This week, Republicans in the South Dakota legislature brought forth a new bill. This bill would make providing transgender health care a felony in the state.
As unreal as that last sentence sounds, it is true. NBC News reported that Rep. Fred Deutsch introduced the bill in the Republican-dominated legislature on Tuesday, the first day of the legislative session. House Bill 1057 as it is called, states that “a medical professional who engages in…attempting to change or affirm the minor’s perception of the minor’s sex, if that perception is inconsistent with the minor’s sex, is guilty of a Class 4 felony.”
These actions include anything from gender-reassignment surgery to puberty blockers. Deutsch said “children need to wait until they’re mature to do it,” regarding said procedures. In other words, he doesn’t believe children can determine whether or not they are ready to make such decisions.
In contrast to Deutsch’s statement, University of Washington psychologist Kristina Olson conducted a study about transgender and gender non-conforming children, starting in 2013. Olson and her team found that these children have always a strong sense of their identity.
Not The First Time
This isn’t South Dakota’s first rodeo with bills regarding those who are transgender. Last year, the legislature almost passed House Bill 1225, which would require high school athletes to play on the team matching the gender listed on their birth certificate. In short, transgender athletes would be unable to participate in high school sports; a final vote blocked the bill, having an equal number of yays and nays.
In 2016, the infamous “bathroom bill” sparked controversy. House Bill 1008 would have required transgender students in the state’s public schools to use bathrooms and locker rooms that matched their sex at birth; then-South Dakota governor Dennis Daugaard later vetoed said bill.
Libby Skarin, South Dakota’s ACLU policy director stated that transgender kids deserve to live their lives like all kids should, and they should be able to receive health care like any other child, because “when the government proposes laws that would stigmatize them and undermine their care, they lose those opportunities.”
