Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves (R) on Tuesday signed a new law banning gender-affirmation assistance for transgender youth amid Republican attacks on LGBTQ+ communities across the country.
Reeves, who is running for re-election this year, said the law is meant to fight a “dangerous movement spreading across America” based on conservative denunciations of trans people that doctors say are already harming vulnerable young people.
“These are really scary things that are being forced upon our children and, yes, their loving parents,” Reeves said. “They have been exploited so that some can push their distorted view of gender or appear ‘woke’ to their friends.”
Utah and South Dakota recently passed similar laws, and at least 150 anti-trans bills have been introduced into statute so far this year. Seven states currently prohibit minors from seeking gender-confirming care (although judges have blocked that legislation in Arkansas and Alabama as lawsuits progress).
Human rights groups condemned Mississippi’s new law, calling it a political move designed to bolster Reeves’ re-election bid.
“This is an outrageous attack on LGBTQ+ people in Mississippi and their families,” Mississippi State Human Rights Campaign Director Rob Hill said in a statement. “[Reeves] it cannot dictate the decisions that doctors and their patients make about health care. This is nothing more than an attempt to inflate his weak poll numbers ahead of a difficult re-election campaign.”
The Mississippi legislation takes effect immediately. It bans doctors from prescribing puberty-blocking drugs or hormone therapy and bans sex-reassignment surgery for anyone under 18. Any doctor who violates the ban can lose their medical license, and there is a 30-year statute of limitations for filing lawsuits. against those who break the law.
Major medical groups have deemed this treatment medically necessary. The American Medical Association and American Academy of Pediatrics have sharply criticized the Republican-led effort, saying the politically charged legislation is based on myths and misinformation about trans youth rather than medicine.
A poll released earlier this month by The Trevor Project found that ongoing Republican attacks on trans youth are already damaging. Of the LGBTQ youth surveyed, the majority, 71%, said the debate and restrictive laws had negatively affected their mental health, and 29% of trans youth said they did not feel safe going to the doctor or hospital when they were sick or injured .
Reeves previously signed anti-trans legislation, a 2021 measure that would have banned transgender athletes from competing on women’s or girls’ sports teams.
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