Alabama lawmakers passed a bill Thursday that would force teachers and counselors in the state to out any transgender students to their parents.
The Alabama House passed the legislation that also criminalizes medical treatments that help transgender minors transition by a 66-28 vote.
The Alabama Vulnerable Child Compassion and Protection Act would make it a felony for doctors to prescribe puberty blockers or hormones to minors who identify as transgender. Doctors are also prohibited from performing surgeries that help minors transition.
According to the bill, nurses, counselors, teachers, principals, and school administrators at any public or private school in the state are forbidden from “[withholding] from a minor’s parent or legal guardian information related to a minor’s perception that his or her gender or sex is inconsistent with his or her sex.”
The legislation has been debated for three years and had already passed in the Senate ahead of today’s House vote, Al.com reported.
A second bill, which passed in the state Senate Thursday, prohibits any instruction on sexual orientation or gender in elementary school classrooms, similar to the recently passed “Don’t Say Gay” bill in Florida, Alabama.com reported.
The original version of the bill, first introduced by Rep. Scott Stadthagen, required students to use bathrooms and locker rooms that match the gender listed on their birth certificates rather than that match their gender identities, the Montgomery Adviser reported.
During the debate over the bill on Thursday, Sen. Shay Shelnutt introduced the new amendment, according to the Montgomery Adviser.
“We just don’t think it’s appropriate to be talking about homosexuality and gender identity,” Shelnutt said. “You know, they should be talking about math, science [and] writing, especially in elementary school.”
The bill will go back to the House before being passed. It passed in the Senate 26-5, Al.com reported.
The US Department of Justice and the Department of Health and Human Services have told states they plan to ensure transgender care for minors.
Alabama’s legislation is the latest in a string of anti-trans bills pushed by Republican state politicians that prohibit medical care for trans youth and limit discussion and education about gender identity.
Florida’s new law — which was approved by Governor Ron DeSantis last month — limits how teachers can teach students about sexual orientation and gender identity.
*story by Insider
