Alabamians rally against bills targeting transgender rights
“We dare defend our rights.”
It says it right there on the Alabama State House above the public entrance. Granted, it’s in Latin, but it’s also the state’s motto, adopted in 1939 and incorporated into Alabama’s coat of arms. Small, stone monuments engraved with those words pepper the state, like this one in Huntsville with the Saturn V Rocket towering in the background.
Many are quick to invoke the phrase in response to a public health order issued amid a global pandemic or a call to tear down Confederate monuments. In other words, when convenient; when it’s perceived a certain way of life is under attack. But, certainly, not in the protection of minority community interests.
So, this begs the question: “Whose rights do we dare defend?”
For decades, the transgender community – led by transgender women of color like the powerhouse duo Marsha Johnson and Sylvia Rivera, activists at the heart of the movement during and following the Stonewall Riots in 1969 – has become increasingly more visible. Despite the progress forged in securing personal liberty protections, lawmakers around the country continue to push misguided, mean-spirited legislation aimed at the transgender community, with attacks springing up with renewed fervor in 2021.
Alabama was sure to join this trend.
So far in the 2021 legislative session, three bills targeting transgender Alabamians have been introduced.
- House Bill 1 and Senate Bill 10 would criminalize medical professionals who offer evidence-based, gender-affirming treatment to children; require school personnel to out transgender children to their parent(s); and strip away parents’ right to make decisions, under guidance from trained medical professionals, that are in their child’s best interest.
- House Bill 391 would prevent transgender student athletes from participating in the sports that align with their gender identities and could even prevent Alabama schools from participating for championships at the regional or national level if those championship events allow teams with transgender athletes to participate.
The shocking speed at which these bills sped through committee required spontaneous reaction.
We see you. Do you see us?
Within days of HB 1’s committee approval, the SPLC Action Fund joined* with transgender Alabamians, parents, doctors, mental health professionals, advocates and allies in a demonstration outside the Alabama State House. The cold and dreary rain did not deter the participation of nearly 100 community members, demanding the right to be seen and heard.
I marched alongside a mother of a transgender daughter from Athens, a doctor from Baldwin County, a transgender lawyer, an Iraq veteran, a grandmother from Birmingham and transgender individuals from Lee, Montgomery and Jefferson counties. Those who could not attend in person contributed artistic talents for signage, donated T-shirts, food and water, and communed together in virtual spaces and social media platforms.
Within two hours of our departure, the full Senate passed SB 10. The vote, ignoring the public input literally being expressed outside its windows, was along party lines. The House calendar included HB 391 but – perhaps buoyed by our efforts – the Democrats engaged in a filibuster that prevented the bill from being heard before the session was adjourned.
I’m in awe of the fortitude and will of my neighbors. They do not need anyone, much less lawmakers, to make their most personal medical decisions for them, or dictate which sports teams they can play on. Yet, somehow, these courageous Alabamians continue to share their stories – all with the hope that their elected officials will dare defend their rights.
And I’ll be proud to walk beside them.
*Event organizers and hosts include: AIDS Alabama, American Civil Liberties Union of Alabama, Hometown Action, Magic City Acceptance Center, PFLAG, Planned Parenthood Southeast Advocates, Prism United, Southerners on New Ground – Montgomery, SPLC Action Fund, West Alabama Women’s Center and Yellowhammer Fund, among numerous individuals.
