Mississippi governor vows to sign limit on transgender care

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves confirmed Tuesday that he plans to sign a bill to ban gender-affirming care in the state for anyone younger than 18 — part of a broad effort in conservative states to restrict transgender athletes, gender-affirming care and drag shows.

House Bill 1125 won final approval Tuesday in the Republican-controlled Mississippi Senate, and it will be sent in the coming days to Reeves, a Republican who is running for reelection.

“Sterilizing and castrating children in the name of new gender ideology is wrong,” Reeves wrote on Twitter. “That plain truth is somehow controversial in today’s world.”

Reeves signed a law in 2021 to ban transgender athletes from competing in girls’ or women’s sports.

The Republican governor of Utah recently signed a ban on gender-affirming care into law, and judges have temporarily blocked similar laws in Arkansas and Alabama. In Arkansas on Tuesday, the state Senate approved legislation that tries to effectively reinstate that state’s ban on gender affirming care for minors by making it easier to sue providers of such medical care.

The vote in the Mississippi Senate came less than a week after transgender teenagers, their families and others who support them protested against the bill.

Jensen Luke Matar, executive director of the Mississippi-based Transgender Resources Advocacy Network and Services Program, denounced the bill in a statement.

“Mississippi lawmakers are insisting that they know what’s best for transgender youth and ignoring the recommendations of every major medical association,” Matar said. “Patients, along with their health care providers — not politicians –- should decide what medical care is in the best interest of a patient.
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