Transgender Athletes: The Mississippi House in the US voted to ban transgender athletes from competing on girls’ or women’s sports teams in Mississippi schools and universities.
The bill will be heading to US Republican Governor Tate Reeves in the next several days and it is expected that he will sign it into law.
US President Joe Biden signed an executive order on January 20, 2021 that banned discrimination based on gender identity. Even then, Mississippi is one of more than 20 states with lawmakers that are proposing restrictions on athletics and/or gender confirming health care for transgender minors.
While explaining the bill to the Mississippi House, Republican Representative Beck Curry stated that “Girls deserve to compete on a level playing field. Allowing males to compete in girls' sports destroys fair competition and women's athletic opportunities. Curry also added “I'm not interested in getting into an argument with you on who's boys and who's girls and who thinks they're what.”
Brandon Jones, Mississippi policy director defended transgender athletes and stated that “Transgender collegiate athletes should be allowed equal opportunities to play any sport they choose as their authentic selves and reap the same benefits, just like any other student. Our laws and the lawmakers who write them should work to protect Mississippi’s transgender youth, not encourage discrimination against them.”
People that support the bill state that because transgender women are born male, they are naturally stronger, faster and bigger than cisgender women. People opposing the bill state that it violates the federal education law prohibiting sex discrimination along with ruling made by the US Supreme Court and US Circuit Court of Appeals.
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