Yes…another bit of good news…yet another governor with brains in his head and the guts to act for the right thing to do…more power to him!
Still amazing that we have to legislate this kind of madness…
Republican Gov. Tate Reeves said he would sign the bill to “protect young girls.”
From the Associated Press:
Mississippi is on track to become the first state this year to enact a law banning transgender athletes from competing on girls or women’s sports teams.
Republican Gov. Tate Reeves said Thursday that he will sign a bill that the Republican-controlled Mississippi Legislature has passed. It should reach his desk in the next few days.
Mississippi is one of more than 20 states proposing restrictions on athletics or gender-confirming health care for transgender minors this year. Conservative lawmakers are responding to an executive order by Democratic President Joe Biden that bans discrimination based on gender identity in school sports and elsewhere. Biden signed it Jan. 20, the day he took office.
Wyatt Ronan, a spokesman for the LGBTQ civil rights group Human Rights Campaign, said the Mississippi bill would be the first transgender sports ban signed into law this year. Idaho enacted a similar law in 2020 that has been blocked by a federal court.
Reeves has three daughters who play sports, and he said on Twitter that Mississippi’s Senate Bill 2536 would “protect young girls from being forced to compete with biological males for athletic opportunities.”
“It’s crazy we have to address it, but the Biden E.O. forced the issue,” Reeves tweeted Thursday. “Adults? That’s on them. But the push for kids to adopt transgenderism is just wrong.”
Human Rights Campaign president Alphonso David sharply criticized Mississippi and other states that are considering such legislation.
“While millions of people in Mississippi are waiting for urgent relief as it relates to COVID-19, the leaders of Mississippi are not focused on that. Rather, they’re focused on prioritizing bullying against transgender kids,” David said during an online news conference Thursday.
The Mississippi House passed the bill Wednesday, and the Senate passed it last month. The votes were largely along party lines, with most Republicans supporting the bill and most Democrats either opposing it or refraining from voting.