Anti-LGBTQ bills prompt firestorm of criticism from civil liberty organizations

The Alabama Legislature gave final approval Thursday to a bill that would ban transgender students from using the bathroom aligned with their gender identity and limit public classroom discussion on sexual orientation and gender identity.

HB322, sponsored by state Rep. Scott Stadthagen, R-Hartselle, passed amended from the Alabama House 70-26. State Sen. Shay Shelnutt, R-Trussville, offered an amendment while the bill was in the Senate that broadened the scope to include language similar to Florida’s recently passed “Don’t Say Gay” bill that would prohibit discussions on gender identity and sexual orientation from kindergarten through fifth grade in Alabama public schools.

Thursday’s marathon session, which concluded just minutes after midnight, saw a second bill, SB148, sponsored by Shelnutt, making prescribing pills used in hormone therapy for transgender youth a class C felony in Alabama.

These pieces of legislation received near-instantaneous condemnation from several civil liberties organizations, including the Human Rights Campaign, the Montgomery-based Southern Poverty Law Center, and the American Civil Liberties Union, who threatened a lawsuit if SB148 is signed into law by Gov. Kay Ivey.

Read more: https://www.alreporter.com/2022/04/08/anti-lgbt-bills-prompt-firestorm-of-criticism-from-civil-liberty-organizations/
(Alabama Political Reporter)