PIERRE, S.D. ― A transgender high school student in Sioux Falls says that he’s elated that Gov. Dennis Daugaard vetoed a bill that would have required transgender students to use bathrooms and locker rooms matching their sex at birth.
Thomas Lewis says he’s had a lot of support at Lincoln High School. But he says Daugaard’s veto means that such support now goes beyond his friends and extends to state government. The 18-year-old says, “the government’s not going to hold me back from who I really am.”
The Republican-controlled Legislature approved the proposal last month, with supporters saying it was meant to protect student privacy.
Daugaard vetoed the legislation Tuesday, saying the bill didn’t address any pressing issue and that such decisions were best left to local school officials.