SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO.com) — The head of the South Dakota Chamber of Commerce continues to oppose a bill awaiting Gov. Kristi Noem’s signature that would ban transgender girls from playing sports.
David Owen called House Bill 1217 “the worst bill that passed this session.” He said the bill “professes to protect women’s sports, but is really just a flat ban against transgender participation,” ignoring the lived experience of transgender students.
Supporters of the bill say it’s necessary to prevent people assigned male at birth from winning women’s sporting events. Owen called the notion of someone intentionally manipulating their gender identity for athletic reasons “a fictional myth.”
The bill also carries economic concerns. Other business leaders draw a comparison to North Carolina’s “bathroom bill” that drew condemnation in 2016.
“We know from other states that the threat is very real, and we’re hoping the bill will be vetoed,” Debra Owen, public policy director with the Greater Sioux Falls Chamber of Commerce, told KELO-AM’s It’s Your Business with Bill Zortman on Friday.
Noem is undecided on whether to veto the bill. On March 8, she tweeted that she was excited to sign it, but later walked that statement back.
(Jerry Oster, WNAX, contributed to this report.)
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