South Dakota Gov. Daugaard signed SB 149, shielding taxpayer-funded child-placement agencies that refuse LGBTQ+ parents
On March 10, 2017, South Dakota Gov. Dennis Daugaard signed Senate Bill 149 into law, making South Dakota the first state to enact anti-LGBTQ legislation in 2017. The law bars the state from taking adverse action -- revoking licenses, contracts, tax-exempt status, or state-benefit-program participation -- against taxpayer-funded, religiously affiliated child-placement agencies that decline, on religious or moral grounds, to place children with LGBTQ+ or other prospective parents. The South Dakota Legislature passed the bill 43-20 in the House and 27-8 in the Senate before it reached Daugaard's desk.