The leader of the state Senate says a bill restricting transgender athletes from playing on girls’ sports should be rejected.
That’s because the group in charge of overseeing athletics in South Dakota already has a policy in place for transgender athletes.
On Monday, state lawmakers will determine the fate of Governor Kristi Noem’s style and form veto of a bill that porports to protect “fairness in women’s sports.”
Noem removed a portion of the bill that requires schools collect a written waiver on student athletes verifying their sex. She removed the ban on college athletes and another section that would create—in her words—a trial lawyer’s dream.
Republican State Senator Lee Schoenbeck says her partial veto takes out the worst parts of the bill that are bad for South Dakota, but…
“I still believe the bill should die because it is not needed,” Schoenbeck says. “Our South Dakota High School Activities Association, which is our local school districts dealt with this at the local level nine years ago. The governor had to deal with what was put on her desk. The fact is the train left nine years ago and for political reasons they’re making noise chasing it now.”
In that nine year span only one transgender girl has played on a girls’ sports team. The policy recently rejected a transgender girl athlete, because the South Dakota High School Athletics Association determined the applicant would have a competitive advantage.
Dan Swartos is the executive director of the association. He outlines how the current policy works. It starts with schools gathering documentation from the student who wishes to play.
“Essentially showing that a student is legitimately living their life that way, it’s not a spur of the moment type decision that they’re making,” Swartos says. “That the school has made accommodations. That they’ve seen a doctor, they’ve seen a psychiatrist. Essentially that it’s legitimate. They submit that to us. Then, that goes off to an independent hearing officer, which is an attorney in Sioux Falls, who looks through it and weighs that against our policy and determines if they meet that standard or not.”
If lawmakers reject Governor Noem’s changes, they must approve the bill again with a 2/3rds majority vote. If they fail to do that the bill dies. Noem has threatened to call a special session to take up the issue if lawmakers don’t go along.