A bill to regulate transgender procedures and surgeries in Mississippi for those under the age of 18 has passed both the House and the Senate and is on its way to Gov. Tate Reeves.
Tuesday, the state Senate passed HB 1125, called the Regulate Experimental Adolescent Procedures (REAP) Act, on a 33-15 vote. The measure earlier had passed the House on a 78-30 vote, sending it to the Senate for consideration.
Among the 12 original sponsors of the bill in the Mississippi House were DeSoto County legislators Reps. Bill Kinkade (R-Byhalia), Dan Eubanks (R-Walls) and Steve Hopkins (R-Southaven).
Sen. Michael McLendon (R-Hernando) Tuesday released the following comment during the Senate vote to approve the bill.
“Gender reassignment that disfigures our children with chemicals or surgery has no place in Mississippi (or any state),” McLendon said. “That’s why I will be voting yes on HB 1125 today outlawing that practice in Mississippi and protecting our youth from woke ideology.”
Added state Sen. Kevin Blackwell (R-Southaven), “The fight to protect our children from liberal ideology is never ending. HB 1125 does that by ending irreversible transgender surgeries on children under the age of 18 in Mississippi. Glad to join my Senate colleagues on this bill today and sending it to the Governor’s desk for his signature.”
State Sen. Dr. David Parker (R-Olive Branch) also voted in favor of the bill.
Gov. Tate Reeves commented after the final vote passage, “Sterilizing and castrating children in the name of new gender ideology is wrong. That plain truth is somehow controversial in today’s world. I called for us to stop these sick experimental treatments, and I look forward to getting the bill.”
Opposition to the bill in the Legislature came primarily from Democrats and members and allies of Mississippi’s trans community.
The ACLU of Mississippi has urged Reeves to veto the bill and sent the Governor a letter to that effect.
