News & Commentary

Sioux Falls, S.D. - Today the Senate Education Committee voted to pass HB 1008, a bill that would single out and stigmatize South Dakota transgender students and force them to choose between isolated accommodations or those that do not correspond to their gender identity. The bill now advances to the full Senate for consideration.

Sioux Falls, South Dakota - The American Civil Liberties Union of South Dakota announced today the expansion of their office with the addition of two new positions. Jen Petersen has been promoted to Communications Associate and Stacey Burnette has been named Administrative Coordinator.

Calling all students: it's pop quiz time! Let's find out if you know your religious freedom rights at school. Imagine the following scenario: an assembly is about to take place at a local public school. It features a youth minister who preaches to students and a rock band playing religious songs. Several atheist students feel uncomfortable going to the assembly because it will include prayer. Their teacher tells them they can just watch a movie during the assembly period instead. 

When listening to the stories of transgender students one thing becomes abundantly clear: they just want to live their lives like everyone else and be treated respectfully. That’s why creating a law that treats these students differently from their peers and further stigmatizes them isn’t sensitive – it’s hurtful.

Last week the Supreme Court declared state marriage bans to be unconstitutional, in a historic win for equality. The ACLU of South Dakota hosted a pop-up celebration in downtown Sioux Falls for the landmark win for marriage equality.

The ACLU has a long history of defending the rights of the LGBT community on a local and national level.

The American Civil Liberties Union today filed a federal lawsuit challenging a South Dakota law that moved the deadline for new political parties striving for a place on the 2016 ballot.The lawsuit, filed on behalf of South Dakota's Libertarian Party and Constitution Party, challenges a section of the law that shifted the deadline for new parties to submit declarations to participate in primary elections backward by four weeks from the last Tuesday in March prior to the date of the primary election to the first Tuesday in March. The plaintiffs are asking the deadline be set for no earlier than March 29 for a party that wants to participate in South Dakotas primary election, and August 1 for a party that does not need to participate in a primary election.