On January 8, 2016, Attorney General Marty Jackley announced South Dakota joined nine other states in a lawsuit objecting to President Obama’s directive regarding the use of school locker rooms and bathrooms by transgender students. Jackley said the suit had been filed in Federal court in Nebraska against the U.S. Department of Education and the U.S. Justice Department.
At the time South Dakota joined the lawsuit, Attorney General Jackley said, "It was and remains my hope that our country and state can find a solution to the transgender concerns without forcing children of the opposite sex into the same bathrooms and locker rooms. The President's attempt to require children of opposite sex to share locker rooms and bathrooms under the threat of lawsuit and withholding of education funding is a one size fits all solution that goes beyond his constitutional authority."
The Presidential directive, as managed by the U.S. Department of Justice, maintained that requiring transgender students to use same-sex facilities, rather than facilities aligned with their sexual identity, violates Title IX, the 1972 law that prohibits discrimination based on sex.
In February 2017, then-President Trump withdrew the
directive ending the law suit at that time. There have been a number of challenges from both sides of the issue in both Federal and state courts since then. Also, a number of so-called “bathroom” bills in the South Dakota legislature have offered direction on the matter.
In late 2023, a federal judge in the U.S. District Court in Ohio issued a judgment to allow transgender students to use communal restrooms consistent with their gender identity. That was followed by a ruling in Indiana that transgender students must have access to bathrooms and locker rooms consistent with their gender identities.
Production help is provided by Doctor Brad Tennant, Professor of History at Dakota Wesleyan University.