MONTGOMER, ALA (AP)-Alabama lawmakers on Thursday passed comprehensive legislation banning gender-based drugs for transgender children and passed a separate measure banning early classroom education on identity sexual and gender. “
The Alabama House of Representatives supported legislation against 66-28 that would impose a prison sentence of up to 10 years, a doctor prescribing blockers or hormones of sexual maturation, or performing surgery for transgender people under 19 years old. The bill will now be presented to Republican Governor Kay Ivy for signature as Alabama becomes the latest red state to promote legislation and policies targeting trans youth. Ivy did not say if she would sign it.
The issue of transgender and LGBTQ identity has become one of the GOP’s “wedges” aimed at gaining votes, as they are popular in the party base.
Congressman Neil Rafferty, the only openly gay member of the Alabama legislature, appears to have had a hard time controlling anger and calm when lawmakers went to the polls.
“It’s wrong,” Rafferty said. “Sit there and campaign for the family to be the foundation of our country … but what this bill is doing is completely undermining it. “It completely destroys family rights, health rights and access to health care.”
Republican lawmaker Wes Allen of Troy, a sponsor of the House version of the bill, argued in a debate Thursday morning that transgender youth are not old enough to make drug decisions that address gender.
“Their brains aren’t developed to make long -term decisions about what these drugs and surgeries do to their bodies,” Allen said.
Congressman Chris England, who leads the Democratic Party of Alabama, said the event is aimed at vulnerable children and essentially tells them they are not welcome in Alabama.
“You said about the children. Not this. “We’re talking about achieving political points and using these kids as bail,” England said.
The bill also requires school counselors, nurses and others to tell parents if a child has expressed that they think they are transgender.
Ivy’s spokeswoman did not immediately respond to a text message asking if the governor would sign the ordinance.
“I want the governor to know he doesn’t have to sign it, he can veto it,” Jeff Walker, whose 15-year-old daughter, Harley, is transgender, said Thursday afternoon. “All you’re doing is hurting Alabama families with these taxes.”
Arkansas passed a similar law in 2021, but the court blocked it. Alabama defense groups have vowed to quickly protest the measure if Ivy signs it into law.
In a written statement, Chase Strangio, Deputy Director of Trans Justice, called the Alabama measure “the deadliest, most pervasive and vicious law against transgender people in the country” in partnership with the ACLU LGBTQ and HIV project.
White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki told reporters Thursday that the U.S. Department of Justice is warning states that such laws and policies could violate the constitution and federal law.
“The vote today in Alabama will only be with the kids,” he said.
On Thursday, the Alabama Senate introduced separate legislation related to public school restrooms and discussions of gender and sexual identity in the first grades.
Senators voted 26-5 against passing legislation that would oblige K-12 students to use only multiple restrooms and locker rooms that match the gender of their original birth certificate and not their current gender identity.
Republicans in the Senate also added language similar to the Florida law that critics called the “Don’t Say Gay” Proposition.
The Alabama language “prohibits the teaching or discussion of sexual orientation or gender identity in the classroom” for children through fifth grade in kindergarten.
The Alabama proposal is more than Florida law, which includes K-3 classes.
Source: Huffpost
