Mississippi House passed a bill 81-28 on Wednesday to ban transgender athletes from competing in women’s and women’s sports teams.
Six deputies did not vote and seven voted “gifts”, which does not count either for or against the bill.
The ban would apply to teams of schools and universities in the state. The bill now goes to the table of Republican Governor Tate Reeves, who is expected to sign it.
The Republican-controlled state Senate passed the bill 34-9 on February 11, with five senators not voting and four voting “gifts”.
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Mississippi is now one of more than 20 states where lawmakers have proposed restrictions on athletes who play on sports teams that do not align with their designated sex at birth or for gender-changing health care for minors.
In an executive order for the first day, President Biden asked schools across the country to allow students to participate in sports under their chosen gender identity.
Several lawsuits across the country have emerged after high school girls challenged policies that allow transgender women to compete in their field – noting the physical advantages that transgender women have over cisgender women, girls who are born and identify themselves as women.
Reeves is the father of three daughters and says he is actively involved in their sports. On the day of Biden’s executive order, he wrote on Twitter, “I am very disappointed in President Biden’s actions to force girls like them to compete with biological men for access to athletics.”
“This will limit opportunities for as many competitors as my daughters. It is a bad policy and it is wrong for America,” he added.
The human rights campaign annotated on Twitter that Mississippi became the first in the country “to pass an explicitly anti-trans bill in 2021”.
“We are witnessing a coordinated effort to limit and erase trans existence across the country.” the group wrote.
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Only 17 states allow transgender high school athletes to participate in sports without regulation. Some states impose restrictions on transgender competitors, and others deal with cases individually.