The PES Board of Directors wishes to publicly thank Steve Rosenthal for his recent and timely leadership on crafting, and sending a letter to the South Dakota governor encouraging the veto of a bill. The bill required students at state public schools to use restrooms and other facilities based on their “chromosomes and anatomy” at birth. While the legislature was in favor of this bill, the governor ultimately vetoed it. PES is encouraged and hopeful to think that the letter signed by the PES board of directors may have helped influence his decision to veto.
Click here to read the letter.
Click here to see Dr. Rosenthal’s original interview with a Time correspondent regarding this bill.
A follow-up article was then published by Time, leading up to the decision to veto the bill.
In light of this recent success, the board are engaging the Public Policy Committee and the Transgender SIG in the hopes that perhaps we could encourage proactive engagement in other states should this issue become more widespread. Kara Connelly, a member of the PES Transgender SIG, and volunteer for an organization known as Transactive will serve as a bridge between the PES transgender SIG and an the organization. Her serving as a liaison between the two may be instrumental in keeping PES appraised of similar legislation in other states allowing us to be more nimble and responsive to make a difference in the outcomes.