By Libby Skarin, Policy Director
In slightly more than one month I’ll be packing my bags, kissing my dogs goodbye, and heading to Pierre for the 2017 South Dakota Legislative Session. In years past, I’ve approached this trek with a mixture of optimism and excitement. This year feels a little different.
You already know the 2016 session was rough. We saw coordinated attacks on LGBT citizens and women accessing their constitutional right to abortion. Our legislators tried to force welfare recipients to take suspicionless, unwarranted drug tests and demonized refugees seeking safe haven in our state. We fought for a bill to help pregnant and breastfeeding women stay in the workforce, but our hopes were dashed with its demise.
Yet it wasn’t all bad – we witnessed a bill to end life sentences for juveniles without parole become law. We saw a historic veto of one of the country’s first cruel anti-transgender laws, which would have targeted vulnerable kids. Despite odds that were decidedly not in our favor, we won.
Why? The answer is simple: you.
For far too many hearings in Pierre, the room is nearly empty. A few lobbyists surrounded by empty chairs watch as legislators make decisions that directly affect the well-being of all South Dakotans, with the burdens often falling heaviest on some of the most marginalized people in our state. This system allows those in power to cast their votes in a vacuum, without serious public input or serious discussion about how pieces of legislation will harm or help the average person. In 2016, that started to change.
At the final hearing on the bill that discriminated against transgender kids, the room was far from empty. South Dakotans from every corner of the state showed up to make their voices heard. A transgender student bravely told his story to the committee. A parent looked into the eyes of her legislators as she explained the ways this bill would devastate her child. Clergy members expressed their core belief that God loves every child, no matter who they are. Folks from all over showed up with a simple message: I am South Dakota, I belong here, and you represent me.
Now we must take that message and move it forward. It is critical for even more people to undertake the simple act of showing up. I’ll be at the capitol working to advance the rights of all people in our state – immigrants, refugees, women, the LGBT community, and people of all faiths. I’m up for the challenge, but I can’t do it without you.
Sign up to volunteer with the ACLU of South Dakota, and commit to showing up in Pierre, at local legislative coffees, and school board meetings, or if you've got a particularly unique personal story about any of the issues we'll be working on, sign up to be a spokesperson (we can provide training!). We’ll inform you of how you can get involved and when it’s critical to call your Representative and write your Senator. We’ve got the game plan – now we need the whole team ready to go.
Together we can show our leaders: we’re South Dakota, we’re not going anywhere, and you will hear us.
