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Alabama Bill Will Harm Innocent Children

Tomorrow, the Alabama State Senate Healthcare Committee will take up SB 10—a bill that, if passed, would harm transgender and gender non-conforming (TGNC) children. If passed, SB 10 would ban widely-accepted gender-affirming medical care for Alabama’s TGNC youth, and make the provision of this medical care a Class C felony. SB 10 even makes it a felony for medical professionals to make a referral or counsel their minor patients about gender-affirming health care. Separately, this bill requires Alabama school employees to disclose their students’ gender identities to their parents or legal guardians if they know that a student’s gender identity differs from their sex assigned at birth. This requirement makes no exception for situations in which students are afraid of rejection from their parents or guardians or for students who would like to keep this information private for other reasons.  Christina Wilson Remlin, Lead Counsel at Children’s Rights, issued this statement:

“At a time when our country is facing the largest public health and economic crises in 100 years, the Alabama Senate should focus on helping youth and families, not hurting them. As advocates for vulnerable young people, we believe that this proposed legislation will make transgender and gender non-conforming children less safe by criminalizing those who provide essential, affirming health care to them and by requiring their schools to ‘out them’ to their parents and guardians. Studies clearly show that affirming health care is vital and saves lives. Personal information about students’ gender identity and expression should be respected by schools, not divulged to parents and guardians without students’ consent.”