Gubernatorial candidate Tim James (R) denounced a ruling by a federal judge blocking Alabama’s law against using experimental hormone treatments and puberty blocker drugs being given to minors.
“Late Friday of last week, United States District Judge Liles Burke issued an injunction to block the state of Alabama from enforcing a ban on prescribing puberty blockers and hormones to minors who are suffering from confusion about their gender,” James said. “Judge Burke took the position that parents are to be in charge of making decisions about the healthcare of their own children. While I appreciate Judge Burke’s affirmation of parental rights, in this case, it is misplaced. Neither parents nor any other adult have the right to make decisions about their child’s sexual identity except in the most unusual cases of legitimate physical androgyny. No more than a parent or any other adult can choose to abort a child. In the same way, for a parent to actively insist upon or permit a minor to use hormone-blocking drugs is child abuse. Using any kind of surgery or hormone therapy to radically change sexual function is something that must be left to adults and adults alone.
“In this decision, Judge Burke made another significant error in judgment. First, this is a state issue, not a federal one. The judge should have refused the case on jurisdictional grounds, and the judge should have said that federal courts have no business overturning a public policy decision made by the elected representatives of the people of the state of Alabama.”
James commented on the increase in federal overreach due to judicial edicts like the one by Judge Burke. He stated that states must find ways to protect their people from “their radical lawless acts. The insanity must be stopped.”
“The role of the federal government and the states is codified in the Constitution; the protection of the states’ rights and the people are preserved in the Bill of Rights and, more specifically, the 10th Amendment,” said James. “This serves as a check on tyranny, and freedom must be preserved. As Alabama’s next governor, I will use all my authority to preserve the rights and freedom of the people of the state of Alabama. In respect to these unelected federal judges, many are just plain overrated.”
James went on to quote a letter by President Thomas Jefferson to William Charles Jarvis in 1820, where he noted the danger of viewing judges as the “ultimate arbiters of all constitutional questions.”
Supporters of puberty blockers and hormone treatments for minors claim that without them, more of these gender-confused children will suffer depression and even commit suicide. Opponents, like James and Gov. Kay Ivey, argue that most of these children will outgrow their gender confusion.
James has made shutting down an LGBTQ charter school that gives gender-affirming instruction in Homewood a major plank in his campaign for governor.
Lindy Blanchard, Lew Burdette, Stacy George, Ivey, James, Donald Trent Jones, Dean Odle, Dave Thomas, and Dean Young are all running for the Republican nomination for governor.
Yolanda Rochelle Flowers, Patricia Salter Jamieson, Arthur Kennedy, Chad “Chig” Martin, Malika Sanders Fortier and Doug “New Blue” Smith are all running for the nomination in the Democratic primary.
Both primaries are on May 24.
The winner of the Democratic primary will face the winner of the Republican primary in the general election on Nov. 8.
To connect with the author of this story, or to comment, email brandon.moseley@1819News.com.
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