JACKSON, ma’am. — Mississippi’s Republican-controlled House voted Wednesday in favor of a measure that would restrict transgender people’s use of bathrooms and locker rooms in public buildings, including college dormitories.
The bill, which now heads back to the Republican-led Senate, says people are male or female “as observed or clinically verified at birth” and must use the corresponding facilities. It also requires public buildings to have male-only or female-only restrooms or changing areas, or single-occupancy areas that can be used by anyone.
Democrats who opposed the measure accused conservatives of marginalizing transgender people in an effort to score points with voters.
“They used to run on race, color and things like that,” said Rep. Willie Bailey, a Democrat from Greenville. “Then they started taking action against people against abortion. Now they have to have an issue about transgender – it’s just stupid.”
The bill is one of several being considered in the U.S. Legislature as Republicans seek to limit which bathrooms transgender people can use and what sports they can play.
Republican Rep. Joey Hood of Ackerman, chairman of the Mississippi House Judiciary A Committee and a prominent backer of the bill, said it aims to ensure people use facilities that match their sex at birth.
“We’re going to make sure that boys go to the boys’ room and girls go to the girls’ room,” Hood said, an argument he made several times during the debate.
The bill would allow someone to sue another who uses a restroom or changing area that does not correspond to gender at birth.
Exceptions are also established for emergency medical and cleaning personnel and people in need of assistance, including children under 12 years of age. They may enter any public toilet or locker room, regardless of their gender.
Democratic Rep. Zakiya Summers of Jackson, who is Black, compared efforts to limit transgender people’s access to public facilities to the restrictions Black people faced during the Jim Crow era.
“It reminded me of what my ancestors had to deal with at a time when they couldn’t go to the bathroom or dip their toe in a pool,” Summers said.
At least eleven states have passed laws banning transgender girls and women from girls’ and women’s restrooms in public schools, and in some cases other government facilities. The laws have gone into effect in Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, North Dakota, Oklahoma and Tennessee, while a regulation in Idaho has been suspended and the ban in Utah is expected to go into effect on July 1.
The Mississippi House and Senate have passed different versions of a “Mississippi Women’s Bill of Rights,” which defines the terms woman, man, mother, father, wife, man and sex in ways that support the idea that sex is determined at birth defined. The two chambers would have to agree on one version before the bill could go to Republican Gov. Tate Reeves.
In March, the House of Representatives voted in favor of a measure that would allow incarcerated people to sue prisons if they encounter inmates of a different gender — the bill included transgender people under that category — in restrooms or locker rooms. However, the bill died in a Senate committee.