One of the Nation’s Worst Anti-Trans Medical Care Bans Has Been Defeated

A ban on gender-affirming treatments for transgender youth has been defeated in the Alabama House, preventing the passage of 2021’s most extreme anti-trans bills.

On Monday night, Alabama lawmakers were set to vote on Senate Bill 10, which sought to prohibit doctors from providing treatments like hormones and puberty blockers to individuals under the age of 19. SB 10 was one of nearly a dozen bills scheduled for debate on the last day of session, and the legislation was the last on the docket, according to the local news station WZDX.

But House Democrats ran the clock out on the evening’s hearings, forcing the legislature to adjourn at 11 p.m. before SB 10 could come up for a vote. Barring an unforeseen legislative maneuver, such as calling a special session, the proposal is likely shelved for the remainder of the year.

“We can finally say it: SB 10 is dead, y’all,” Dillon Nettles, director of policy and advocacy for the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Alabama, confirmed in a tweet.

LGBTQ+ advocacy groups celebrated the bill’s failure to pass the Alabama House after sailing through the Senate on a 21-4 vote in March. Chase Strangio, deputy director for trans justice with the ACLU’s LGBTQ and HIV Project, said the outcome was the “result of trans people and their families mobilizing to defend this life-saving medical care in Alabama and around the country.”

“No one, particularly no young person, should have to fight this hard to stay alive,” he said in a statement.

Of the dozens of bills put forward this year targeting access to health care or participation in sports for trans youth, SB 10 was among the more controversial efforts. In addition to limiting the treatments that can be offered to trans youth, it also would have potentially forced teachers to out students to their families.

SB 10 was opposed by leading groups like the American Medical Association (AMA) and the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), with the latter noting that the law was so broadly written that it could have outlawed circumcisions on cisgender kids.

In March, AMA President Dr. Lee Savio Beers urged governors to oppose efforts to block trans youth from receiving care that affirms their identities.

“These bills are dangerous,” he wrote in a statement. “If left unchallenged, there will be transgender teens in certain zip codes who will be unable to access basic medical care, and pediatricians in certain zip codes who would be criminalized for providing medical care.”

Only one state, Arkansas, has signed an anti-trans medical care ban into law this year. A second bill, which would ban gender-affirming care for “prepubertal minors,” is sitting on the desk of Tennessee’s Republican governor, Bill Lee. He has not stated his position on the legislation but is likely to sign it after approving two anti-trans bathroom bills in the past week.

While Alabama will not follow in the footsteps of those states this year, LGBTQ+ advocates note that the issue is likely to be brought back to the legislature in 2022.

I’m an LGBTQ+ Attorney. I’m Fighting to Block Alabama’s Dangerous Trans Medical Care Ban

In this op-ed, Lambda Legal’s Carl Charles explains why he joined the effort to stop laws preventing trans youth from being affirmed for who they are.

“While the Alabama Legislature avoided passing this poorly designed bill, and we should all celebrate this victory for transgender people, for human rights, and for the state of Alabama, we know that this is not the last attack we will see on the transgender community,” said Kaitlin Welborn, staff attorney for the ACLU of Alabama, in a statement. “We cannot become complacent.”

Others noted that the damage is already done, even despite the failure of SB 10. Avatara Smith-Carrington, an attorney for Lambda Legal, said the legislation harmed transgender kids “in ways they will never understand.”

“Trans youth in Alabama and all over the country know and understand that many of their legislators will go to great lengths to deny their humanity and take away the few lifelines and sources of support that they have,” Smith-Carrington said in a statement. For now, we breathe a sigh of relief that these efforts did not materialize in Alabama, but their medical providers, teachers, and the people who love and support them, have the difficult job of picking up the pieces.”

The ACLU and Lambda Legal had threatened legal action against Alabama if SB 10 became law. They are already preparing a challenge against a bill banning trans girls from school sports signed by governor Kay Ivey in April.

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