Tate Reeves

—Signed into law the baselessly-named “Regulate Experimental Adolescent Procedures (REAP) Act” which prohibits minors from accessing transgender health care and bans any public funding from institutions that provide such care to minors. Transgender health care is not “experimental,” and every major medical association supports health care for transgender people and youth. After he signed the bill, Reeves invited Matt Walsh, an anti-LGBTQ commentator to speak. Walsh reiterated multiple lies about the nature of transgender healthcare, and called it “butchery.”

—Baselessly tweeted, “Sterilizing and castrating children in the name of new gender ideology is wrong.” Those inflammatory statements do not describe transgender health care for youth. 

—Signed the so-called “Mississippi Fairness Act” into law, requiring the state’s schools to designate teams by sex assigned at birth and prohibiting transgender student athletes from participating in school sports in alignment with their gender identity. In a tweet, Reeves misgendered transgender girls and wrote, without basis, that the law would, “protect young girls from being forced to compete with biological males for athletic opportunities.” According to the bill, any athlete whose sex is “disputed” will have to provide a signed statement from a physician attesting to their genitalia, DNA, and hormone levels. According to the Associated Press, no senator even asked during the debate on the bill if there are transgender girls or women competing in high school or college sports in the state.

—As Lieutenant Governor, wrote a statement in favor of a religious exemption law allowing businesses to discriminate against same-sex couples, stating the law was needed following the U.S. Supreme Court Obergefell ruling legalizing marriage equality nationwide. The bill codified discrimination to deny marriage licenses, housing, essential services, and needed care to LGBTQ Mississippians.