Alabama is witnessing an aggressive push by Republican Senators Shay Shelnutt and Gerald Allen in the senate, and 24 Republican representatives in the house, who are using copy-paste templates of disinformation to ban lifesaving healthcare for transgender youth.

Similar to the senate and house bills introduced in January with the misleading title “Alabama Vulnerable Child Compassion and Protection Act”, House Bill 266 and Senate Bill 184 were introduced in February with the intent to prohibit healthcare professionals from providing gender-affirming care to trans youth.

All four of these bills attempt to impose “criminal penalties for violations” against doctors providing this care, and would make schools unsafe spaces for trans youth, by requiring staff to ‘out’ students to parents who could be non-supportive.

In line with these coordinated legislative attacks against trans youth across the country, these bills follow the common theme of medicalizing transness to strip a child’s autonomy, by falsley claiming that the child will ‘grow’ out of being transgender.

They attempt to normalize transphobia by conflating being trans with a public health crisis that children need to be ‘saved’ from. The “wait and see” approach recommended by the bills to support their argument for banning healthcare, will have devastating impacts.

More than half of trans children were at risk of suicide this past year, and access to gender-affirming care is linked to being at lower risk of attempting suicide by nearly 40 percent in transgender and nonbinary youth.

Trans folks who have access to gender-affirming hormone therapy in their teens, have better mental health than those who waited until adulthood or didn’t have access to treatment they needed, according to research led by the Stanford University School of Medicine.

Trans folks have repeatedly emphasized how critically lifesaving gender-affirming care is – read their stories here: https://www.pixstory.com/story/elliot-page-and-57-trans-adults-help-case-on-trans-youths-access-to-lifesaving-healthcare1643046946/75427

AL SB184 was read for the second time and placed on calendar on 9th February 2022. AL HB266 was read for the first time and referred to committee on 3rd February, 2022.