mykala Voita, R-Bonesteel.
The legislation requires state-owned properties and other public entities, such as schools, to designate multi-occupancy changing rooms, restrooms or sleeping quarters exclusively for females or males.
The bill defines “female” as “an individual who naturally has, had, will have, or would have, but for a congenital anomaly or intentional or unintentional disruption, the reproductive system that produces, transports, and utilizes eggs for fertilization,” and has a similar definition for “male” referencing “the reproductive system that produces, transports, and utilizes sperm for fertilization.”
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The legislation empowers people who encounter “a member of the opposite sex in a restroom or changing room” to seek a court order against allowing it. A complaint would have cause for legal action if a public entity provided permission for a transgender person to use a bathroom matching their gender identity or failed to take reasonable steps to prohibit it.
Opponents of the bill said it is overly broad and could lead to unintended consequences. They questioned how schools and state facilities would monitor compliance and whether the law would lead to costly litigation.
Sen. Liz Larson, D-Sioux Falls, said the fears expressed by the bill’s supporters about allowing transgender women and girls into female restrooms — such as sexual harassment, exposure and assault — are already illegal.
Voita said the amendment adopted Monday adds exceptions for certain situations, particularly correctional officers who need access to inmates. She said other exceptions in the bill cover members of the same family.
Sen. David Wheeler, R-Huron, said the exceptions don’t go far enough. He said the language of the bill would make it illegal for females and males to visit each other in dorm rooms, and for male and female students on debate trips to have meetings together in a hotel room.
“It just simply goes too far in trying to tackle an issue that many are concerned about,” Wheeler said.
