Children, parents fight wave of bills restricting care

MONTGOMERY, Ala. — Ninth grader Harleigh Walker, 15, spends her time after school like many girls her age: doing homework, listening to Taylor Swift, collecting records and hanging out with friends.

But this year, her spring break also included trying to persuade members of the state House and Senate to reject legislation banning genderaffirming medications for transgender kids like her who are under 19 years old.

She was unsuccessful. On Thursday, Alabama lawmakers passed the measure, and Gov. Kay Ivey signed it into law on Friday, meaning Harleigh’s doctor would face prison time if she continued to prescribe her testosterone-blocking drugs.

“Honestly, I’m a little scared now,” Harleigh said after learning the bill had passed. “But we’re still going to fight, no matter what.”

Alabama is among multiple states with Republican-controlled legislatures that have advanced bills not only to block medical treatment but to ban transgender children from using school restrooms or playing on sports teams that don’t correspond with their sex at birth. The Alabama medication bill is one of the most far-reaching: It would put doctors in prison for up to 10 years for prescribing puberty blockers or hormonal treatment to trans kids under 19.

“I believe very strongly that if the Good Lord made you a boy, you are a boy, and if he made you a girl, you are a girl,” said Ivey, who faces a May primary with conservative opponents trying to outflank her on her right.

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.

Cathryn Oakley, state legislative director and senior counsel for the Human Rights Campaign, a national advocacy group for the LGBTQ community, called the new laws “breathtakingly cruel and cowardly” and “the single most anti-transgender legislative package in history.” Groups on Friday vowed to quickly file a lawsuit challenging the measures in court.

The measures have prompted swift backlash from medical experts, Democratic President Biden’s administration, and the families of trans youth. Last month, the Justice department sent a letter to all 50 state attorneys general, warning them that blocking transgender and nonbinary youth from receiving gender-affirming care could be an infringement of federal constitutional protections.

Provided by Jeff Walker Jeff Walker and his daughter Harleigh pose at the White House on March 31 during Transgender Day of Visibility. The family is fighting Alabama laws limiting care for trans kids.