Both of South Dakota's anti-drag bills have now been defeated

The Senate education committee killed a bill Tuesday morning that took aim at preventing events like a recent drag show hosted by a student organization at South Dakota State University from ever happening again.

House Bill 1116, which would have prohibited the use of state resources in hosting lewd or lascivious content, failed on a motion that would’ve sent the bill to the Senate with a recommendation that it pass, with a 3-4 vote. Then, the Senate committee passed a motion to kill the bill on a 4-3 vote.

Drag originated in 19th century British theater and has heavy roots in modern LGBTQ+ culture. It is a form of performance and entertainment that challenges assumptions of gender identity and expression.

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Sens. Steve Kolbeck (R-Brandon), Tom Pischke (R-Dell Rapids) and Jessica Castleberry (R-Rapid City) voted in favor of the legislation, while Senators Shawn Bordeaux (D-Mission), Sydney Davis (R-Burbank), Tim Reed (R-Brookings) and Kyle Schoenfish (R-Scotland) voted against it.

In his motion to kill the bill, Reed said, “Everyone likes intellectual diversity, until they disagree with it,” and he questioned who would decide what is appropriate speech or what is of serious literary, artistic, political or scientific value.

Bordeaux called the legislation overreach, and said that the community didn’t want the bill, but a legislator did.

A similar bill, House Bill 1125, was killed in the South Dakota House State Affairs committee earlier this month.

More:One anti-drag bill passes, another tabled by South Dakota House State Affairs committee

Proponents of the legislation included Rep. Chris Karr (R-Sioux Falls), Sen. Al Novstrup (R-Aberdeen), lobbyists with Concerned Women for America, the South Dakota Catholic Conference, Family Heritage Alliance Action, and Baptist preacher Matthew Monfor.

The proponents largely argued state resources shouldn’t be used for events like the student-organized drag show, that children shouldn’t see those types of events and that the event was inappropriate.

While proponents shared concerns about the funding source of the drag show, SDSU President Barry Dunn clarified in a Nov. 15 statement that the event wasn’t supported by university funds and was instead sponsored by the student Gender and Sexualities Alliance.

One of the proponents even showed a photo of the SDSU drag show, but an opponent later rebutted that the photo was from a different drag show than the one in November and was not open to minors.

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Opponents of the legislation included two alumni from South Dakota State University, as well as lobbyists from the ACLU of South Dakota, Associated School Boards of South Dakota, School Administrators of South Dakota, the large school group and the South Dakota Advocacy Network for Women.

The opponents largely argued that the drag show at SDSU didn’t cause any public outcry from students, the university or the Brookings community; that drag shows similar to the most recent one at SDSU have gone on for decades before this; and that the bill limits free speech and expression.

The K-12 education lobbyists also asked that the legislators strike the reference to public K-12 schools from the bill.

This article originally appeared on Sioux Falls Argus Leader: Both of South Dakota's anti-drag show bills have now been defeated