South Dakota GOP senators reject trans student bathroom ban

By STEPHEN GROVES
Associated Press

PIERRE, S.D. (AP) — Republicans on a South Dakota Senate committee have rejected a bill that would have banned transgender students from using school restrooms that match their gender identity. All but one senator on the seven-member Senate Judiciary committee voted to reject the bill. They argued that determining trans students’ bathroom access was a policy best left to local school boards. The hearing was a continuation of a school board debate in Vermillion after the district in November established a policy that allows students to use restrooms that correspond with their “consistently asserted gender.”