diff --git a/Misc/NEWS.d/next/macOS/2017-11-01-16-53-12.bpo-31903.K6jCVG.rst b/Misc/NEWS.d/next/macOS/2017-11-01-16-53-12.bpo-31903.K6jCVG.rst
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000000..3788112cd73029
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Misc/NEWS.d/next/macOS/2017-11-01-16-53-12.bpo-31903.K6jCVG.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+In :mod:`_scproxy`, drop the GIL when calling into ``SystemConfiguration`` to avoid
+deadlocks.
diff --git a/Modules/_scproxy.c b/Modules/_scproxy.c
index 0e3b02879b833d..c5660673c6357b 100644
--- a/Modules/_scproxy.c
+++ b/Modules/_scproxy.c
@@ -62,7 +62,10 @@ get_proxy_settings(PyObject* mod __attribute__((__unused__)))
     PyObject* v;
     int r;
 
+    Py_BEGIN_ALLOW_THREADS
     proxyDict = SCDynamicStoreCopyProxies(NULL);
+    Py_END_ALLOW_THREADS
+
     if (!proxyDict) {
         Py_RETURN_NONE;
     }
@@ -172,7 +175,10 @@ get_proxies(PyObject* mod __attribute__((__unused__)))
     int r;
     CFDictionaryRef proxyDict = NULL;
 
+    Py_BEGIN_ALLOW_THREADS
     proxyDict = SCDynamicStoreCopyProxies(NULL);
+    Py_END_ALLOW_THREADS
+
     if (proxyDict == NULL) {
         return PyDict_New();
     }