Gov. Larry Rhoden’s office announced Friday morning that Rhoden signed House Bill 1259 into law on Thursday, which restricts trans people from using bathrooms that match their gender identity in public schools and state-owned buildings.

He also signed House Bill 1239, to make public schools and public libraries create book appeal policies, and House Bill 1174, to give fathers more rights over single womens’ fetuses or newborns.

Rhoden said in a press release that the bills he signed “protect South Dakota values.”

“South Dakota is a place where commonsense values remain common, and these bills reinforce that fact,” Rhoden said in a press release. “These bills promote strong families, safety in education, and freedom from the ‘woke’ agenda like what has happened in too many other places.”

More: South Dakota Senate OKs bill segregating restrooms by sex assigned at birth

As HB 1259 becomes law July 1, it marks the first time in state history that any similar anti-trans bathroom bill has made it on the books. Similar legislation has come before the South Dakota Legislature at least five different times — once in 2016 and 2017, twice in 2018 and once in 2022 — but never became law until now.

The bill from 2016, House Bill 1008, was vetoed by former Gov. Dennis Daugaard after he met with several trans individuals from all different walks of life who encouraged him to change his mind and veto it.

More: A decade of hate: How trans activists pressured Gov. Dennis Daugaard to veto HB 1008 in 2016

There was also increasing pressure from international attention on the bill, outspoken messages from trans celebrities, contentious protests at legislative coffees, a looming tourism boycott of the entire state, and binders full of signatures asking Daugaard to veto the bill.

South Dakota groups plan protests in response

The Transformation Project and its Advocacy Network, along with the ACLU of South Dakota, Sioux Falls Pride and Trans Action SD, plan to protest HB 1259 at 11 a.m. Sunday at Van Eps Park in Sioux Falls.

A similar protest was held Feb. 22 outside of a legislative coffee meeting at Southeast Technical College where local residents could ask legislators questions about bills they were hearing in Pierre. More than two dozen people rallied there to call out the bill’s segregation of restrooms by sex assigned at birth.

Jack Fonder, a community health worker with the Transformation Project, said he and others at the Project are “deeply saddened and profoundly concerned” by Rhoden’s decision to sign HB 1259 as it restricts restroom access for transgender and gender-diverse individuals, especially “our most vulnerable community members — trans youth.”

“Legislation like HB 1259 does not make South Dakota safer; instead, it further isolates and marginalizes transgender individuals, sending a message that they are unwelcome in public spaces,” Fonder said. “Trans and gender-diverse youth already face disproportionately high rates of bullying, mental health struggles, and discrimination. This law will only intensify those challenges, making it harder for them to navigate everyday life with dignity and safety.”

Fonder called on the community and allies to stand with the Project in supporting transgender South Dakotans.

“To our transgender youth: You are seen, you are valued, and you are not alone,” he added. “We will continue fighting for your right to exist safely and authentically in every space.”

HB 1259 was also opposed by South Dakota Youth Activism, the South Dakota Bureau of Human Resources and Administration, South Dakotans for Equity, the South Dakota Municipal League, and other South Dakota residents who’ve called it anti-trans and said it invites discrimination and litigation to the state.