A House committee is narrowly sending a bill that requires school students to participate in activities under their gender assigned at birth to the house floor.
A similar bill failed in the senate earlier this session.
The bill states that for any athlete playing sports sanctioned by the South Dakota High School Activities Association… the determination of a student’s sexual identity is what’s noted on their birth certificate. If no identity is declared, a healthcare professional will note the athlete’s identity following a physical.
State Senator Jim Bolin is leading the charge on this legislation. He says the bill is about competitive fairness in athletics.
“We have different standards for boys and girls sports clearly embedded in the High School Activities Associations standards,” Bolin says. “For hurdles, for basketball—we have as smaller basketball for girls than boys—all those different things. It’s all based on physicality, not on mental assumptions or desires, but it’s all based on physicality. I believe that any policy that deviates from the birth certificate is fundamentally flawed.”
The current South Dakota High School Activities Association policy does take into consideration any ‘gender identity related advantages to the student if participation would be approved.’
That association opposes the bill.
It is now headed to the house floor without a recommendation, which means the chamber must vote to calendar the bill.