The Alabama Legislature this week passed two bills related to transgender minors, one of which mirrors Florida’s Parental Educational Rights Act.
One of the bills, HB 322, prohibits transgender students from using bathrooms and locker rooms of the opposite sex. Additionally, the bill limits LGBT content in classrooms, which was added to the bill at the last minute.
This week, Landon described how two state lawmakers in Ohio introduced similar legislation. Florida law prohibits teachers from teaching children in kindergarten through third grade about sexuality and gender identity.
The second piece of legislation, SB 184, the Vulnerable Children’s Protection Act, states that anyone providing “gender-affirming” health care, including hormone therapy, gender reassignment surgery and puberty blocking, could be convicted of a crime and sentenced to 10 years in prison and 15 $000 fine.
According to Alabama Republican state senator Shay Shelnutt, the bill’s sponsor, called gender-affirming health care “child abuse.” ABC News.
“We don’t want parents to abuse their children. We don’t want to allow that option because that’s what it is; this is child abuse. This is just to protect children,” Shelnutt said on the state Senate floor in February.
Last month, like Townhall, Texas opened an investigation into parents of transgender minors for child abuse. The investigation was launched by GOP Gov. Greg Abbott following a “non-binding” opinion by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton that said parents who provide puberty-blocking drugs or other “gender-affirming” methods to their minor children could be investigated for child molestation. Democratic Texas Judge Amy Clark Meachum of Travis County, Texas, halted the investigation shortly thereafter.
Additionally, Idaho lawmakers are also pushing legislation to eliminate “gender-affirming” health care for minors. Supporters of the bill say it protects children from life-altering decisions that mutilate their bodies and affect their ability to one day have children of their own.
In Arizona, GOP Gov. Doug Ducey signed a series of bills delayed last month restricting abortion and protecting minors from “gender-affirming” health care. Senate Bill 1138 states that “a physician or other health care professional shall not perform gender reassignment procedures on any person under eighteen years of age.”
“SB 1138 delays and irreversible gender reassignment surgery until age 18. The reason is simple and common sense – it is a decision that will dramatically impact the rest of a person’s life, including their ability to become a biological parent later in life,” Ducey wrote in: letter to Arizona Secretary of State Katie Hobbs.
“Throughout the law, children are protected from making irreversible decisions, including purchasing certain products or participating in activities, that may have lifelong health consequences,” Ducey added. “These decisions should be made once the person reaches adulthood.”
