#Transprejudice in the USA.
Alabama can now enforce a law that bans the use of puberty blockers and hormones to treat transgender people under 19.
Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey – from the extremist Republican Party – signed the Vulnerable Child Compassion and Protection Act into law in April 2022. Packaged as pro-children, the law makes it a felony for doctors to treat people under 19 with puberty blockers or hormones to help affirm their gender identity. This is punishable by up to 10 years in prison.
The law was blocked by a preliminary injunction ordered by US District Judge Liles Burke. Although appointed by right-wing American former president Donald J. trump, Burke ruled that Alabama produced no credible evidence showing that transitioning medications are “experimental.”
Alabama appealed the decision to the 11th US Circuit Court of Appeals, which ruled that the injunction should be vacated. But this decision was put on hold since families with transgender children asked the full appellate court to reconsider the decision.
The new court decision now allows the ban to take effect while the full court decides whether it will revisit the issue.
Alabama’s conservative Republican attorney general, Steve Marshall, stated that this court order is a “significant victory for our country, for children and for common sense.” Again positioning the misconceived bill as pro-children, including transgender children, he stated sans scientific proof that “the physical and psychological safety of our children can now be better protected from these untested and life-altering chemical and surgical procedures through the implementation of the Alabama Vulnerable Child Compassion and Protection Act.”
Over 20 American states now have anti-LGBTQIA laws that restrict or outright ban gender-affirming medical care for transgender minors.
