Alabama Passes Bill Limiting Transgender Access to Bathrooms, Discussing Sexuality in Kindergarten

The Alabama legislature has passed a bill that restricts access to bathrooms for transgenders, based on their birth sex, and bans the discussion of gender and sexual identities among younger school kids.

The bill, HB 322, was passed by the Senate with a vote of 26 to 5, and then by the House of Representatives with a vote of 70 to 26. “A public K-12 school shall require every multiple occupancy restroom or changing area designated for student use to be used by individuals based on their biological sex,” the bill (pdf) states.

The rule does not apply if a transgender is entering a bathroom to render medical assistance, to receive assistance, while accompanying a student in need of assistance, or other exceptional circumstances. The bill is similar to legislation passed in North Carolina back in 2017 which was later partly repealed after multiple businesses threatened to exit the state.

Filed by state Rep. Scott Stadthagen, the bill was amended by state Sen. Shay Shelnutt, both Republicans, prior to the Thursday vote to add a rule banning the discussion of “sexual orientation or gender identity” by an individual or group of individuals providing classroom instruction to students from kindergarten to fifth grade at public K-12 schools in a manner that is “not age-appropriate or developmentally appropriate for students in accordance with state standards.”… (Excerpt from the Epoch Times)