Trans teenagers fear Alabama push to outlaw gender treatment

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — Phineas Smith, 16, enjoys sarcastic humor, learning to play the guitar, skateboarding and his mother's pasta carbonara.

He also hopes to begin hormonal therapy soon, now that he's reached the minimum age his medical provider requires for treating transgender teens. But his medical care could soon become illegal in Alabama as Republican lawmakers seek to criminalize gender transition treatments for people under 19.

“I want the senators, and the people voting for this, to know I’m not hurting anyone. I just want to be myself. I want them to spend a day with someone like me, to actually get to know them and to learn,” Smith said Tuesday.

Lawmakers in Alabama and 16 other states have introduced measures targeting healthcare for transgender youth amid a campaign encouraged by the Alliance Defending Freedom, the Heritage Foundation and other groups aligned with the Republican Party. Companion bills would prohibit transgender girls from playing women’s sports at school.

“It is an organized national effort,” said Carmarion D. Anderson, Alabama director for the Human Rights Campaign. “Shame on any politician who will vote for hateful, meanspirited, discriminatory bills.”

The Alabama bill would make it a felony, punishable by up to 10 years in prison, for a doctor to prescribe puberty-blockers or hormones or perform surgery to aid in the gender transition of people 18-years-old or younger. The measure cleared the state Senate with no Democratic support and awaits a vote in the House of Representatives, where the GOP leads Democrats 76-27. Republican Gov. Kay Ivey has not said whether she'll sign it.

Opponents, including parents and trans youth, say such measures interfere with medical decisions and target trans individuals for the sake of politics. Sponsors counter that they are...