South Dakota Gov. Rhoden signed HB1259 restricting multi-occupancy bathrooms and changing rooms to sex assigned at birth

On March 21, 2025, South Dakota Gov. Larry Rhoden signed House Bill 1259 into law, requiring people to use multi-occupancy restrooms, changing rooms, and locker rooms in public facilities that correspond to their sex assigned at birth rather than their gender identity. The law reaches public buildings across the state, including public schools, courthouses, and libraries. Sponsored by Rep. Brandei Schaefbauer, the measure passed the South Dakota House 58-9 and the Senate 27-6 before reaching the governor's desk.

By conditioning access to shared public facilities on a person's sex assigned at birth, the law functionally bars transgender South Dakotans from using covered restrooms and changing rooms consistent with their gender identity. Opponents, including the Transformation Project and other advocacy groups, organized rallies against the measure, and the ACLU of South Dakota, whose advocacy manager Samantha Chapman called the law unlawful, said it marginalizes transgender people.

The measure is one of a series of 2025 state laws restricting facility access by sex assigned at birth already recorded in the archive, including Montana's HB121 (mt-discriminatory-policy-47954f64) and North Dakota's HB1144 (nd-discriminatory-policy-27ab3d61).