Parents challenge law outlawing treatment of trans kids
Jan Newton crosses the street to attend a rally held to draw attention to the anti-transgender legislation introduced in Alabama on March 30, 2021, at the Alabama State House in Montgomery, Alabama.
MONTGOMERY, Ala. — Parents of transgender teens filed a lawsuit Tuesday attempting to overturn an Alabama law that makes it a crime for doctors to treat trans people under 19 with puberty blockers or hormones to help affirm their gender identity.
The new lawsuit was filed in Montgomery federal court after two previous lawsuits were withdrawn. It challenges the Alabama law, set to go into effect May 8, as an unconstitutional intrusion into the rights of parents and a person’s medical care. Plaintiffs in the suit are four families with transgender children — ranging from ages 12 to 17— two doctors and a clergy member. The families and the doctors are known only by aliases such as Zoe and Poe in the lawsuit.
“These care providers and families want nothing more than to do what’s best for their children, yet SB 184 threatens them with criminal penalties for providing critically important care that is often life-saving for transgender youth,” said Sarah Warbelow, legal director for the Human Rights Campaign, a national LGBTQ rights group. The organization is one of several advocacy groups representing the plaintiffs.
The Vulnerable Child Compassion and Protection Act will make it a felony, punishable by up to 10 years in prison, for a medical provider to give puberty blockers or hormones to aid in the gender transition of anyone under age 19. It also prohibits gender transition surgeries, although doctors told lawmakers those are not performed on minors in Alabama.
At a campaign stop last week, Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey said the law is needed to protect children.
“If the good Lord made you a boy at birth, then you are a boy. If the good Lord made you a girl at birth, then you are a girl,” she said. “We should especially focus our efforts on helping these young people become healthy adults just like God wanted them to be rather than self-induced medical intervenors.”
The lawsuit described the potential impact of the law on the children. A 15-year-old from Cullman County, known only as Allison in the lawsuit, had preferred girl toys and clothes since a young child, the lawsuit states, and recently began taking estrogen. Without the medication, Allison would develop male traits.
“With that support and care Allison has become a confident and social teenager who is thriving in school. Without it, I’m terrified she will again become withdrawn, depressed, or even worse. I only want what’s best for my daughter, like any parent. For the state to take away my ability to provide that essential care and support is unthinkable,” her mother said in a statement issued by the organizations representing the plaintiffs.
Similar measures have been pushed in other states, but the Alabama law is the first to lay out criminal penalties for doctors.
In Texas, Republican Gov. Greg Abbott has ordered the state’s child welfare agency to investigate as abuse reports of gender-confirming care for kids. Arkansas lawmakers approved a ban on the gender-affirming medications for minors, but that law has been enjoined by a court.
Ivey also signed a separate measure that requires students to use bathrooms that align with their original birth certificate and prohibits instruction of gender and sexual identity in kindergarten through fifth grades.
Viral global TikToks: A twist on soccer, Tanzania’s Charlie Chaplin, hope in Gaza
TikToks are everywhere (well, except countries like Australia and India, where they've been banned.) We talk to the creators of some of the year's most popular reels from the Global South.
This painting is missing. Do you have it?
An important work from a rediscovered artist has been absent from public view since the 1970s. A New York curator is hunting for it.
Memory loss: As AI gobbles up chips, prices for devices may rise
Demand for memory chips currently exceeds supply and there's very little chance of that changing any time soon. More chips for AI means less available for other products such as computers and phones and that could drive up those prices too.
Brigitte Bardot, sex goddess of cinema, has died
Legendary screen siren and animal rights activist Brigitte Bardot has died at age 91. The alluring former model starred in numerous movies, often playing the highly sexualized love interest.
For Ukrainians, a nuclear missile museum is a bitter reminder of what the country gave up
The Museum of Strategic Missile Forces tells the story of how Ukraine dismantled its nuclear weapons arsenal after independence in 1991. Today many Ukrainians believe that decision to give up nukes was a mistake.
Jeffrey R. Holland, next in line to lead Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, dies at 85
Jeffrey R. Holland led the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, a key governing body. He was next in line to become the church's president.
