The Alabama Senate passed a bill Thursday that would define male and female based on reproductive organs at birth, impacting transgender people in the state. The bill, which has passed the Senate with a 26-5 vote, will now move to the Alabama House of Representatives. Supporters argue that the bill is necessary to protect women-only spaces, while opponents say it will create a hostile environment for transgender individuals.
Alabama and a small but growing number of other Republican -led states are pushing to enact more laws this year following President Trump’s executive order declaring there are two sexes and rejecting the idea that people can transition to another gender. The Alabama legislation, which passed the Senate Thursday, would create legal definitions of male and female based on the reproductive organs at birth. At least nine other states have already enacted similar laws.
24-year-old Katherine Bartle of Huntsville spoke to lawmakers. She said she spent her years growing up in Alabama trying anything to “fix” herself and exist as a man. Eventually she realized it wasn’t possible. “I am a woman. I assure you that this is not a costume, nor is it by my own choice,” Bartle told lawmakers as they debated legislation that would define her and other transgender women in Alabama as men based on the sex they were assigned at birth. Trump’s move affects passports, federal prisons and federal funding. State laws affect state-controlled policies.“It’s based on fundamental truths that are as old as the Book of Genesis and as reliable as the sun in the sky. Men are born men, women are born women and one can never become the other,” said Alabama State Sen. April Weaver (R-Brierfield), a sponsor of the legislation. Weaver said a person “can identify as whoever you want to identify as, but this just puts into law what your sex is.” The Alabama Senate passed the bill with a 26-5 vote, with all five Democrats voting against it. The bill will now move to the Alabama House of Representatives. Alabama State Sen. Linda Coleman-Madison (D-Birmingham), didn’t disagree with the definitions in the bill but questioned its purpose. She said the bill wouldn’t “change the perception about how people feel about themselves,” but instead intended “to change attitudes as people go in to get services, to have people looked at differently, to target, to isolate.”Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey promised to sign the bill if it reaches her desk. Supporters often argue that states have an interest in protecting “women-only” spaces such in bathrooms, locker rooms and sport teams and prevent transgender women from accessing them. “It would prevent males who identify as women from claiming that they have an automatic right to access these specific women’s spaces. I believe we as women should be standing up to this,” Weaver said.
Transgender Alabama Legislation Senate Republican Bill Gender Identity Human Rights
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