If Republicans have one value, it’s demonizing and demeaning folks who are even remotely unlike them. As Daily Kos has covered, conservatives at all levels of government have been more than happy to discriminate against trans youth (and adults for that matter), especially as we face the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. While some anti-trans measures to keep trans girls out of girls’ sports have fizzled out in committees, some have indeed made it to the governors' desk—and some have even been signed into law.
While it would be wonderful to say these exclusionary bills are supported only by the most extreme, far-right folks, that’s simply not the case. And even if it were, we (sadly) have plenty of Republicans in high levels of government who are thrilled to distract their fanbase by stirring hate against marginalized, vulnerable folks. Our latest example comes to us out of South Dakota, where anti-trans legislation is moving right along—and the governor has already shown repeated support for signing it into law.
In this case, Senate Bill 46 (misleading called “Protect Fairness in Women’s Sports”) was voted straight through the South Dakota state House and is on its way to Republican Gov. Kristi Noem’s desk. The legislation mandates that any student-athlete competing on a girls’ sports team must have been designated as female on their birth certificate “at or near” time of birth. This means that trans girls who do update their birth certificates (which in itself can be a costly, extensive process) wouldn’t be eligible.
Noem’s chief of staff, Mark Miller, spoke about SB 46 during a House State Affairs Committee debate in January. Miller did this by comparing trans youths to literal terrorists (yes, really). As Daily Kos has repeatedly pointed out, there are negligible examples of trans youth (or adults) pushing cisgender people out of sports or dominating titles or awards. And yet “concerned” (and more often than not, unnamed) parents and coaches are allegedly going to elected officials to try and legislate this issue out of existence … when it isn’t even an issue in the first place.
Speaking in this line of thought, Miller said, “By putting it in law, we are ensuring that what we’re seeing all over the country does not happen in South Dakota. It’s sort of like terrorism, you want to keep it over there, not let it get to here." Basically: Sure, this isn’t an issue in our state, but if we want to keep it that way, let’s legislate to discriminate now and not later. Mind you, this isn’t a real issue anywhere.
Here’s that audio.
In 2021, Noem rejected a previous version of an anti-trans sports bill, but for the worst reason possible: She worried it was too broad and would be unenforceable. She’s supported keeping trans girls out of girls’ sports all along. In a defense of the legislation, for example, she suggested that these laws are important to “level the playing field.” She suggested that if her daughters “competed against men,” their chance to compete would have been “dramatically limited” and they would have missed out on the opportunity.
Mind you, her daughters wouldn’t have competed against men. They’d be competing against women, just like they are. Describing trans women as “men” is, first of all, transphobic, and it’s also an intentional messaging choice to get people riled up.
The South Dakota House also passed House Bill 1005, which would ban trans students from using public school multioccupancy facilities that align with their gender identity—so for example, locker rooms, bathrooms, and rooms for overnight school trips. That bill is heading to the state Senate. Clearly, Republicans can’t stop themselves from attacking vulnerable people at every imaginable angle, but we can’t let them win.
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