Mississippi enacts transgender bathroom ban in public schools

Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves signed a bill into law Monday that would bar transgender people from using bathrooms that correspond with their gender identities in the state’s public schools.

The legislation, titled the Securing Areas for Females Effectively and Responsibly Act, or the “SAFER Act,” mandates that the state’s schools have single-sex restrooms, changing rooms and dormitories. Its text defines someone’s sex as “‘determined solely by a birth,’ without regard to the fluidity of how someone acts or feels.”

Reeves, a Republican, wrote in a statement on X that the law — which takes effect immediately — is intended to “keep Mississippi’s daughters safe.”

“It’s mind blowing that this is what Joe Biden’s America has come to,” he wrote. “Having to pass common sense policies that protect women’s spaces was unimaginable just a few years ago. But here we are… we have to pass a law to protect women in bathrooms, sororities, locker rooms, dressing rooms, shower rooms, and more.”

The White House did not immediately reply to a request for comment.

Rob Hill, the Mississippi state director for the Human Rights Campaign, the nation’s largest LGBTQ advocacy group, called the new law an attempt to “strip basic rights from LGBTQ+ people in our state.”

“This bill does nothing but attempt to push us further apart at the expense of LGBTQ+ people, who deserve the freedom to be and to use bathrooms and locker rooms without the prying eyes of politicians peering over the stall,” Hill said in a statement. “Shame on the governor and the MAGA agenda of hate.”

Since lawmakers in North Carolina sparked national outrage in 2016 by passing a similar measure into law — which was partially repealed the next year — 10 other states have also enacted measures that limit trans people from using restrooms that correspond with their gender identities, according to the Movement Advancement Project, an LGBTQ advocacy group. Mississippi now joins their ranks.

In January, lawmakers in Utah passed a law barring trans people from using bathrooms in schools and government buildings. Earlier this month, transgender activists flooded a Utah tip line created to alert the state about violations of the law. The thousands of hoax reports were intended to overwhelm authorities and drown out any legitimate complaints residents might have made about which bathroom trans people used.

Mississippi’s legislation restricting trans people’s access to public restrooms is among the hundreds of anti-LGBTQ bills proposed by conservative lawmakers in recent years. More than 500 anti-LGBTQ bills have been introduced in legislatures across the country this year, according to the American Civil Liberties Union.

In 2021, Reeves enacted a law that limits trans students from competing in sports that correspond with their gender identities. He also enacted a law that bars trans minors from accessing certain transition-related care last year.

Mississippi is one of more than 20 Republican-led states challenging Title IX rules the Education Department issued last month. Among several provisions, the rules explicitly prohibit barring trans students from using bathrooms and changing facilities that correspond with their gender identities at schools that receive federal funding.

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This article was originally published on NBCNews.com