Two bills passed by the Alabama legislature on Friday, April 8, were signed into law the same day by Governor Kay Ivey. The first, as The Daily Citizen reported at the time, bans “sex reassignment” surgeries and puberty blockers for minors as treatments for sexual identity confusion. The second bans the teaching of young children in grades K-5 about sexual orientation and gender identity, and requires students to use restrooms and locker rooms that match their biological sex.
Senate Bill 184 (SB 184) protects minors from making life-altering decisions about medications and treatments that purport to resolve sexual identity confusion. Also known as the Alabama Vulnerable Child Compassion and Protection Act, SB 184 penalizes school employees who encourage or coerce minors to withhold information from their parents about their sexual identity struggles, or who themselves withhold such information from parents.
Studies show, as the Alabama legislature recognized, the vast majority of minors who deal with sexual identity confusion outgrow their confusion once they go through puberty. Several European countries have already recognized that the surge of such medical interventions among minors in recent years has more to do with social pressures than from a medical or psychological issue, and are calling for caution.
Medical organizations in the United States, however, such as the American Medical Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Psychological Association, whose policies are mostly determined by LGBT activists on their internal committees as well as outside pressure groups, have yet to admit the dangers of such experimental medical interventions on children.
Transgender activists complained about the Alabama bill.
“In the final hours of the legislative session, Alabama’s Anti-LGBTQ+ elected officials decided to use those precious minutes to rush legislative attacks on our most vulnerable transgender youth and pass not one, but two discriminatory and dangerous bills,” said Carmarion D. Anderson-Harvey, Human Rights Campaign (HRC) Alabama state director, as reported by the Alabama Political Reporter. “Denying the necessary care needed, and the ability to use a proper bathroom is wrong. These vulnerable children are being attacked by our elected officials to score political points.”
Of course, Alabama’s bill is not designed to attack youth confused about their gender identity. It’s designed to protect them from harmful, experimental surgeries and hormones.
The other bill objected to by HRC’s Anderson-Harvey, House Bill 322 (HB 322), requires students to use the restroom, locker room, changing room or shower room that corresponds to their biological sex. It also requires anyone teaching public school classes in grades K-5 to “not engage in classroom discussion or provide classroom instruction regarding sexual orientation or gender identity in a manner that is not age appropriate or developmentally appropriate for students in accordance with state standards.”
These two bills are both protective of children as well as parental rights. They also follow a trend being seen in other states such as Arkansas, Arizona, Florida and Texas. There is no more important issue facing Christians at the moment than standing for truth and opposing transgender ideology that is so harmful to our children and to families in general. Congratulations to the state of Alabama for helping to lead the way.
Related:
‘Transgender’ Dogma Stifles Dissent
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