PIERRE, S.D. (AP) – A South Dakota Senate panel rejected a bill Friday to limit teaching about gender dysphoria in public schools after a transgender high school student told members that passing the measure would only ensure “another generation of isolation that would erase people like me.”
It’s the third bill aimed at transgender people that state lawmakers rejected during the 2019 legislative session; another is set to be decided next week.
Cathryn Oakley, state legislative director and senior counsel at the Human Rights Campaign, recently said that South Dakota introduced four “anti-trans” bills this year, more than any other state.
On Friday, the Senate State Affairs Committee voted 7-2 against the gender dysphoria measure, which passed the House last week. It would have prohibited public school instruction on the topic through seventh grade.
People with gender dysphoria suffer discomfort or distress due to the difference between their gender identity and gender at birth.