South Dakota Governor Dennis Daugaard noted recently that he had never "knowingly met a transgender person."

He can't truthfully say that anymore. Yesterday the guv met with three transgender South Dakotans, including two students who would be severely adversely affected by HB 1008 for about a half hour..

A new report from the Human Rights Campaign reveals that 44 bills targeting transgender people have been brought forward across 16 states. Twenty-three of those bills target transgender children.

The onslaught compares to the twenty-one anti-transgender bills which were filed last year.

The American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Counseling Association, the American School Counselor Association, the Child Welfare League of America, the National Association of School Psychologists, the National Association of Social Workers and the National Education Association have joined together to write an open letter to the nation's governors stating their opposition to bills which target transgender students such as the one awaiting the signature of Governor Daugaard in South Dakota.

State Representative Fred Deutsch has sponsored two bills targeting transgender kids.

The first passed out of committee Monday and restricts transgender students from using bathrooms designated for people with the opposite physical sex. 

That bill, HB 1008, passed the South Dakota House yesterday by a vote of 58-10.

The bill does now contain language calling for schools to provide "reasonable accommodations" for transgender students...as long as they are segregated.

Deutsch claims the bill is intended to protect the privacy of all students.