The Mississippi Legislature on Wednesday passed a bill that limits transgender participation in female sports at schools and universities.
The Mississippi Fairness Act requires that any educational athletics program, including the NCAA, “designate its” teams “according to biological sex.” The legislation cleared the Senate on Feb. 11 by a 34-9 vote, and the bill passed the House on Wednesday by another large margin, 81-28.
The bill is primarily intended to prevent biological males from competing in girls’ and women’s sports. “Men generally have denser, strong bones, tendons, and ligaments and larger hearts, greater lung volume per body mass, a higher red blood cell count, and higher hemoglobin,” the bill says.
“Men also have higher natural levels of testosterone, which affects traits such as hemoglobin levels, body fat content, the storage and use of carbohydrates, and the development of Type 2 muscle fibers, all of which result in men being able to generate higher speed and power during physical activity,” the bill adds.
The bill will need to be approved by Gov. Tate Reeves before it takes effect. The Republican governor is expected to sign the state policy in the coming days.
“If there’s one thing that we are passionate about in the Reeves family, it’s my daughters’ sports,” Reeves wrote in a Feb. 4 tweet. “I know that the lessons learned through team sports have led to so many successful lives and careers for women and have truly helped provide a more equal opportunity for success.”
The governor also indicated he was “so disappointed over” President Biden’s executive order, titled “Preventing and Combating Discrimination on the Basis of Gender Identity or Sexual Orientation,” which includes a provision that says “children should be able to learn without worrying about whether they will be denied access to the restroom, the locker room, or school sports.”
TENNESSEE BILL MANDATING SCHOOL ATHLETES ALIGN WITH THEIR SEX AT BIRTH HEADS TO STATE’S HOUSE
If the bill is passed, athletes who are hurt by potential violations of the provisions are entitled to “a private cause of action for injunctive relief, damages and any other relief available under law against the primary or secondary school or institution of higher education.”
Opponents of the bill, such as the far-left Southern Poverty Law Center, said it’s “reckless and hurtful to Mississippi students.”
“Amendment 4 to House Bill 1030 and Senate Bill 2536, as well as the overall intolerance of transgender students displayed by the Mississippi legislature, is reckless and hurtful to Mississippi students,” the group wrote in a statement on Feb. 25. “To be clear, as drafted, the language in these bills is unconstitutional under Title IX and the Equal Protection Clause. This violation of privacy on demand is not only appalling but is an open invitation for litigation.”
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
“What these bills disregard is the fact that there is no evidence transgender student athletes — specifically females — enjoy any advantage over cisgender competitors. Its discriminatory language is based not in fact, but ignorance, fear and prejudices that if passed will only serve to harm Mississippi students who dare to be their authentic selves,” SPLC says.
Similar bills have advanced in both Tennessee and Utah. The Tennessee Senate on Monday passed legislation that prohibits transgender athletes from competing in women’s sports by a 27-6 vote, and the proposal will head to the House. In Utah, however, a bill that “prohibits a student of the male sex from participating in an athletic activity designated for female students” was stalled in a Senate committee in late February.
