JACKSON, Miss. – Mississippi Republican Gov. Tate Reeves is scheduled to sign a bill Thursday to ban transgender athletes from competing on girls or women’s sports teams.
Mississippi will become the first state this year to enact such a ban, after a federal court blocked a similar Idaho law last year.
Mississippi’s Senate Bill 2536 is set to become law July 1, although a legal challenge is possible. More than 20 states are proposing restrictions on athletics or gender-confirming health care for transgender minors this year.
Conservative lawmakers are responding to an executive order by Democratic President Joe Biden that bans discrimination based on gender identity in school sports and elsewhere.