In a 5-2 vote on Monday, the Senate Health and Human Services Committee voted to kill a bill that aimed to ban gender-change treatments for youth under 16.

The ACLU of South Dakota is commending the decision to kill House Bill 1057. The ACLU of South Dakota strongly opposed the bill calling it unconstitutional.

“Though supporters claimed House Bill 1057 was aimed at protecting vulnerable youth, it was clearly fueled by a fear and misunderstanding of transgender South Dakotans,” said Libby Skarin, policy director for the ACLU of South Dakota. “It’s time we stop these attacks and the very real harm they cause to transgender youth across our state. Let this be a signal to the South Dakota Legislature that discrimination against a marginalized group is a distraction from the needs of the state and hurts us all.”

According to the ACLU of South Dakota companies and organizations like Sanford Health, the South Dakota Chapter of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, the South Dakota Pharmacists Association, the South Dakota Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the South Dakota State Medical Association, the South Dakota Retailers Association, the Sioux Falls Area Chamber of Commerce, LEAD South Dakota and the Human Rights Campaign also all opposed House Bill 1057.

The bill was sponsored by Rep. Fred Deutsch (R, Florence), who represents District 4.

This is a developing story.

PREVIOUS STORY

LGBT advocates protested outside the South Dakota Capitol ahead of a meeting on a bill aiming to ban gender-change treatments for children under 16.

Protesters rode two horses on the front grounds of the Capitol, while dozens of others carried flags and banners protesting a spate of bills addressing LGBT rights in the 2020 legislative session.

A Senate committee will weigh a bill that would make it illegal for physicians to give puberty-blockers, hormone therapy, or surgeries to children under 16 for the purpose of changing their gender. Protesters traveled from all over the state to protest.