Mississippi’s GOP-controlled legislature is about to pass a bill prohibiting “incarcerated transgender or nonbinary people from legally changing their name or gender marker while in state custody.”
The bill “would prohibit incarcerated individuals from petitioning the court for a name change or gender transition,” but they still could do so “if a petition is filed on their behalf by a district attorney, county sheriff, or state Corrections Department officials like a commissioner or a chaplain” (good luck with that).
An earlier draft “also sought to ban minors from legally changing their gender marker on official documents, unless a licensed physician or psychiatrist … or a chancery clerk offered a letter of support,” but that eventually was deleted from the final version.
What these provisions have in common is they take the decision about gender identity away from the individual, and require them to get permission from a third party, who is under state control (either a public official or employee, or a professional who needs a state-issued license to practice).
Biologically, gender isn’t the either-or Republicans think it is. People don’t choose to be homosexual or land in a gray area between the sexes. This exists in other animal species, too. Republicans, Bible-thumpers, and conservatives are simply wrong that it’s a behavior and not a biological trait.
The practical issue is that imprisoned trans people “face astronomically high rates of sexual assault,” according to a Mississippi-based human rights advocate. A 2018 study by a national advocacy organization found trans inmates “are nearly 10 times more likely to be sexually assaulted than the general prison population.”
But instead of trying to manage Mississippi’s prisons to protect this vulnerable population, the state’s Republican legislators are passing laws to deny them protection. That’s a human rights violation.
Read story here.