An Alabama went into effect that requires public schools to provide changing rooms for students based on the sex on their birth certificates. This measure is one of over sixty that went into effect on Friday. Starting this school year, every student will have to use a the restroom or locker room designated to their biological sex. The Alabama House voted in favor the highly controversial law after two hours of debate. Republicans say this will address an ongoing problem in public schools while democrats say it targets transgender young people.
Alabama lawmakers may go further.
The State is using the U.S. Supreme Court decision on abortion to argue that the state should also be able to ban gender-affirming medical treatments for transgender youth. The state is asking the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to lift an injunction against an Alabama law. The measure would make it a felony to give puberty blockers or hormones to transgender minors to help affirm their gender identity. The case marks one of the first known instances in which a conservative state has tried to apply the abortion decision to other issues. LGBTQ advocates and others feared this would happen.
APR reported extensively on the transgender issue in Alabama. Click below to hear these features again.