SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) – House Bill 1217 is now headed back to South Dakota legislators for consideration after Governor Kristi Noem sent it back with suggested changes instead of signing or vetoing it. If passed, the bill would impact transgender kids and who is able to play on women’s athletic teams at the elementary and high school levels.

Saturday, a “Let Kids Play” rally took place at 41st and Louise Avenue in Sioux Falls to protest the legislation.

“We’re just people just trying to live,” Stephanie Marty of Sioux Falls said. “It’s not a question of, you know, being in your face about our gender, it’s a question about us having the opportunity to live a normal life like everyone else.”

House Bill 1217 has gotten a lot of attention this legislative session. If passed, the bill would limit women’s athletic teams to only including biologically-born females. Some question how that would be enforced.

“These are also very rare situations, ultimately,” Theodore Hilgeman of Sioux Falls said. “We want to be fair to everyone, certainly, we don’t want anyone to feel discriminated against, but, again, this issue isn’t even ultimately about fairness.”

Heather Thoreson was at the “Let Kids Play” rally with her friend who is transgender. She says they’ve discussed how important being on a sports team was growing up.

“Of course, in those days he didn’t really have words for what life was, anyway, but he didn’t feel a lot of support through his family and so sports were that thing that gave him a team, it gave him something to work with,” Heather Thoreson of Tea said. “They had common goals, they had successes and failures together and that gave him a sense of connection.”

Stephanie Marty from Sioux Falls says legislation like this has a negative impact that goes beyond just children in the transgender community.

“When this kind of action is taken against us, we all end up thinking about things that we shouldn’t and I’ve heard friends of mine in the community use the word ‘suicide’, which is, I mean, it’s a very damning thing, but when people talk about it openly, you know that there’s a problem,” Marty said.

Now that HB 1217 has been sent back to legislators, Noem’s suggested changes would only need a simple majority vote in each chamber to be passed into law.