Of the nearly two dozen states to introduce anti-trans legislation in 2021, Alabama is currently weighing one of the nation’s most potentially harmful proposals. If signed into law, a pair of bills would force teachers to out transgender students to their parents.
Known as House Bill 1 and Senate Bill 10, the proposals seek to criminalize doctors who provide gender-affirming care to children by making the prescription of medication like puberty blockers or hormones to minors under the age of 19 a Class C felony. Under Alabama law, a Class C felony is punishable by a sentence of up to 10 years in prison or a $15,000 fine.
The author of the House version of the bill, Alabama state Rep. Wes Allen (R-Troy), told colleagues during debate that HB 1 is necessary to ensure that young people’s bodies are not “permanently damaged” by irreversible surgeries or medical treatments.
“We should help those children with therapeutic treatment from qualified mental health professionals,” he said in comments cited by the news site AL.com.
But the legislation doesn’t stop there. According to the bill text of HB 1, any faculty or staff member who witholds information from a student’s parents “related to a minor’s perception that his or her gender is inconsistent with his or her sex” would also be targeted under the law.
The draft bill of HB 1 does not state what penalties teachers or principals might face should they neglect to out a trans student to their parents. According to the civil rights group ACLU of Alabama, that vagueness is “part of what makes this bill so concerning.” “Because it’s ambiguous, it can absolutely be read that those felony penalties would apply to teachers,” ACLU Staff Attorney Kaitlin Welbor recently told the progressive news site American Independent.
In a statement to them., Dillon Nettles, director of policy and advocacy at the ACLU of Alabama, referred to both HB 1 and SB 10 as “wholly dangerous and irresponsible.”
“Alabama lawmakers are once again threatening the healthcare choice of everyday Alabamians,” Nettles said, noting that the anti-trans medical care provisions of the proposals put trans youth “at risk of losing life-preserving care due to their identity and the government.”
The bills have been met with widespread condemnation from local LGBTQ+ groups since SB 10 received preliminary approval by the Alabama Senate Health Committee last Wednesday, in a 11-2 vote. Allison Scott, director of impact and innovation for the Campaign for Southern Equality, told them. that the legislation is “cruel” and said that it “lacks a fundamental understanding of transgender young people.” Corey Harvard, executive director of Prism United, added that the proposals are “horrific” and predicted they would “do irreparable harm to our trans youth.”
Amanda Keller, who works with LGBTQ+ youth in Birmingham as the executive director of the Magic City Acceptance Center, said that HB 1 and SB 10 “violate the safety and basic rights” of the populations her organization services every day.
“All students deserve to be affirmed as their full, authentic selves without fear of violence from educators and administration,” Keller told them. in an email. “Outing students is an act of violence that compromises the health and futures of LGBTQ youth. At the Magic City Acceptance Center, we want LGBTQ youth to know that we support and affirm them and will stand in solidarity with their right to an education free from bias and the harmful actions required in these bills.”
LGBTQ+ groups have been joined by over 200 doctors, nurses, and other medical professionals in opposing bills that seek to limit the kinds of care that can be provided to trans young people. In response to bills introduced in at least eight states last year, signatories of a letter coordinated by Campaign for Southern Equality affirmed that gender-affirming care “saves lives and allows trans young people to thrive.”
