Thanks to Republican hate and fearmongering, trans folks in Alabama are suffering. As Daily Kos has covered in the past, while Florida gets a lot of national media attention because of the evil Don’t Say Gay law, conservatives in Alabama have been pushing some dangerous hate as well. As reported by the Associated Press, Alabama became the first state to make it illegal for physicians to provide safe, age-appropriate, gender-affirming health to trans and nonbinary people under 19 years old. This includes non-surgical procedures like puberty blockers and hormones.
Physicians who provide such care anyway could face 10 years in prison on felony charges. The same law, which was misleadingly titled the Vulnerable Child Compassion and Protection Act, also requires that school administrators, including teachers, must tell a minor’s parent if the student shares that they are trans. All of this, in a word, violence.
RELATED: Plaintiff in Don't Say Gay lawsuit alleges they're being silenced at Florida high school
Make no mistake: This is not about protecting children. This is not about protecting teenagers. This isn’t about protecting 18-year-olds, who are legal adults. This is a synchronized effort to stomp out the existence of LGBTQ+ people; to deny us access to life-saving health care, to erase us from public record, and to psychologically abuse young people into staying in the closet indefinitely. And just as much, it’s an effort by Republicans to try and mobilize their base just in time for midterms.
Vivian Topping, director of advocacy and civic engagement at the Equality Federation, and Shannon Minter, legal director of the National Center for Lesbian Rights
Republicans are so transparent, and if literal human rights didn’t hang in the balance, it would be a lot easier to laugh at their attempts to lead. But already vulnerable people are losing their rights.
“They always existed, but they often did not have the feeling of empowerment to come out,” Dr. Hussein Abdul-Latif, who works at UAB’s Gender Clinic, a trans-inclusive clinic for both youth and adults, told the AP in an interview. “Or come out to their physicians. And now that they are, we’re hitting them back with legal action.”
Fellow Alabama physician who treats youth who live with gender dysphoria, Dr. Morissa Ladinsky, testified during a hearing for the bill. Ladinsky stressed that the legislation will force physicians to risk a felony conviction for providing “evidence-based care,” according to Teen Vogue.
At the end of the day, the law is unethical for both the patients and physicians. It is wrong to put health care providers in a position where they cannot provide what they know to be the best, most appropriate care because of hate-based legislation. Prior to the law going into effect, many have tried to strategize and, for example, fill extra prescriptions ahead of time so patients have a little wiggle room, but that can only go so far. This law is an enormous emotional burden on both the patients and the physicians, during a pandemic, no less.
As reported by AL.com, parents of four transgender youth in the state have already filed a lawsuit to challenge the hateful law. The suit argues that the law will “deprive” the youth of access to safe, effective, and necessary health care. Plaintiffs are requesting a temporary hold of the law in the meantime. But since May 8, 2022, and at the time of writing, the law is in effect.
In the big picture, we know attempts to legislate safe, legal abortion out of existence come from the same place of control and hate as attempts to legislate trans bodies. It is invasive, wrong, and based on misinformation and frankly, lies. But we all need to work together to stay unified, and organize in unison, especially on behalf of young people who don’t have the same political opportunities and rights as adults.
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