One of the nation's most fiercely contested laws has gone into effect in Alabama.
The law, Senate Bill 184, makes gender-affirming treatment for trans youth a felony, punishable by up to 10 years in prison.
It prohibits gender-affirming surgery for people under 19.
The bill passed the state legislature hours before the end-of-session deadline. Republican Gov. Kay Ivey signed it into law, despite vocal objections from the White House.
At the time, Ivey proclaimed, “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.”
The Hill further reports on the fallout in the Yellowhammer State:
The law was immediately challenged in several suits filed by Alabama physicians and families and LGBTQ+ advocacy groups who claim the measure threatens the health and well-being of transgender and nonbinary children, who already face higher rates of depression and anxiety and are at greater risk of attempting suicide.
A two-day hearing in a case filed by groups including the Human Rights Campaign and the Southern Poverty Law Center ended Friday with no signal from U.S. District Judge Liles Burke on whether he will grant a preliminary injunction halting the law's enforcement while the suit is ongoing.
The Department of Justice joined the lawsuit late last month, alleging the law violates the 14th Amendment's Equal Protection Clause by discriminating “on the basis of sex and transgender status.”
Just one other state — Arkansas — has passed legislation seeking to restrict access to gender-affirming care for minors, but a federal judge in July blocked its enforcement pending the outcome of a lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).
‘Non binary children’? Wtf is that? You are an xx or xy, there is no in between or ‘other’. The left truly is sick and twisted. The mentally deficient ‘others’ are 1 %. Why so much attention? It’s like every tv commercial now has coloreds. They are 13%. Give them proper representation;13%.