by Diane Robertson
“In the absence of values, confusion reigns” Bob Trent
The new way to be enlightened, progressive, and well, completely mainstream is to believe and accept that gender is fluid, that some people are born with the physical manifestations of one gender but the brain of another, and that some people are naturally whatever gender they feel on any given day. To question someone’s gender identity, or even to hold a belief that it is a mental illness instead of a reality, is the new form of discrimination and hate speech.
Of course, the federal government needed to be a part of this new enlightened—progressive—non-discriminatory crowd. And therefore, back in April of 2014, they very quietly changed Title IX, the law which requires schools to treat boys and girls equally, to include gender identity. If a boy feels he is a girl, or a girl feels she is a boy, the U.S. Department of Education has mandated that public schools must allow those children to use the facilities they choose.
Knowing the documented risks to girls, the South Dakota state legislature did what seemed rational and fair to all. They made a law, the Student Physical Privacy Act, that would protect the safety and privacy of all students. The law said all students needed to use the gender specific facilities that matched their biological sex while allowing reasonable accommodations, such as single occupancy or gender neutral restroom for transgender students.
Big Businesses and special interest groups got together and lobbied South Dakota Governor, Dennis Daugaard saying that the law would reflect poorly on South Dakota. The governor then met with transgender students and their parents and vetoed the law saying that it “undermines local control.” Daugaard explained that, “this bill seeks to impose statewide standards on ‘every restroom, locker room, and shower room located in a public elementary or secondary school.’” Of course just yesterday, that was the rule in every school in the nation. Apparently common sense, gender, and protecting our daughters have all become a thing of the past.
While the law passed with an overwhelming majority, it fell just short of securing a veto-proof vote. And now the Governor of South Dakota can pat himself on the back knowing that he has assured that South Dakota is enlightened and progressive and completely mainstream. Though like the federal government and many others, he has betrayed and disrespected every young girl in his state.