Attorney General Jackley Says Lawsuit Will Not Eliminate School Disability Accommodations Under Section 504

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: February 14. 2025

Contact: Tony Mangan, Communications Director, 605-773-6878 

PIERRE, S.D. – South Dakota Attorney General Marty Jackley says a lawsuit filed by South Dakota and other states against categorizing gender dysphoria as a disability will not impact South Dakota school age children with disabilities who receive services under Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973.

“This lawsuit only centers on gender dysphoria as a disability and not on the entire Section 504,” said Attorney General Jackley. “Disabled students will continue to receive the services they were provided before the lawsuit was filed.”

South Dakota was one of 17 states who joined a Texas lawsuit in 2024 challenging a Biden administration that categorized gender dysphoria as a disability under Section 504. The rule would have required schools and universities to allow boys to use girls’ bathrooms and showers and live in girls’ dormitories, to allow males to compete in girls’ and women’s sports, and require teachers and students to use wrong-sex pronouns

President Trump has signed an executive order removing “gender identity disorders” from Section 504.

“Many people have misunderstood the intent of the lawsuit, but states will never seek to have Section 504 itself declared unconstitutional,” said Attorney General Jackley.. “Federal law is clear that gender dysphoria is not a disability, and states cannot be forced to treat it as such in order to comply with Section 504.”

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