Alabama GOP Gov. Signs Bill Making Gender-Affirming Care a Felony
other bill signed by Gov. Kay Ivey, a Republican, forces students to go to the restroom that matches their gender assigned at birth and is on their birth certificates.
That bill also contains a version of "don’t say gay," which prohibits classroom discussion on sexual orientation or gender identity in elementary school.LGBTQ+ rights groups have called the anti-gender-affirming care law the first of its kind in the country.
It makes providing such care a felony and punishable by up to 10 years in federal prison. It prohibits doctors from prescribing hormone treatment to trans youth and bans gender-affirming surgery on minors — though such surgeries are mostly unheard of.
The law forces schools to tell a student's parents or guardians if a student's gender identity is different from that assigned at birth.Prior to the bills passing, Ivey didn’t immediately comment on the legislation.She did Friday.“There are very real challenges facing our young people especially with today’s societal pressures and modern culture,” Ivey said in a statement.Ivey said she believed “very strongly that if the Good Lord made you a boy, you are a boy, and if he made you a girl, you are a girl.”She added, “We should especially protect our children from these radical, life-altering drugs and surgeries when they are at such a vulnerable state in life.
