Mississippi Governor Makes Ruling on Transgender Athletes in Girls’ Sports

Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves signed a bill to ban transgender athletes from girls’ or women’s sports in the state’s schools and universities, according to Sports Illustrated. The bill, which is called Mississippi State Bill 2536, will be enforced starting July 1. This move comes after the state of Tennessee advancing a bill to ban transgender athletes from girls’ sports.

This also comes after President Joe Biden signed an executive order to ban discrimination based on gender equality in school sports. Reeves reportedly “credited Biden for the reason he signed the state’s bill into law,” according to the Clarion-Ledger. “But for the fact that President Biden as one of his first initiatives sat down and signed an executive order — which, in my opinion, encourages transgenderism amongst our young people — but for that fact, we wouldn’t be here today,” Reeves said.

Alphonso David, the president of the LGBTQ civil rights organization, Human Rights Campaign said a bill like this could lead to more bullying of transgender people. “This law is a solution in search of a problem, and legislators in Mississippi have not provided any examples of Mississippi transgender athletes gaming the system for a competitive advantage because none exist,” David told the Clarion-Ledger. Last week, the Mississippi House voted 81-21 to pass the bill. Supporters of the bill believe that transgender girls are bigger and stronger than other girls. Critics of the law believe it violates Title IX of federal law on sex discrimination and rulings by the U.S. Supreme Court and 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

It’s likely Mississippi won’t be the only state to pass a similar bill. Nineteen other states are considering restrictions on athletics for transgender minors this year. For Tennessee, the Senate in the state is facing backlash from the Tennessee ACLU as it believes its discrimination.

“Attempting to embed discrimination against transgender girls into state law, Tennessee senators voted today to ban transgender girls from participating in school sports,” the Tennessee ACLU said in a statement. “This hateful and unconstitutional bill is unnecessary — the bill sponsors have admitted that they do not know of a single instance of a Tennessee student facing any harm from a transgender athlete playing sports. “Protecting women’s sports is important, but transgender girls do not threaten them.”