The Clock Is Ticking…

Dennis Daugaard the governor of South Dakota has until tomorrow to sign, or veto, or let it go into law without his signature.

The New York Times opinion page about the bill has an interesting comment by the Republican legislator, who introduced the bill said,

… Fred Deutsch, absurdly argued that it was intended to “protect the innocence of children.” He acknowledged that there was no evidence that allowing transgender students to use the restroom of their choice — as thousands do across the country every day — had harmed anyone’s safety or morality. The bill, Mr. Deutsch told a Times reporter, is “entirely preventative.”

Hey but this bill rallies our political base and brings in campaign donations, so what if we further marginalized an oppressed population.

The governor said,

Mr. Daugaard recently said he had never knowingly met a transgender person. Kendra Heathscott, a transgender woman from Sioux Falls, wrote the governor a letter to let him know he actually had. The two met when Ms. Heathscott was a 10-year-old student, who was struggling with school and bullies, and found refuge at the Children’s Home Society, a human services organization that Mr. Daugaard ran at the time.

Mr. Daugaard agreed to meet on Tuesday with Ms. Heathscott and two transgender students. Ms. Heathscott described the governor as warm and compassionate during the meeting. “I just wanted to share my humanity with him,” she said.

The governor told them that he wanted to hear from both sides and that he would make a decision consistent with his values.

This isn’t about safety, this isn’t about privacy, it is all about politics and playing to the conservative base of the Republican Party. If it was privacy, a hundred dollars of shower curtains would take care of that and if it is about safety then the over forty years since the first law went into effect without an assault proves it is safe.

My guest is that the governor will wash his hands of the bill and let it become law without his signature.