Outside of a Dog Books & Games in Vermillion, S.Dak., will close this summer or be sold due to an anti-transgender law set to take effect July 1, SiouxlandProud reported.
Owners Mike and Jennifer Phelan, who opened Outside of a Dog four years ago, said they plan to leave South Dakota for the sake of their children, one of whom is transgender. They would prefer to find a buyer for the bookstore but will sell the remaining inventory and close the bookstore if they cannot. In a goodbye message posted to Facebook, they said they plan to keep the store open at least through the end of July.
The law, which was signed by South Dakota Governor Larry Rhoden in March, prohibits transgender people from using changing rooms and restrooms that do not align with their gender assigned at birth. Per the Associated Press, it also "allows people who encounter transgender people in these facilities to seek declaratory and injunctive relief against the school or state if officials did not take reasonable steps to prevent the transgender person from using that facility."
Mike Phelan noted that previously, Vermillion had been the "only community in South Dakota that had a transgender affirming bathroom policy," but the new law has put an end to that.
Jennifer Phelan told SiouxlandProud that the family would not be able to live with the fear and uncertainty the law would cause, and they plan to move to a state "where there are laws in place where we know local policies can then flourish from that."
"It's closing businesses," Mike Phelan added. "It's driving people out. It's telling people that their lives aren't valuable... there's not a crime wave of transgender people in this state. There's people trying to live their lives."