Mississippi Governor Tate Reeves signs as Republican lawmakers, activists and one of the most prominent anti-transgender media personalities look on Prohibition law Gender-affirming care for people under the age of 18.
Downstairs, a small group of transgender allies and activists had gathered around cellphones and listened to state leaders.
Rob Hill, state director of the Human Rights Campaign, has been following the bill since it began session earlier in the year.
“My initial reaction to this was sadness because I knew how this would affect families of transgender children in Mississippi who are already very vulnerable. That changed as it passed through the House and Senate and is now on the governor’s desk.For his signature,” Hill said just before the signing ceremony began. I’m mad at the governor and lawmakers who made the decision.”
Eighteen floors above him, the atmosphere was very different. Local Republican officials chatted with the lawmakers who led the bill through two rooms across the street. They were soon joined by Reeves and Matt Walsh, who host a show on his outlet, the Daily Wire, a conservative media outlet.
Under House Bill 1125, gender reassignment surgery, hormone therapy, and puberty blockers are all prohibited for minors.
“Today, a dangerous movement is spreading across America. We’re trying to convince them we’re in the wrong body,” Reeves said. “This dangerous movement seeks to convince children that it is nothing more than a surgical procedure that will lead them away from happiness. It threatens our children’s innocence and threatens their health.”
Reeves regularly added his own thoughts to Walsh when answering questions from the media. Last year, Walsh produced a documentary called “What is a Woman?” He questioned the very existence of transgender people and attacked doctors who performed gender reassignment surgery.
Many transgender people have a medical diagnosis of gender dysphoria, and many leading medical groups point to gender-affirming care as the only effective treatment. Medical groups that advocate treatment for are the World Health Organization, the American Medical Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics, and the American Psychiatric Association.
With Reeves standing behind him on Tuesday, Walsh called the medical professionals who support the children’s gender verification procedures “children are abusing quacks and soulless goblins.”
Reeves, who said Mississippi would “follow science” through the law, said children would not be given medical procedures, but rather who they were, meaning the biological sex listed on their birth certificate. He said that he should be accepted as such and be told that he is loved.
Critics of HB 1125, like Hill, question that politicians like Reeves know more about how to help a child than the child’s parents or doctors.
“That’s going too far. You’re dictating something they don’t have real knowledge about,” Hill said.
When asked about that criticism, Reeves said adults can consult a doctor to decide whether to undergo these procedures, but that children shouldn’t be allowed. , when you become an adult, you can make decisions about what you really want to become.
“I’m very much against people in their 30s and 40s having this type of surgery, but the libertarian in me said that if you want to do it to your body, it’s OK. But not with children,” Reeves said.
The governor also pointed to what he called “liberal darlings” in Scandinavian countries such as Finland, Sweden and Denmark, which have banned children from accessing specific gender-affirming care. bottom.
Walsh said it was impossible for “ordinary, common sense, decent Americans” to support allowing children access to these procedures.
“But sadly, many of those who hold power in this country and run our institutions have not passed this basic test of human decency. It’s been intentionally nurtured in my mind,” Walsh said.
Beneath the frenetic rhetoric around the impact of gender-affirming care is the question of whether these procedures are actually practiced in Mississippi. However, there is no evidence that the sex reassignment surgery Reeves most frequently mentions has taken place. Currently, some transgender people between the ages of 16 and her 18 use puberty blockers, which are now illegal under this law.
Reeves said the law is necessary even if no proceedings are taken.
“If we want to take the position, ‘We’re only doing this on a precautionary basis…because we don’t want it to happen in our state,’ that’s why we say it.” No problem, and I. If so, I’ll gladly take this as a win,” Reeves said. “The irony to me is that over the past six weeks, those who oppose this bill have started saying that if we pass this bill, young children will die. It’s saying, “Well, this isn’t happening anyway, so why on earth would you pass a bill to prevent it from happening anyway?” You can, but you can’t believe in both. ”
Even if the number of people currently receiving gender-affirming care is small, transgender people and activists say the message the law sends could have far-reaching implications. Rally earlier this montha 16-year-old transgender person said the bill would pose a real threat to the lives of transgender youth, who are already facing disproportionately high suicide rates and depression.
“It’s been said that this bill is about saving children, but this bill is really about taking away parents’ ability to save their own children,” said Leviathan Myers Lowell. “HB 1125 has appeared in the media to tell society that something is wrong with people like me and my parents. HB 1125 is the reason many of my community and friends die. will be.”
Questions remain about whether doctors can prescribe the same drugs often administered to transgender people to suspend the onset of puberty in those they use to treat other ailments. Reeves said that transgender people are more likely to be prohibited from administering drugs, even if prescribed for purposes other than gender-affirming care, and that physicians need to know when to enforce the prohibition. said that the patient should be known well.
“I hope that every doctor in the state that practices medicine knows their patients and knows the types of drugs they prescribe and the types they don’t prescribe,” Reeves said.
Physicians found to be in violation of the new law risk losing their medical license.
Shortly after the law was signed, advocacy groups released a joint statement through the Southern Equality Campaign.
“Governor Reeves’ decision to sign this bill into law is an act of violence. , is sending a stigmatizing and exclusionary message.Transgender equality advocates inside and outside Mississippi will continue to do everything in their power to care for and protect transgender youth in our state.” Stratos said. spectrum center at Hattiesburg.
Hill said activists plan to continue the fight, including potentially filing lawsuits, to ensure access to health care for transgender people in Mississippi. He also had a message for young people.
“My message is that I love you. There are far more people who care about you than those who don’t.”