South Dakota Government Nondiscrimination Act (HB 1107)

HB 1107 would create government protections for “sincerely held” religious beliefs or moral convictions for people, religious organizations, and private associations. The bill would allow public and private businesses to legally refuse services or use of facilities to LGBTQ people based on the owner’s religious belief.

HB 1107 states that the sincerely held religious beliefs or moral convictions protected by this act are the belief or conviction that:

• Marriage is or should only be recognized as the union of one man and one woman;
• Sexual relations are properly reserved to marriage; or
• The terms male or man and female or woman refer to distinct and immutable biological sexes that are determined by anatomy and genetics by the time of birth.

The bill would prohibit the state from taking any discriminatory action against a person, wholly or partially, on the basis that the person believes, speaks, or acts in accordance with a sincerely held religious belief or moral conviction.

The bill specifies what a discriminatory or adverse action means when taken by the state against such a person.

The bill provides that a person may assert an actual or threatened violation of the bill as a cause of action in any judicial or administrative proceeding and obtain compensatory damages, injunctive relief, declaratory relief, or any other appropriate relief.

People