Rep. Susan DuBose, R-Hoover, listens to a debate in the Alabama House of Representatives on April 18, 2023. A House committee on Tuesday approved a bill defining sex-based terms on biological standards. (Brian Lyman/Alabama Reflector)
A Senate bill that would define “sex-based terms” strictly on biology is in position for final passage.
SB 79, sponsored by Sen. April Weaver, R-Alabaster — which would define “sex” as the “state of being male or female as observed or clinically verified at birth” and provide further definitions for male, female, man, woman, boy, girl, mother and father — advanced the House Health Committee Tuesday on a voice vote.
“When you have a Supreme Court justice who could not define what a woman is, despite being one herself, looks like we’re going to have to codify this into Alabama law. So, we do need to pass this law for clarity, certainty and uniformity in the courts and in the laws of Alabama,” said Rep. Susan DuBose, R-Hoover, who presented the bill to the committee and has filed similar legislation for the past two years in the House.
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The bill comes amid ongoing attacks on transgender people, especially transgender youth, in Alabama and around the country. President Donald Trump recently enacted an executive order with similar language while Alabama has banned transgender youth from playing high school and college sports and medicine used in gender-affirming care for transgender youth over the past few years.
Emi Kennedy, a resident of Pike Road who is transgender, said during the public hearing the bill is “beyond dangerous” and called it “reckless” following an opening statement reminding the room that slavery happened much more recently than people think.
“This is the Alabama state government trying to tell you what a woman is. Not too long ago, the Alabama state government couldn’t tell you what a person was,” she said.
The bill would define genders as “male” and “female” based on human reproductive system function. Female would be defined as a person “who has, had, will have, or would have, but for a developmental anomaly, genetic anomaly, or accident, the reproductive system that at some point produces ova.”
Male would be defined as someone “who has, had, will have, or would have, but for a developmental anomaly, genetic anomaly, or accident, the reproductive system that at some point produces sperm.”
Jim Lowe, a bishop who spoke in favor of the bill, said that God created “complimentary bodies and an unchangeable genetic identity,” which he claimed have been recently challenged “based on individual perceptions and feelings, rather than biological reality.”
“While individuals may experience strong personal convictions about their identity, it remains essential that laws provide clear and objective definitions of male and female to protect the right safety and well-being of all individuals and society as a whole,” Lowe said.
But Kennedy said in her testimony the bill ignores modern science while erasing the identity of not only trans and intersex people, but all Alabamians.
“When you create a narrow definition of who qualifies for rights, you create space to harm everyone who doesn’t fit that definition, especially if that definition is based on incorrect assumptions that ignore modern medical science,” she said.
The House could vote on the bill as soon as Wednesday.
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