A bill in the Mississippi legislature would require sports teams at the state’s public schools, universities, and community colleges to be designated only for one biological sex.

Senate Bill 2536 would require any public school, university, or community college team to be either designated for those of one biological sex or the other (in addition to an exception for co-ed teams).

The legislation also has a clause that would allow any student who reports a violation of the law and is retaliated against by the school or other athletic association to have the right to injunctive relief and damages. 

Another would allow a student whose bodily privacy was violated to have the same rights.

The bill is sponsored by state Sen. Angela Hill (R-Picayune).

Recent polling suggests that 79% of all Mississippians support such legislation. The same poll also revealed that the bill has broad support across political demographics. 87% of Republicans support the legislation along with 83% of Independents and 65% of Democrats.

While there have not been any cases of those born as males competing against girls in Mississippi, the issue has become a nationwide one as 16 states allow transgender high school athletes to compete without restrictions. 

Three high school girls who run track in Connecticut filed a lawsuit last year to challenge Connecticut’s policy of allowing male athletes to compete with girls in sports. They are represented by the Alliance Defending Freedom.

The three — Selina Soule, Alanna Smith, and Chelsea Mitchell — have been beaten consistently in track meets by a pair of transgender athletes born as males. 

The lawsuit says the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference’s rules allowing transgender athletes to compete with girls poses a threat to Title IX because of physiological differences between men and women after puberty. Boys and men have more muscle mass and thus have the capacity to run faster and jump farther than most girls and women.

Title IX is a federal civil rights law that prohibits sex discrimination in educational institutions that receive federal funds. The law, which was passed in 1972, has led to a massive growth in the number of number of athletic opportunities for women. According to the NCAA, the number of female athletes in in 1982 was 74,239. By 2019, that number grew to 221,042, an increase of 197 percent.

Mississippi is one of only ten states that has no policies toward male athletes competing against females.

In November, the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Tennesee may prohibit eugenic abortions of preborn children based on race, sex, or genetic abnormality. This summer, Governor Bill Lee signed an omnibus pro-life bill with a variety of additions to abortion law.  Several abortion advocacy groups immediately filed emergency lawsuits, and District Judge William Campbell temporarily blocked the restrictions from taking effect.

Among the several conditions Governor Lee signed into law, not every limitation is active. Some restrictions will still be challenged in court. However, a ban on discriminatory abortions on the basis of race, sex, and genetic abnormality is now active law. Mississippi celebrates our neighbors to the North joining us in correcting this discriminatory practice. 

Mississippi passed The Life Equality Act (HB 1295) this summer, making Mississippi one of the nation’s leaders in the protection of life. This bill was sponsored by Rep. Carolyn Crawford (R- Pass Christian), and the Senate version of the bill was introduced by Sen. Jenifer Branning (R- Philadelphia) — two powerful female voices for the most vulnerable in our state. 

The bill's first step was made possible by Rep. Nick Bain's ( R-Corinth) leadership during the House committee vote. Sen. Brice Wiggins (R- Pascagoula) led the Senate committee vote, advocated for boldly by Sen. Joey Filingane (R-Sumrall) before the Judiciary B committee. Sen. Jeremey England (R- Ocean Springs) took to social media for this critical piece of legislation, “I believe it is of the utmost importance that our laws are applied equally and that they provide equal protection of our God-given rights.”

The Mississippi House Members who co-sponsored the bill alongside Rep. Crawford were Rep. Brady Williamson, Rep. Steve Hopkins, Rep. Stacey Hobgood-Wilkes, Rep. Lester Carpenter, Rep. William Tracy Arnold, Rep. Dana Criswell, Rep. Donnie Scoggin, Rep. Dana McLean, Rep. Chris Brown (20th), Rep. Dan Eubanks, Rep. Shane Barnett, Rep. Jansen Owen, Rep. Gene Newman, and Rep. Randy Boyd. 

The law signed into effect by Governor Tate Reeves prevents abortions from taking place because of diagnoses like Down Syndrome or Cystic Fibrosis. Even in non-fatal cases, as many as 67 percent of babies with Down syndrome are aborted in the United States. Respectively, an estimated 95 percent of babies given a prenatal diagnosis of Cystic Fibrosis are aborted. Increasingly, evidence displays the presence of abortions taking place when families prefer male babies to female. Just as devastating, pregnancy decisions are sometimes made on the basis of the race of the child. This bill makes a strong stand against the taking of a preborn life due to prejudice. Mississippi has made it illegal for abortionists to knowingly carry out discriminatory abortion, with criminal penalties. 

What does this mean for Mississippi?

With more states joining the movement to end discriminatory abortions each year, many legal experts anticipate these limitations soon moving to the US Supreme Court. This will be a groundbreaking case to follow because it may set the precedent on states’ abilities to restrict abortion before the age of viability when there is a proven state interest in providing protection to minority groups. This case, in turn, could call into question previous rulings across the courts of America. Tennessee and Mississippi will be strong allies calling to question—do states have the right to protect those being discriminated against, whether in the womb or outside of it?

It’s a question I hear a lot. Conservatives usually support sweeping tax cuts and lower regulations for corporations, so many people are confused as to why these businesses seem to oppose conservative politicians. Progressives often get riled at the mere thought of the question; after all, so much of left wing ideology is devoted to limiting the power of business interests.

And yet, corporations at least seem to be liberal. Big businesses regularly host diversity seminars, publicize their support for LGBT acceptance movements, and, as of recently, some have started openly supporting race-based affirmative action and backing left-wing social movements such as Black Lives Matter. There is no equivalent outreach to conservative movements from big business. So, are large corporations truly “progressive”? Have the CEOs of America’s largest companies become committed supporters of social justice and the redistribution of wealth?

No, of course not. When we see big businesses in America show support for traditionally liberal causes, it is all a cost-benefit calculation. Supporting liberal social causes—particularly identity politics—is the most reliable way to attract young, urban customers with little risk to their bottom line.

This summer, McDonald’s tweeted its support for the Black Lives Matter movement and “social justice.” Yet, the McDonald’s branch in Azerbaijan has tweeted support for the suppression of ethnic Armenians in their disputed homeland. Google fired an employee for expressing conservative-leaning views on gender roles—after he was asked for his opinion on the issue. Yet, Google has enthusiastically aided China, an authoritarian dictatorship, in creating a censored search engine.

Examples like this show us that, when practical, countless corporations will abandon liberal principles to aid their bottom line. The defining interests of corporations continues to be making money, so this should not be too surprising.

But why does big business support progressive causes in the first place?

Corporations want consumers. They want talented employees. But a sufficiently large corporation wants cultural relevance as well; they want the trendsetters and the well-connected to both buy from them and work for them. Corporate America has calculated that that cultural relevance is centered in coastal, liberal, and urban areas. They have calculated that the “cool” people live in big cities, not the rest of America. And in response, they publicize support for causes that they believe to be more popular in those areas rather than in the Bible Belt or Middle America.

Arguably more important is to look at the issues that big business entities are not supporting: $15 minimum wages, increased taxes on the wealthy, etc.; corporations remain silent on issues that could actually lose them money. But identity politics, increased immigration, and LGBT acceptance all offer perceived potential monetary, social, and cultural gains, so naturally those just happened to be the issues that many corporations engage with and promote.

In a warped sense, big business is killing two birds with one stone. Not only do they ignore progressive policies that could hurt their profits, but by indulging in liberal causes that do them no harm—identity politics in particular—they could very well be distracting young liberals and leftists from opposing big business or seeking action on bottom line-threatening policies in the first place.

A liberal focused on gay marriage is less likely to be a liberal focused on regulating big business. A socialist focused on “people of color” is a socialist not focused on the working class as a whole. In an ironic twist, corporations acting “liberal” might end up hurting the radical left more than anyone else. So let us not be surprised when we find out that when businesses extoll liberal views, it is still just a business decision.

Ty Usey is a senior at Jackson Preparatory School.  He is interested in economics, engineering, and he participates in cross country, chess team, and quiz bowl.

Every year, the 2,700 pregnancy resource centers in America serve women in the midst of an unexpected pregnancy. They offer medical, material, emotional, and spiritual resources for women and men facing a decision about their pregnancy. These centers walk with women and their families from the first pregnancy test to long after the baby’s birth. 

Last month’s release of Charlotte Lozier Institute’s Pregnancy Center Services Report revealed stunning findings about these local non-profits. 

Nationwide in 2019, pregnancy centers served local communities with: 

• Nearly 732,000 pregnancy tests
• Over 486,000 free ultrasounds
• 160,200 STI tests
• Nearly 1.3 million packs of diapers
• Over two million baby outfits
• More than 291,000 clients attended parenting and prenatal education programs
• More than 21,000 clients received after-abortion support
• More than 881,000 students attended sexual risk avoidance education presentation

In Mississippi, we have nearly 40 pregnancy centers dispersed throughout the state. 

These centers offer their services completely free to their communities. They are loosely banded together with national network partners like Heartbeat International and CareNet. This decentralized movement of free service clinics and centers include the assistance of nearly 69,000 staff and volunteers, with 78 percent of them being volunteers. Over 10,000 of these staff and volunteers are licensed medical workers.

It is estimated that pregnancy resource centers saved American taxpayers $270 million in 2019.

The vast majority of pregnancy centers receive no government funding whatsoever. Despite not having the support of government agencies and grants, pregnancy centers are extremely efficient at distributing goods and services according to the needs of their cities and counties. 

One of The CPC Metro Area’s two clinics can be found 100 yards from the state’s last abortion facility in Jackson. Inside, you can find a sonogram machine donated by an evangelical non-profit. This allows women considering abortion to view their child on a big screen, funded by local donors, for free. 

The waiting room and counseling rooms are filled with donated brand new furniture, the hallways lined with art donated by local artists. 

The clinic is kept cool and warm by a donated HVAC system. 

Medical and administrative staff and supplies are solely funded by churches and individuals from the greater metro area. 

The free prenatal vitamins are covered by a local pharmacist. 

The sonograms reviewed by radiologists who donate their time and expertise. 

An OBGYN compassionately offers expertise as a medical director. 

The single moms’ support groups are hosted by some of the nearly 100 local church partners, and baby and maternity supplies rush in so quickly, storage can barely be maintained. 

Even the Center’s websites, graphic design, and video production is given as free talent and time from local professionals. This is just one of the three dozen PRCs Mississippians support by their own accord. 

When left to coordinate needs with resources freely, it’s amazing what this spontaneous assortment of non-profit centers can accomplish. 

Enrollment at Ole Miss is down for the fourth year in a row according to new data from the Institutions of Higher Learning. 

Ole Miss had an enrollment of 18,668 for the fall of 2020, compared to 19,421 last year. This represents a drop of 3.9 percent. When the University of Mississippi Medical Center enrollment is included, total enrollment for the University of Mississippi system increases to 21,676, but that is still down 2.7 percent from last year. 

Total enrollment for Mississippi’s eight public universities is 77,154, down from 77,894 a year ago. That represents a continued trend more than a newfound fear because of a virus, indicating that families aren’t particularly worried about sending their children to college. From 2018 to 2019, enrollment dropped by about 1.5 percent. 

Enrollment is up at two universities in the state. Mississippi State saw an increase of 3.4 percent to 22,986. (Mississippi State is now larger than the total University of Mississippi enrollment.) The University of South Mississippi saw an increase of 3.3 percent to 14,606. 

The five other public universities each experienced declines, some more dramatic than others. Delta State lost more than 20 percent of its students, a decline of more than 700 on the campus that now has fewer than 3,000 students and is no longer the fifth largest university in the state.

* Includes both the University of Mississippi and UMMC. 

Mississippi Valley State University remains the smallest university in the state at 2,032 students after seeing enrollment decline by 5.4 percent this year. 

Ladies and gentlemen, Ole Miss professor James Thomas has left the building. Don’t get too excited, he’s just taking a five-day weekend. 

In an email correspondence late Monday afternoon the self-described “Insurgent Prof” informed his pupils he will not be holding any meetings, office hours, or instruction through Zoom or otherwise the Tuesday and Wednesday of this week; leaving students hanging as they enter what is traditionally the kick off for major graded assignments. 

Thomas isn’t the only academic taking it easy this week. This corresponds with what has become known as the #ScholarStrike, a movement started by self-described intellectuals to protest police brutality toward communities of color by skipping work.  

One must wonder if students would be afforded the same privilege when it comes to project deadlines or absences.

Perhaps not. 

Concluding the email, the newly tenured professor of sociology referred his pupils to a “facts sheet” provided by the striking organization that covered instances of police brutality alongside the organization’s political beliefs; signing off with “In Solidarity.”

This shouldn’t come as a surprise as solidarity with his fellow radical liberal academics has become a bit of a calling card by the most notorious professor at Ole Miss. 

While students are forced to pay full price this semester for a hodgepodge of sub-par virtual instruction via Zoom, Thomas and his close allies in department administration are all too comfortable exploiting students complacency by taking long weekends, sending out political speech in official emails, and falling short in their obligations as educators; just so long as it fits the woke agenda of 2020.  

Ole Miss has been struggling with the “Get Woke, Go Broke” reality of higher education for years, and while there have been many recent improvements to the cohesiveness of our state and its flagship institution, bias from liberal academics still remain a serious threat to the next generation of Mississippians.

Ole Miss shouldn’t have to cave into the politically correct mob or to indifferent academics that choose to be outraged enough to skip work when they already get a long weekend. It’s time Ole Miss rediscover it’s values as a scholarly hub where the free market of ideas flourish, where student-professor relationships based on mutual respect not uniformity of thought are primary. 

If we are to restore these values Ole Miss would be a beacon to all across the nation of governance in higher education. 

Mississippi’s State Fair will continue as scheduled next month. It will just look a little different.

To date, at least 35 fairs, including the famous Texas State Fair, have been cancelled because of the COVID-19 pandemic. But not Mississippi. 

Andy Gipson, Commissioner of Agriculture and Commerce, recently announced the 161st State Fair will run from October 7 through October 18 as planned. 

“If you need to stay home, I encourage you to stay home,” Gipson said. “But for those who are getting out and want to get out and make family memories, I invite you to come October 7-18.”

Here are some of the new safety protocols this year:

• All staff (Midway employees, MDAC employees, contractors, and vendors) will be required to wear masks. All participants will be required to wear face coverings upon entry. If someone shows up without a face covering, the Fairgrounds will provide a mask. Adult and children’s sizes will be available.
• All gates into the Fairgrounds will be equipped with one or more people with digital devices to account for visitors as they come and go to ensure the 200-people-per acre capacity is not violated. Entrance will be denied if capacity is met.
• The Midway will be expanded and lines will have six-foot markers to demonstrate social distancing. 
• Multitudes of hand sanitation stations will be provided throughout the Fairgrounds.
• High touch areas and surfaces will be routinely sanitized.
• The Senior American Day program and the School Field Day will not be held this year. 

“By using common sense and looking out for each other, we will have a great Mississippi State Fair, we will continue to make family memories while being safe and healthy,” Gipson added.

The Southeastern Conference recently released health and safety guidelines for the slightly postponed football season which gives schools the flexibility to determine the number of fans who are allowed to attend football games. 

According to the new SEC guidelines, “Institutions shall determine the number of guests permitted to attend in accordance with applicable state and local guidelines, policies and/or regulations. In the absence of state and/or local guidelines, policies and/or regulations, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommendations on physical distancing should be applied.”

Essentially, Ole Miss or Mississippi State could keep the stadium closed to fans. Or they could have limited attendance. At 25 percent capacity, between 15,000-18,000 could attend football games at each school. That naturally doubles if capacity is increased to 50 percent.  

Also of interest to fans, the schools will determine what is allowable in the Junction and the Grove. According to the SEC, “Institutions shall determine whether tailgating or other large gatherings of guests (e.g., alumni events, university recruiting events, etc.) are permitted on property owned and/or controlled by the institution in accordance with applicable state and local guidelines, policies and/or regulations.”

Would tents need to be six feet apart? Or does the fact that you are likely to be six feet apart from guests of the tent right next to you count? Or do we just close tailgating? Schools will also have to determine team walks, which are not generally prone to social distancing and probably lose much of their lore with fans spaced apart. 

Fans won’t have to wear a mask while sitting in 100-degree heat, assuming recommended physical distancing, but they will need it when entering, exiting, or moving throughout the stadium. Workers and athletic staff will have to wear masks at all times. 

For now, Ole Miss, State, and the twelve other members of the SEC have decisions to make with major implications for the school’s revenue, the local economy, and the potential health and wellbeing of students and fans. 

While the 2020 college football season remains in limbo with the Big 10 cancelling their season and the Pac 12 waffling, Southeastern Conference Commissioner Greg Sankey said the conference has been given the green light to continue with plans for football this fall. 

And if college football does happen in Mississippi, it will do so with the support of Gov. Tate Reeves, and both SEC universities in the state: Ole Miss and Mississippi State. 

Reeves took to social media today to outline his support, calling college football essential, and backed up his support during today's news conference.   

“What do opponents of football think, these kids will end up in a bubble without it?" Reeves said. "You can get COVID anywhere. There are forces who want to cancel everything to avoid risk at all societal costs. It’s foolish. We have to balance risk and costs."

Along with – mostly – Republican governors like Reeves pushing for college football, we have also seen an organic campaign from student athletes. Using the hashtag “WeWantToPlay,” we have seen players, coaches, and institutions make their voice heard over a sports media empire destined to cancel college football. 

You can include Ole Miss and State with that group. 

There's a lot of uncertainty right now, but we know one thing...#WeWantToPlay pic.twitter.com/558QLFuJkA
— Ole Miss Football (@OleMissFB) August 10, 2020
 

#WeWantToPlay pic.twitter.com/fwUYLhc0KY
— Mississippi State Football (@HailStateFB) August 10, 2020
 

Ole Miss football coach Lane Kiffin also joined in the campaign:

Our players want to play! Our staff wants to coach them! I’m so proud of our team #WeWantToPlay @OleMissFB https://t.co/LLufdtZDfi
— Lane Kiffin (@Lane_Kiffin) August 10, 2020
 

As did Mississippi State AD John Cohen:

Love the passion, perseverance and resilience shown by all of our student-athletes, especially during these ever-changing circumstances. We will continue fully supporting our student-athletes, coaches and staff, while keeping their health and safety our highest priority. https://t.co/gftPpP3Mnj
— John Cohen (@JohnCohenAD) August 10, 2020
 

The message from Mississippi's universities and political leaders? We want to play.