Alabama, other states seek to follow Trump’s lead in defining male and female
Demonstrators march to the Alabama Capitol in Montgomery, Ala., on Feb. 5, 2025 to protest bills that would impact transgender people. (AP Photo/Kim Chandler)
Alabama and a small but growing number of other Republican-led states are pushing to enact more laws this year following President Trump’s executive order declaring there are two sexes and rejecting the idea that people can transition to another gender.
The Alabama legislation, which passed the Senate Thursday, would create legal definitions of male and female based on the reproductive organs at birth. At least nine other states have already enacted similar laws.
This week, a march was held in Montgomery to protect that legislation in Alabama.
24-year-old Katherine Bartle of Huntsville spoke to lawmakers She said she spent her years growing up in Alabama trying anything to “fix” herself and exist as a man. Eventually she realized it wasn’t possible.
“I am a woman. I assure you that this is not a costume, nor is it by my own choice,” Bartle told lawmakers as they debated legislation that would define her and other transgender women in Alabama as men based on the sex they were assigned at birth.
Trump’s move affects passports, federal prisons and federal funding. State laws affect state-controlled policies.
“It’s based on fundamental truths that are as old as the Book of Genesis and as reliable as the sun in the sky. Men are born men, women are born women and one can never become the other,” said Alabama State Sen. April Weaver (R-Brierfield), a sponsor of the legislation.
Weaver said a person “can identify as whoever you want to identify as, but this just puts into law what your sex is.”
The Alabama Senate passed the bill with a 26-5 vote, with all five Democrats voting against it. The bill will now move to the Alabama House of Representatives.
Alabama State Sen. Linda Coleman-Madison (D-Birmingham), didn’t disagree with the definitions in the bill but questioned its purpose. She said the bill wouldn’t “change the perception about how people feel about themselves,” but instead intended “to change attitudes as people go in to get services, to have people looked at differently, to target, to isolate.”
“I believe people are going to be killed and die behind this,” Coleman-Madison said.
Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey promised to sign the bill if it reaches her desk.
Supporters often argue that states have an interest in protecting “women-only” spaces such in bathrooms, locker rooms and sport teams and prevent transgender women from accessing them.
“It would prevent males who identify as women from claiming that they have an automatic right to access these specific women’s spaces. I believe we as women should be standing up to this,” Weaver said.
Demonstrators march to the Alabama Capitol in Montgomery, Ala., on Feb. 5, 2025 to protest bills that would impact transgender people. (AP Photo/Kim Chandler)
Trans people said the bills are an attempt to deny their existence or to capitalize on prejudice for political gain.
“I’m tired of running from the opposition. I’m not going any damn where. You deserve to be here. We deserve to be here,” TC Caldwell told the crowd at the march in Montgomery.
Bartle said she believes the bills are about an attempt to “exert control” over people.
“It’s not for the protection of women or anything of the sort,” she said.
Micah Saunders, a transgender man from Birmingham, told lawmakers during a public hearing that they need to think about the implications. He said if the bill were to pass, it would force him as a trans man, who has a “beard and receding hairline,” to use the women’s facilities, and that any woman “not deemed feminine enough could be a target for harassment.”
“This bill will put Alabamians under the threat of violence and harassment. It solves no problems and creates new ones,” Saunders said.
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