05/02/24 07:34:00
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05/02 19:32 CDT Mississippi Republicans revive bill to regulate transgender
bathroom use in schools
Mississippi Republicans revive bill to regulate transgender bathroom use in
schools
By MICHAEL GOLDBERG and EMILY WAGSTER PETTUS
Associated Press
JACKSON, Miss. (AP) --- Mississippi's Republican-led Legislature completed a
last-ditch effort Thursday to revive a bill to regulate transgender people's
use of bathrooms, locker rooms and dormitories in public education buildings.
Lawmakers pushed the proposal through the House and Senate in the final days of
their four-month session after negotiations between the chambers broke down
Monday on an earlier proposal. Republicans said they received a flurry of
messages urging them to bring the bill back to life.
"This probably, to a lot of our constituents and to a lot of people in this
chamber, is probably the most important bill that we brought up," said Senate
President Pro Tempore Dean Kirby, a Republican.
The legislation would require all public education institutions to equip their
buildings with single-sex restrooms, changing areas and dormitories.
People would only be allowed to enter spaces that correspond to their sex
assigned at birth, regardless of their appearance or any procedures they've had
to affirm their gender identity. Those who violate the policy could be sued,
but schools, colleges and universities would be protected from liability.
Democrats said the bill would put transgender people at risk. They also
criticized Republicans for spending time on the issue as other legislative
priorities remained unfinished.
"It just baffles me that we have things we can do to improve the state of
Mississippi for all people, for all people, but we get so pumped on something
that's national politics," said Rep. Jeffrey Hulum III, a Democrat. "It is not
my job to criticize how people live their lives."
Republicans said they were standing up for female family members on college
campuses and pointed to several Republican women, wearing red, as they looked
on from the Senate gallery.
One of those women was Anja Baker, a member of the Mississippi Federation of
Republican Women from the Jackson suburb of Rankin County. Baker said she works
with social service providers and was concerned women would be crowded out of
spaces they rely on.
"They only have so many resources, and they need to have their locations and
resources protected for the women that need them instead of getting caught in a
game of identity politics," Baker said.
Advocacy groups emailed her and other Republican women late Wednesday urging
them to show up Thursday at the Capitol. That came after an initial measure
mandating single-sex spaces stalled, causing an embittered back-and-forth
between top legislators.
Just before a Monday night deadline, the House offered a plan that would let
people file lawsuits seeking monetary damages if someone uses a bathroom not
assigned to their gender, said Senate Judiciary A Committee Chairman Brice
Wiggins, a Republican. Wiggins said that made it an unacceptable "trial lawyer
bill."
House Judiciary A Committee Chairman Joey Hood, also a Republican, said the
Senate forced the House into accepting a weaker proposal. The bill would let
people sue, but they would be unable to claim compensatory damages from any
lawsuit. As a result, Hood and other House members said the bill they
ultimately approved would likely fail to deter people from entering spaces that
don't align with their sex assigned at birth.
Hood said he hopes the Legislature would introduce legislation in 2025 with
stronger penalties.
Another proposal failed this year that would have denied the legal recognition
of transgender people by writing into law that "there are only two sexes, and
every individual is either male or female."
In 2021, Republican Gov. Tate Reeves signed legislation to ban transgender
athletes from competing on girls' or women's sports teams. Last year, he signed
a bill to ban gender-affirming hormones or surgery for anyone younger than 18.
The Mississippi proposals were among several bills being considered in state
legislatures around the country as Republicans try to restrict transgender
people's access to gender-affirming care, bathrooms and sports, among other
things.
----
Michael Goldberg is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America
Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service
program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered
issues. Follow him at @mikergoldberg.
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