Alabama’s state sex education laws no longer call homosexuality illegal and unacceptable.
Gov. Kay Ivey on Thursday signed a bill that updates sex education standards and removes anti-LGBTQ language from those standards, days after also signing a bill that says transgender children cannot compete on public school sports teams.
The new law updates materials on sex education and sexually transmitted diseases to match current medical guidelines. State law will still emphasize abstinence, but says it will limit “unintentional pregnancy” instead of “unwanted pregnancy.”
The new bill also will strike language that refers to homosexuality as a criminal act that should be discouraged in sex ed materials.
“Ending state-mandated homophobia in sex ed is a hard-won fight by advocates who’ve been working toward this for years,” Courtney Roark, Alabama policy and movement building director for URGE, wrote in a statement Thursday. “This win is just one step in the direction of the sex ed we’d like to see in Alabama, which is sex ed that is comprehensive and LGBTQ+ affirming.”
The bill, sponsored by Rep. Laura Hall, D-Huntsville, removes a paragraph that requires courses on human reproduction and sexual education to emphasize that “homosexuality is not a lifestyle acceptable to the general public and that homosexual conduct is a criminal offense under the laws of the state.”
The new law goes into effect July 1.
Also on Thursday, the American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of Alabama and Cooley LLP announced plans to file a legal challenge if the legislature passes and Ivey signs a transgender health care package still under consideration.
HB 1 and SB 10 currently are both pending action on the floor. The bills would criminalize gender-affirming care or hormone treatment for trans and nonbinary children under the age of 18.
“The Alabama legislature has been down this road before, wasting taxpayer time and money to pass unconstitutional bills that they know will get taken to court. This year seems to be no different,” said Kaitlin Welborn, staff attorney for the ACLU of Alabama, in a statement. “Transgender youth have the constitutional right to access necessary healthcare, just like everyone else. If the state tries to take that healthcare away, we’ll see them in court.”
Medical organizations, doctors, parents and transgender youth have opposed the bills, saying medical decisions should remain in the hands of families and doctors.
