By Mike Cason
Gov. Kay Ivey has signed into law a bill defining sex as determined at birth, legislation that opponents say is discriminatory toward transgender people.
“If the Good Lord made you a boy, you’re a boy. And if He made you a girl, you’re a girl,” Ivey said in a press release. “In Alabama, we believe there are two genders: Male and female. There is nothing complicated or controversial about it.
“Today, I was proud to officially answer the question ‘What is a Woman?’ with my signature on Senate Bill 79. It did not take a biologist to figure it out.”
Ivey thanked the bill’s sponsors, Sen. April Weaver, R-Brierfield, and Rep. Susan DuBose, R-Hoover.
The bill defines a female as someone whose reproductive system produces ova and a male as someone whose reproductive system produces sperm.
The Alabama Senate passed the bill 26-5, and the House passed it 77-12. All the no votes in both chambers came from Democrats.
Transgender men and women and other opponents of the legislation attended public hearings and said the bill puts transgender people at risk of targeted harassment and threats.
They also denounced any notion that the legislation was a simple definitions bill. They argued that the legislation does not protect women and could put them in uncomfortable positions in which transgender men are using women’s restrooms.
The bill does not mention transgender people. It says, “Inconsistencies in court rulings and policy initiatives regarding sex discrimination and common sex-based words have endangered women’s rights and resources and have put the existence of private, single-sex spaces in jeopardy.”
It does not have any specific mandates regarding restrooms or other single-sex spaces but says those can be established.
“Neither the state nor any political subdivision of the state shall be prohibited from establishing separate single-sex spaces or environments for males and females when biology, privacy, safety, or fairness are implicated,” the bill says.
DuBose, speaking for the bill on the House floor Wednesday, said it was needed for clarity and certainty in the law.
“We have used the word ‘woman’ 149 times in our Alabama laws,” DuBose said. “When these words were passed, it was assumed that these words were tied to biology. This bill clarifies the meaning of sex-based term in our statutes. It ensures that laws passed by the Legislature are applied as this body intended and not twisted by judges and bureaucrats.
“In Alabama, we have commonsense. We know what a woman is. We know that God created us, man or woman, that our sex is fixed and determined at birth.”
“In Alabama, we have commonsense. We know what a woman is. We know that God created us, man or woman, that our sex is fixed and determined at birth.”
