SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO AM) - The South Dakota House State Affairs Committee yesterday sent a bill voiding an activities association transgender policy to the full body.
Linda Schauer, a lobbyist for Concerned Women of America says the policy is detrimental to the safety of boys and girls.
Schauer told the panel that it appears there is an agenda to create a gender-neutral society where we are neither male or female. She added that our youth are becoming pawns for advancing that agenda.
Libby Skarin with the A-C-L-U says hostile environments and bullying have a quantifiable impact on transgender students.
Skarin says transgender students are three times more likely to have missed school in the past month, have lower GPA's than their peers, have lower self-esteem and higher levels of depression. She says the bill puts another barrier in front of LGBT students in South Dakota.
The bill's main sponsor, Republican Representive Roger Hunt of Brandon, says more time is needed to have a policy "that meets realistic expectations of everyone." A similar bill last year failed in the Senate.