The new law, titled the Mississippi Fairness Act, will go into effect July 1. Officials say the bill is Mississippi's response to President Joe Biden's executive order that expanded protections against discrimination based on gender identity. District 40 Republican Senator Angela Hill authored the law, saying she was contacted by parents, athletes and coaches who are concerned about males falsely self-identifying their gender to get an unfair advantage in sports.
Hill says "No matter what somebody identifies themselves as, women are unique, men are unique. Men are biologically physically stronger. We are protecting women's sports. We want them to be able to continue to get their medals, their scholarships. We don't want them to be beat 10 times in a row by a biological male."
But Hill says she has no specific examples of this happening in Mississippi, and could not elaborate on what coaches or parents called her with the concerns.
The ACLU of Mississippi says this new law addresses a problem that does not exist in the state. Jarvis Dortch is Executive Director.
"We can talk hypotheticals, but the problem is we can only talk hypotheticals because this isn't an actual issue in Mississippi," says Dortch. "There is not a woman who is protected by this bill today, but there are plenty of trans children that are going to be harmed, and feel like they are being pushed out of society because of this legislation."
Dortch says this is such a non-issue in Mississippi, it could be difficult to find someone affected by the new law.
Governor Tate Reeves said the state is prepared to go to court if lawsuits are filed.
