House lawmakers voted to advance legislation that would ban transgender people from obtaining birth certificates that accurately reflect their identity. House Bill 1076 now heads to the Senate Health and Human Services committee.
The ACLU of South Dakota opposes House Bill 1076. Forcing transgender South Dakotans to go through life with inaccurate birth certificates – a basic form of identification and essential government document – unnecessarily exposes them to discrimination, harassment and violence and would mean trans people would be forced to disclose their trans identity when accessing essential needs. This violates the rights of trans people to privacy, freedom of speech and equal protection under the Constitution.
But we’re not the only ones opposing House Bill 1076. Organizations like the Transformation Project Advocacy Network and Equality South Dakota as well as people across the state have been speaking out against this bill since it was introduced.
Many of them testified when the bill was first heard in the House Health and Human Services committee on Jan. 26. But with testimony limited to just 20 minutes (and some issues regarding testifying remotely), not everyone was able to speak.
They’ll have another chance to testify when the bill is up for discussion in the Senate Health and Human Services Committee. But until then, read on to learn more about the very personal reasons some South Dakotans – our friends and neighbors – oppose House Bill 1076.
If you oppose House Bill 1076, too, speak up! Contact the members of the Senate Health and Human Services committee now.
