![\"Dennis](\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/www.towleroad.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/daugaard.jpg?resize=530%2C298\")
<\/p>\nSouth Dakota is First State in 2017 to Legalize Discrimination Against LGBT People<\/b><\/p>\n
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South Dakota\u2019s Governor Dennis Daugaard has signed the first anti-LGBT legislation passed in the U.S. in 2017, the ACLU of South Dakota reports<\/a>:<\/p>\n Today, Governor Daugaard signed Senate Bill 149 into law, making South Dakota the first state in 2017 to pass anti-LGBT legislation.\u00a0The bill will allow taxpayer funded agencies to refuse to provide any service, including adoption or foster care services, on the basis on the agency\u2019s religious or moral convictions.<\/p>\n The American Civil Liberties Union of South Dakota has led the opposition to SB 149 through both lobbying efforts and by organizing affected communities. In a state facing a labor and talent shortage, this bill has sparked national interest and local questions as to whether South Dakota welcomes diversity and values the rights of individual citizens.<\/p>\n This bill was opposed by local and national child welfare experts that sent letters in opposition including The Adoption Exchange, Child Welfare League of America, National Association of Social Workers, and Voice for Adoption, as well as family law experts, South Dakota pediatricians, and local and national LGBT rights organizations including the Movement Advancement Project, the Human Rights Campaign, and more.<\/p>\n Said Libby Skarin, Policy Director of the ACLU of South Dakota:<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re deeply disappointed by Governor Daugaard\u2019s decision to green light Senate Bill 149. This discriminatory legislation takes South Dakota in the wrong direction, and sends the message that our leaders are more concerned with the desires of religious agencies than the rights of individuals and children in our state\u2026In the end, this bill was never about religious freedom. It has always been about allowing private organizations that discriminate to receive state contracts and taxpayer dollars to carry out their religions missions. We\u2019re particularly concerned about how this bill could impact vulnerable kids in our foster care system that deserve to have their best interests considered above the desires of private agencies.\u201c<\/p>\n The Human Rights Campaign denounced the new law:<\/p>\n \u201cThis is the first anti-LGBTQ bill that any state has signed into law this session. Governor Daugaard\u2019s action not only puts the best interests of the more than a thousand vulnerable children served by South Dakota\u2019s foster care system at risk, it signals the potential of a dark new reality for the fight for LGBTQ rights,\u201d said HRC Legal Director Sarah Warbelow. \u201cThese children could now wait longer to be placed in a safe, loving home at the whim of an state-funded adoption or foster care agency with a vendetta against LGBTQ couples<\/a>, mixed-faith couples<\/a> or interracial couples<\/a> \u2014 all while being taxpayer-funded. LGBTQ children in South Dakota\u2019s foster care system face the risk of staying in a facility that does not affirm their identity and actively works against the child\u2019s well being by refusing to give them appropriate medical and mental health care.\u201d<\/p>\n The post South Dakota is First State in 2017 to Legalize Discrimination Against LGBT People<\/a> appeared first on Towleroad<\/a>.<\/p>\n