On Tuesday February 16th the South Dakota legislature passed a bill barring transgender students from using the bathroom of the gender they identify with. If HB 1008 is passed by governor Dennis Daugaard, the bill would be the first of its kind approved for a U.S. state. If set into law, transgender and non-binary students in South Dakota would be forced to use the facilities of their sex assigned at birth, or find isolated single occupancy restrooms.

The federal government has said that the bill goes against Title IX of the Education act, which bans sex discrimination in public schools. If passed, funding could be pulled from South Dakota’s public schools.

The Center for Equality, a support group for LGBT students in South Dakota, asked to meet with Daugaard because of comments he had made earlier stating that he had never met a transgender person. Their letter to him states, “There is too much at stake to not have an understanding of what it means to be transgender and how these bills will affect their daily lives.”

Minnesota is no stranger to bills like the one proposed in South Dakota. In March of 2015, the MN Senate voted against a similar bill that would have separated locker rooms, bathrooms, and showers by the biological sex of students. Many other state governments across the country have proposed similar legislation.

If HB 1008 is passed in South Dakota, many fear that the approval will spark a trend in the country of regulating what bathrooms transgender students may use.