For a brief period of time it looked like South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem would be the first governor to sign an anti-transgender bill into law, but Mississippi Governor Tate Reeves has beat her to the downward punch.
Proponents of these bans on transgender participation in sports programs say it's about 'protecting women and girls sports,' or whatever, but Governor Reeves himself just told us that it was never about that
After signing the ban into law, Reeves said it's necessary to stop the spread of "transgenderism."
Mississippi is the first state this year to enact such a ban, after a federal court blocked an Idaho law last year. Mississippi’s Senate Bill 2536 is set to become law July 1, although a legal challenge is possible.
“But for the fact that President Biden as one of his first initiatives sat down and signed an executive order — which, in my opinion, encourages transgenderism amongst our young people — but for that fact, we wouldn’t be here today,” Reeves said during a ceremony in the Mississippi Capitol, where he was joined by legislators who supported the bill.
President Biden made me do it, he says.
They say this is necessary to protect women and girls sports, but Governor Reeves puts it in very plain English that what it's really about is creating stigma. It's about discouraging young people from discovering and becoming their true selves.
Reeves' statement will almost certainly be cited in court when this law is inevitably challenged. He gave the whole game away by saying it's not about protecting sports; it's about stopping transgender kids from existing in public life.
Neither rationale for doing this would hold up in court, but it will be even easier for a judge to block it following Governor Reeves' statement.
It's not a conspiracy theory if they say it out loud.