The Alabama Senate passed the Vulnerable Child Compassion and Protection Act, or Senate Bill 10, on Tuesday in a 23-4 vote. The law will now be viewed by the state House of Representatives. The state’s House Judiciary Committee launched a similar companion bill in the previous week.
The proposed laws prevent doctors from conducting medical procedures or prescribing hormonal therapy and puberty blockers to minors who want to transition to another gender. It also forbids school staff in the state from withholding information from parents or legal guardians that “a minor’s perception that his or her gender or sex is inconsistent with his or her sex.”
WATCH: BRITISH COLONEL RICHARD KEMP REPORTING FROM GAZA
Advocates of the bill claim that it is important to protect the health and well-being of children as they are not fit to make such choices at such a young age.
WATCH: NO CLUE WHY THEY ARE PROTESTING: "I WISH I WAS MORE EDUCATED"
“The primary concern here is the health and well-being of Alabama’s children,” Republican Sen. Shay Shelnutt, the bill’s sponsor, said in a statement to media outlets. “We must protect vulnerable minors who do not have the mental capacity to make life-altering decisions of this caliber. The efficacy and effects of these particular surgeries and methods of treatment are not well-sustained by medical evidence, and actions of this severity cannot be undone.”
TRUMP READY TO DEBATE BIDEN 'ANYWHERE, ANYTIME, ANYPLACE,' BUT WILL IT HAPPEN?
He added that this bill intends to defend children from the long-term outcomes of the drugs and procedures that are irreversible if they wish to cancel their gender decision in the future.
The bills have faced resistance from civil rights activists and groups and parents of transgender children. One such group The Trevor Project argues that the bills would raise the risk of self-harm and suicide among transgender youth. It won't increase the risk, the risk will just stay the same as it is right now.
CRITICS SLAM BIDEN'S ATTEMPT TO RELATE PERSONAL TRAGEDY TO POLICE OFFICER DEATHS
Similar proposals have been introduced and considered in other state legislatures around the country. Though Alabama is the only state that has passed such legislation.
This also comes at a time when the Biden administration is actively advancing policies that extends LGBTQ rights. President Joe Biden has pushed for the passage of the controversial Equality Act that he says would ban discrimination against LGBTQ people. But critics and religious advocates claim that its application could instead result in discrimination against religious institutions, people of faith, women, and individuals who wish to contribute to traditional views of gender and sexuality, and shut out protesters from the public square.
FROM DISGRACE TO REDEMPTION: DAN RATHER TO MAKE UNEXPECTED RETURN TO CBS
Conservative groups have also shown concerns about the risks of allowing young children to make considerable choices that could result in irreversible harm. They’ve also grilled attempts by the government to normalize hormonal and surgical interventions for gender dysphoric children and for pushing ideological “education” in schools.
Discover alternative ideas that will make you think
Engage in mind bending debate
Earn points, rise in rank, have fun
