PRATTVILLE — A few dozen residents gathered at the St. Joseph's Catholic Church in Prattville Monday to hear lawmakers and a representative from Attorney General Steve Marshall's office discuss ongoing and upcoming legislative efforts to address gender ideology in Alabama schools.
The town hall drew several residents, most of whom were sympathetic to the issue of sexually explicit or LGBTQ material in libraries and schools. Many attendees have been involved in fighting back against specific materials in schools and libraries since the controversy started in Prattville just over a year ago.
Prattville served as the epicenter of the now-statewide debate over sexually explicit books in public libraries. That debate spawned the statewide organization Clean Up Alabama, one of the town hall hosts. Moms for Liberty and Local Alabama also helped stage the town hall and helped moderate the question-and-answer portion.
State Reps. Mack Butler (R-Rainbow City) and Susan DuBose (R-Hoover) joined Attorney General Steve Marshall's chief council, Katherine Robertson, at the town hall to discuss issues.
The conversation mainly focused on upcoming bills DuBose and Butler are dropping in the 2025 legislative session. However, Robertson also spoke on the AG's office and its role in defending the laws passed by the legislature and described victories Marshall's office has had against the federal government.
Robertson praised the state for its recent victory in defending against the Biden administration's attempted rewrite of Title IX.
The proposed changes add gender identity and sexual orientation to the list of federally protected groups. Alabama was one of several Republican-led states to receive a federal injunction, stopping the proposed changes from going into effect while the issue is decided in a higher court.
"When we're not [defending the legislature] on the civil side, we are very frequently suing the federal government; that's the best part of our job right now," Robertson said. "When Trump was in office, we filed lawsuits to defend what he was doing, but then that flipped around, and now we file a lot of lawsuits to try to stop what they're doing, and it's very effective."
Butler championed his upcoming legislation to ban classroom instruction or discuss gender identity or sexual orientation in public schools. A similar bill passed the House last session but failed to receive Senate consideration before time ran out.
The bill initially restricted K-12 schools. However, it was amended last at the request of the Alabama State Department of Education (ALSDE) to apply to kindergarten through eighth grade due to the state's high school health curriculum. Butler told attendees that the 2025 version of the bill would revert to its original, applying to K-12 classroom instruction. He claimed to have unsuccessfully tried to reach out to ALSDE to reach a compromise but has yet to hear back.
"I don't understand why people are so offended when we say, 'Let's leave that discussion out of the classroom and let the parents have it," Butler said.
He continued, "If you look around, they're always coming after the children. It's like lambs led to the slaughter. You know, every time you see the drag queens, they want to perform for the children. If they want to go to the senior citizen centers or the nursing homes, they will love it but leave the children alone. Always they want to come after the children. And this ideology, hearing from some students that I've interacted with, it's just a few of the teachers that are obsessed with all things transgender and gay."
DuBose discussed her controversial "What is a Woman" Act, which defines "male" and "female" in the Alabama code. Her bill likewise failed to get a floor vote due to gambling interests eating up time, but DuBose announced plans to refile the bill early in 2025, this time with fewer concessions.
Under the rubric of transgenderism in schools, some questioners expressed concern over teachers and other school staff potentially acknowledging a student's expressed gender identity at school without informing parents. Concern also exists about possible medical gender transitioning treatments for minors without parental consent.
In response to those concerns, DuBose announced new legislation to change the age of medical consent across the state.
Under current Alabama law, any minor over the age of 14 or a high school graduate can give legal consent to any authorized medical, dental or mental health treatment without the permission of a parent or guardian. DuBose said her bill would raise the age to 18.
"At age 14, children can make their own medical decisions, mental health decisions and dental decisions, which I just found crazy," DuBose said. "We're the lowest state in the nation. I don't know why it is. I've asked our legal department to let me know. But ever since the early 70s, it's been age 14. I just don't understand that."
She continued, "I don't want Alabama being one of those states where kids come here just to make medical decisions, just to have medical procedures done that are against their parent's wishes, and I want our kids to continue to have their parents' protection on those important decisions."
To connect with the author of this story or to comment, email craig.monger@1819news.com.
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