South Dakota governor's chief of staff says participation in sports by transgender athletes 'sort of like terrorism'

Senate Bill 46, a bill that would prevent transgender girls and women from competing on the sports teams that match their gender, passed the House State Affairs committee Wednesday morning.

But it didn't pass without arguments from Gov. Kristi Noem's top staffer, who said transgender peoples' participation in sports is akin to terrorism.

Mark Miller, Noem's general counsel and chief of staff, pointed to other states that have enacted similar legislation and said "it's sort of like terrorism," adding you see it elsewhere and don't want it to get here."

Proponents of the bill, including Miller, argued there are physical differences between those assigned male and female at birth, which gives women less advantages in competition.

Six proponents of the bill spoke during testimony time, including Rachel Oglesby, Noem’s policy advisor; Matt Sharp, senior counsel of the Alliance Defending Freedom, a conservative Christian group; Gregory Brown, a professor at University of Nebraska-Kearney; a representative from Concerned Women of America; Chris Motz from the South Dakota Catholic Conference; and Norman Woods with Family Heritage Alliance Action.

Oglesby argued those assigned male at birth are generally bigger, faster and stronger than those assigned female at birth, and they have larger hearts and bones, and stronger muscles.

She also said 51,000 people have signed on to Noem’s “Defend Title IX Coalition;” but didn’t specify how many of those people were from South Dakota.

Proponents also argued that Title IX is meant to respect and protect cisgender women.

However, opponents argued the bill is discriminatory, unconstitutional and also a violation of Title IX, adding it would discriminate based on a person’s transgender identity.

Nine opponents of the bill spoke during testimony time, including Dan Swartos with the South Dakota High School Activities Association; Sister Lynn Marie Welbig with the Presentation Sisters; Wade Pogany with Associated School Boards of South Dakota; Jett Jonelis with the ACLU of South Dakota; two high school students, Breana Brings Plenty and Hoera Kingi; Dianna Miller with the large school group; an attorney and lobbyist for the Human Rights Campaign; Rob Monson with School Administrators of South Dakota.

Swartos said he has had to speak for more than five years on this topic, pointing back to seven similar bills introduced in the Legislature since 2015, which Miller pointed out have all failed.

If the state enacted this legislation, it would most likely be sued, Swartos and Pogany argued, putting local school districts in the crosshairs between state law and federal Title IX investigations.

Pogany and Jonelis shared concerns for a potential loss of federal funds, and Monson said if SDHSAA is sued, it’s likely that school districts’ dues to the organization will increase, and so will ticket and fee costs for spectators.

Only one trans girl has participated in the state since the policy was enacted in 2013, Swartos said. One trans boy applied to participate, but their application was denied by the SDHSAA sometime in the last two years, he added.

An “overwhelming majority” of school boards that came to a conference in Pierre supported a resolution against bills like SB 46, saying that the SDHSAA policy works, according to Pogany.

Jonelis and Welbig also argued bills like SB 46 harm transgender people’s mental health, wellbeing and sense of belonging in the state.

Brings Plenty, a 17-year-old student at Little Wound High School, said she welcomes trans girls to her volleyball and varsity cheer teams, and they deserve the opportunity to play sports and be recognized for who they are.

Kingi said as a Two Spirit transgender girl, this bill takes away any social affirmation that girls like her would’ve experienced on girls teams, and that students deserve to play sports, prove their fitness and be part of the team

House State Affairs committee members voted 11-2 to send the bill to the House floor with a recommendation it pass. Democratic Reps. Oren Lesmeister and Jamie Smith were the sole dissenting votes.

Those who voted in favor included Republican Reps. David Anderson, Arch Beal, Kirk Chafee, Tim Goodwin, Spencer Gosch, Jon Hansen, Kevin Jensen, Rebecca Reimer, Marli Wiese, Chris Johnson and Kent Peterson.

This article originally appeared on Sioux Falls Argus Leader: South Dakota official: Trans sports participation 'like terrorism'

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