South Dakota Governor Doesn't Want To Peek At Kids' Junk In The Bathroom For Some Reason

What? This .gif is totally relevant, NO YOU SHUT UP.

[contextly_sidebar id="gkRkh4yTtoj5uLKGr1URXTK0Iw3SUokM"]In February we told you about a whole passel of lesbogaygender-hatin' bills being considered in the great state of South Dakota. And for once, we can report that there is GOOD NEWS about one of those bills, specifically HB 1008, which passed the Republican legislature and was sent to Republican Gov. Dennis Daugaard and promptly ... VETOED? Yes!

You see, this is one of those "transgender bathroom" bills, the kind that seeks to make sure that wherever two or three schoolchildren are gathered for the sake of doing Number Two, all the kids have the same kinds of dingle-dangles, and that trans kids are only using restrooms designated for people with their type of hoo-hoo spot. Why is this important? Because conservatives are weird, is why.

Check out Daugaard's statement, because it's pretty great:

“House Bill 1008 does not address any pressing issue concerning the school districts of South Dakota,” he added. “Local school districts can, and have, made necessary restroom and locker room accommodations that serve the best interests of all students, regardless of biological sex or gender identity.”

AS IF, DUDE. How can he say there's no "pressing issue," when South Dakota is facing the very real threat that at any given time, one of the kids in the bathroom might be doing whizzes out of a different kind of Down-Theres than the other kids? WHAT WILL THE CHILDREN THINK?! (Probably that they're all doing the pee-pee dance real bad right now and would like to relieve themselves if South Dakota Republicans would STOP INSPECTING THEIR JUNK PLEASE.)

[contextly_sidebar id="eWR8e8vylME77VZQDnVDb7LkSKx3U4u4"]Anyway, this is very nice, because despite what you may have heard from medical doctors like Michelle Duggar, transgender people (including children) are not documented Public Restroom Threats. And despite what you may have heard from constitutional law professors like the dude from Duck Dynasty, banning transgender kids from using bathroom facilities that match up with their gender identities is not fucking legal under Title IX.

Of course, as we 'splained in February, there are like eight-hundred-eleventy anti-LGBT bills worming their ways through the halls of South Dakota government right now, two of which are specifically related to discrminating against people whose gigglybits don't pass conservative Republicans' muster, so the state isn't out of the woods yet. But maybe JUST MAYBE this is a good sign that Gov. Daugaard isn't in the mood to put up with hateful, discriminatory legislation just for the sake of making wingnuts feel better.

Buzzfeed reports that, though HB 1008 passed by a 58-10 margin in the state house, the margin was only 20-15 in the state senate, which would make it more difficult for the legislature to override the governor's veto. Oh, and also Republican Rep. Fred Deutsch, who, ahem, sponsored the bill , says OK fine, twist his arm, everybody should go along with the veto.

[contextly_sidebar id="ME9btDFchkLrMPzc6sckbZWXmIjyqQIJ"]So hooray for South Dakota, at least for the moment. Assuming the sky doesn't fall and rain down transgender demon frogs all over the face of Mt. Rushmore (always a possibility), maybe this can serve as an object lesson for dick-snout Republican lawmakers in other states, about how it really is OK to stay out of kids' pants. We know. Radical concept.

[ Buzzfeed ]