Mississippi Senate Votes To Ban Trans Athletes From Women's Sports

The Mississippi Senate voted Thursday to ban trans athletes from competing on women's sports teams in the state's high schools and universities.

The sponsor of the bill, Republican Senator Angela Hill, told her colleagues prior to the vote that she'd “had numerous coaches across the state call me and believe that they feel that there is a need for a policy.”

Senate Bill 2536 passed 34-9 in the late-night session, with very little prior discussion. Now it heads to the Mississippi House of Representatives for consideration, as ‘CNN’ reports. 

Several states, including Montana, North Dakota and Idaho, have attempted to pass similar legislation recently. While proponents say that allowing an athlete born male to compete in women's sports gives them an unfair advantage, those against say the proposals are discriminatory and harmful.

“All this bill does is put transgender youth at risk of bullying, exclusion, and increased danger while discrimination and violence against transgender people is at a record high in this country,” the Human Rights Campaign Mississippi State Director Rob Hill said in a press release. “If legislators would simply listen to medical experts and transgender athletes, they might know that transitioning for the sake of a competitive advantage is simply unrealistic. So is the idea that transgender athletes even gain a supposed advantage in the first place.

“Rather than use this all-important legislative session to bully transgender youth, the Mississippi legislature would be wise to focus their efforts on economic relief and addressing the deadly COVID-19 pandemic that has taken the lives of more than 6,000 Mississippians.”

Read related myGwork articles here:

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Tennessee Bill Would Force Schools To Discriminate Against Trans Athletes

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