Pillar E · Foundations
Gender, Biological Sex, and Protecting Children
“Men and women exist. Biology is real.”
Define 'man' and 'woman' in South Dakota law by biological reality. Protect women's sports and spaces. Keep harmful materials away from minors. No gender transition procedures for children.
Where I stand
- Define sex in state law by biological reality.
- Protect women's sports, locker rooms, and shelters.
- Age verification on harmful websites.
- Hold libraries accountable for harmful materials in children's sections.
- No gender transition procedures for minors.
Pushback, answered
The hard questions, answered straight.
These are the real objections this position gets, with the same answers Zac gives in person. No talking points. No dodges.
“Isn't this government overreach?”
I hear this from conservatives I respect, and small government is my instinct too. Defining sex in state law is not government inserting itself into your life, it is government being able to read its own statutes. Every law that already mentions sex requires a definition, and the only question is whether your legislators write it plainly or leave it for somebody else to settle later. Notice also what is absent from my list: nothing reaches into an adult's private life. Every line sits around children and around spaces built for women. Protecting kids is the state's oldest job, not an expansion of it.
“You are targeting vulnerable kids.”
Kids wrestling with these questions are real and they deserve compassion, and nothing I support calls for cruelty toward any child. Compassion is still not the same thing as an irreversible medical intervention on a minor. A child who cannot vote, sign a contract, or buy a lottery ticket should not be making a permanent decision about his own body. Protecting a kid from a choice made at twelve is the same protection we extend on every other permanent choice.
“Age verification and library accountability is just censorship.”
Nobody is banning books for adults, and I will defend an adult's right to read what he wants. Age verification on harmful websites applies the standard we already use everywhere else in a child's life. We do not let a fourth grader into an R-rated movie alone and nobody calls the ticket counter a censor. On libraries the question is narrower: what belongs in the children's section, and who answers for it when material harmful to minors turns up there? Schools answer for what they put in front of kids. Daycares answer for it. Libraries should too.