GOP Governor Issues Restroom Ban

(RepublicanDaily.org) – Republican Mississippi Governor Tate Reeves has signed a law for public schools in the state that bans all-gender bathrooms and disallows trans people to use the bathroom they feel most aligns with their sexual identity.

SB2753, or the SAFER – or Securing Areas for Females Effectively and Responsibly – Act, the law defines sex as the what is assigned to the individual at birth. As such, all public schools are required to have bathrooms, dorms, and changing rooms for only males and females, along with one gender-neutral bathroom and changing room.

Under SAFER, an individual’s sex observed at birth also holds regardless of whether or not the person has undergone or is undergoing any gender-affirming/changing treatments or procedures. The “fluidity of how someone acts or feels” is not a consideration, according to the law. Violators can face lawsuits, while schools, colleges and universities enjoy protection from liability under the law.

SAFER makes Mississippi the 12^th U.S. state to bar transgender students from using facilities that align with their gender identity rather than their actual gender.

In a statement on social media, Governor Reeves bemoaned a regulation issued by the Biden administration that prohibits states from issuing blanket policies that restrict transgenders’ use of bathrooms. The Magnolia State is among several states that are challenging the federal regulation in court.

“It’s mind blowing that this is what Joe Biden’s America has come to,” Reeves wrote, saying that having to pass “common sense” initiatives like SAFER to protect women’s rights and safe spaces should not be needed in this day and age. The Mississippi governor pledged to continue to push back against “the left’s dangerous agenda” and what he expects will be progressives’ “more kooky ideas” that disadvantage women.

Along with SAFER, Governor Reeves has come under fire for allegedly discriminating against transgender people. Last year, Mississippi also passed a law banning medical professionals to provide any sort of gender-affirming treatments or procedures to minors.