Most youth athletes do not expect to be bullied by transphobic politicians when they join a sports team. After President Joe Biden released his executive order 13988 to prevent discrimination on the basis of gender identity and sexual orientation, there was an attack on transgender youth involvement in sports all across the United States.
For Mississippians, this culminated in Gov. Tate Reeves signing Senate Bill 2536, The Mississippi Fairness Act, which requires all public schools to separate their sports teams by “biological sex.”
“It’s not just about winning or losing. It’s about the lessons they learn on the field. It helps them learn how to work together with their teammates. It is where they have formed lifelong friendships” reported Gov. Reeves in front of several dozen cisgender white lawmakers who had gathered to support this bill.
He was not able to see how transgender athletes fit into these goals. More importantly, no transgender individuals had a say in how this bill would be written. Throughout the course of this conversation, he misgendered trans individuals as “biological males” and said “transgenderism” is manipulating Mississippi youth.
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I have met over a dozen transgender youth and young adults during my time as a psychiatry resident. Almost everyone reported that lack of support and recognition in their community was a major stressor and causally related to why they were seeking care.
None participated in school sports. Many could not list a single person they trusted and did not feel like they belonged anywhere. They did not have role models in the community. I was painfully aware of how unwelcoming and unsafe the world would be on discharge.
The Trevor Project’s 2020 National Survey of LGBTQ Youth Mental Health found that 51% percent of transgender youth around the nation contemplated suicide in the past 12 months. They also found that simply respecting the pronouns of transgender youth decreased the rate of attempted suicide by half. This is in addition to the 2019 Youth Risk Behavior Survey by the CDC that showed the rate of attempted suicides by Mississippi LGBT youth was almost twice that of the United States average.
Reeves is joined by U.S. Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith in contributing to these statistics. Hyde-Smith recently testified against the Equality Act citing her experience playing basketball in high school as contributing to her current success as Mississippi’s first female senator. She was also one of the members of Congress to support the Protection of Women in Sports Act of 2020 that worked to defund sports programs and institutions that allow a “person whose sex is male to participate in an athletic program or activity that is designated for women or girls.”
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The youth of Mississippi would be lucky to play alongside transgender athletes. They are seeking the same sense of community and trust we all needed to make it through school.
I encourage everyone to listen to the actual stories of transgender people. When provided a supportive environment, they thrive.
Give these individuals a platform to represent themselves in these discussions. Elect transgender people to public office so they can have a say in these decisions.
The Mississippi Fairness Act and similar legislation around the country must be found unconstitutional. Our federal government must pass the Equality Act to solidify protections for the transgender community. Until then, Mississippi will not be a safe place for transgender youth.
Sean Patterson, a Mississippi native, is a psychiatry resident at Yale who plans to return to Mississippi to practice.
