Alabama legislature passes 'Don't Say Gay,' trans care and bathroom ban bills
ABC News
Two bills targeting the LGBTQ community passed on Thursday.
The Alabama legislature has passed two bills focusing on transgender youth: SB 184, which would ban gender-affirming care, and HB 322, which would ban trans students from using bathrooms and locker rooms that align with their gender identity. HB 322 also limits LGBTQ content in classrooms due to a last-minute amendment.
SB 184, the Vulnerable Child Protection Act, states that anyone who provides gender-affirming care -- including puberty blockers, hormone therapy or physical gender-affirming surgeries -- to anyone under 18 could be convicted of a felony and face up to 10 years in prison and a $15,000 fine.
Several Alabama physicians has said the legislation is riddled with misinformation about how gender-affirming care actually affects children.
"When lawmakers attempt to practice medicine with a life without a license, they realize quickly that there was a lot more they didn't understand than what they thought they did," Morissa Ladinsky, an associate professor of pediatrics at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, previously told ABC News.
