Bill to align South Dakota with federal marriage law is killed in committee

A bill that would have changed South Dakota’s law to comply with the 2015 U.S. Supreme Court decision that does not allow states to prevent gay marriage was killed in House Stafe Affairs Monday.

Democratic Rep. Linda Duba of Sioux Falls sponsored the measure. She says it would also comply with Congress’s passage in December of the Defense of Marriage Act, codifying the Supreme Court’s decision.

Current South Dakota law says, “marriage is a personal relation, between a man and a woman, arising out of a civil contract.”

Opponents say marriage is between a man and woman.

The committee killed the bill on a 7-5 vote.

February 14, 2023