Ian Patrick, FISM News
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The war over the lives and well-being of minors in Mississippi took a positive turn on Tuesday, as Republican Governor Tate Reeves signed a bill prohibiting gender reassignment surgeries and treatments in the state.
Known as the Regulate Experimental Adolescent Procedures (REAP) Act, the bill prohibits people from actively participating or aiding in gender reassignment treatment for any person under eighteen years of age.
The bill also prevents the use of any “public funds or tax deduction for gender transition procedures.”
Any physician or other healthcare professional who is found to have broken this law “shall have his or her license to practice medicine in the State of Mississippi revoked pursuant to action taken by the Mississippi State Board of Medical Licensure.”
In addition, violations of this act can be used “as a claim or defense in a judicial or administrative proceeding” and to obtain damages or other relief. Any such claims need to be made within 30 years.
“There are those attempting to push a sick and twisted ideology that seeks to convince our kids they’re in the wrong body and the solution is to drug, sterilize, and castrate themselves,” Reeves wrote on Twitter.
“To these radical activists I only have one thing to say: Not in Mississippi!”
There are those attempting to push a sick and twisted ideology that seeks to convince our kids they’re in the wrong body and the solution is to drug, sterilize, and castrate themselves.
To these radical activists I only have one thing to say: Not in Mississippi! pic.twitter.com/XdsGjbb7SC
— Governor Tate Reeves (@tatereeves) February 28, 2023
In a speech on the bill’s signing, Reeves spoke out against the “woke mob” for pushing “dangerous” ideology on kids and teenagers. “We are taking a stand for all of our children,” Reeves said.
Proponents of this bill and other similar ones say that it has nothing to do with hate or discrimination against a younger audience that claims to be transgender.
Mississippi State Senator Joey Fillingane (R) previously said, “We want people to be well and healthy … But these are unnatural things taking place in our state.”
Opponents of the bill, like the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), say that the bill prevents kids who deal with gender dysphoria the medical treatment they need “to be who they are.”
On Twitter, the ACLU responded to the bill saying it puts this “life-saving care…entirely out of reach.”
“Our politicians continue to fail trans youth — but we will never stop fighting back against this ongoing attack against trans rights across the nation,” the organization wrote.
Our politicians continue to fail trans youth — but we will never stop fighting back against this ongoing attack against trans rights across the nation.
Trans youth shouldn’t have to fight this hard to be who they are.
— ACLU (@ACLU) February 28, 2023