SD GOP Pushing Anti-LGBT Legislation Through House
Legislation that would codify discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity just cleared committee and will be debated on the floor of the South Dakota House. One bill – HB 1112 – would restrict transgender students’ ability to take part in school activities while the other – HB 1107 – would allow institutions receiving taxpayer money to discriminate legally against the LGBT community so long as the discrimination is based in religious belief.
KDLT News reported on the bills saying:
A legislative panel has approved a bill that would bar the government from taking actions such as revoking the tax exempt status of an organization because of religious beliefs about marriage or sex.
The House State Affairs committee approved the measure Wednesday. It heads to the full House.
Republican Rep. Scott Craig says a person or organization shouldn’t face repercussions from the government for actions based on beliefs that marriage should only be between a man and a woman or that that sex is determined by anatomy at birth.
In a statement the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) condemned the discriminatory legislation:
HB 1107 would explicitly authorize recipients of taxpayer funds or other state recognition to discriminate against same-sex couples, transgender people, and single mothers.
HB 1112 would directly override the authority of the South Dakota High School Activities Association and make any “transgender policy”adopted by the Association subject to consent of the Legislature. It also declares void the existing policy adopted by the Association, which allows transgender students to participate in athletic activities consistent with their gender identity.
“Fairness and equality are under attack in South Dakota,” said HRC Legal Director Sarah Warbelow. “Both of these pieces of legislation shamefully passed today by the House State Affairs committee are dangerously far-reaching and would have severe consequences, not just for LGBT South Dakotans and their families, but for the entire Mount Rushmore State. Fair-minded people across the state must stand up and demand their lawmakers stop these extreme, discriminatory measures.”
While it may pass through the legislature, HB 1112 may not pass constitutional muster as transgender students are covered under Title IX. Specifically, the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) in the U.S. Department of Education proclaimed almost two years ago that “Title IX’s sex discrimination prohibition extends to claims of discrimination based on gender identity or failure to conform to stereotypical notions of masculinity or femininity and OCR accepts such complaints for investigation.”
Furthermore, laws legalizing the use of taxpayer money to condone, legitimize or further discrimination against disenfranchised groups of people rarely survive legal challenges these days. Indiana’s RFRA law demonstrates one of the clearest examples – and that state’s repeal came after civic upheaval and loss of millions of dollars harming the state’s economy.
Knowing all of that, Rep. Scott Craig (the legislation’s sponsor) is still pursuing the discriminatory measures at the taxpayers’ expense. It should also be noted that he’s a pastor at a local church when not representing the interests of all of his constituents. It offers explanation why such untenable and publicly unpopular bills have made it as far as they have in the first place.
UPDATE [February 9, 2016 @ 4pm ET]
HB 1107 passed a full House vote and will move on to the Senate. David Badash at the New Civil Rights Movement writes:
Monday night the South Dakota House passed a bill that extends special protections to anyone – person or company, corporation, non-profit, club, with few exceptions – opposed to same-sex marriage or LGBT people in general, if they cite their “sincerely held religious belief or moral conviction.” HB 1107 is sponsored by GOP State Representative Scott Craig, a virulently anti-gay evangelical pastor. [SNIP]
The bill, according to the ACLU of South Dakota, passed by a vote of 46-10.
HB 1112 additionally advanced through the House today on a vote of 45-23-2. It too move to the Senate for debate and a vote.
Should either bill become law the egregiously anti-gay leaders in the state GOP have already secured legal counsel (that is to say, they’ve contracted the two firms every anti-gay zealot in America turns to in order to defend discriminatory practices) to defend the laws in court when they inevitably receive constitutional challenges both for violating federal law and violating the Constitution.
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Tim Peacock is the Managing Editor and founder of Peacock Panache and has worked as a civil rights advocate for over twenty years. During that time he’s worn several hats including leading on campus LGBT advocacy in the University of Missouri campus system, interning with the Colorado Civil Rights Division, and volunteering at advocacy organizations. You can learn more about him at his personal website.
