South Dakota governor signs new anti-LGBT legislation

South Dakota governor Dennis Daugaard signed a new bill into law Friday (March 10) which legalises taxpayer-funded adoption and foster care agencies to discriminate against LGBT people.

Gay Star News reports that Senate Bill 149, which allows agencies to refuse to provide any service based on religious or moral convictions, is the first to be passed by a US state in 2017.

Agencies in South Dakota can now discriminate against LGBT youth and even reject LGBT adoptive or foster parents.

Sarah Warbelow, Legal Director of the Human Rights Campaign, said: “Governor Daugaard’s action not only puts the best interests of the more than a thousand vulnerable children served by South Dakota’s foster care system at risk, it signals the potential of a dark new reality for the fight for LGBT rights.”

“These children could now wait longer to be placed in a safe, loving home at the whim of a state-funded adoption or foster care agency with a vendetta against LGBT couples, mixed-faith couples or interracial couples – all while being taxpayer-funded.”

Elizabeth Skarin of the American Civil Liberties Union of South Dakota, said the passing of SB149 is “deeply disappointing.”

“This law directly affects the hundreds of children in South Dakota awaiting their forever families – and those children deserve better from our state leaders.”

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