Cultural wars are alive and well in Alabama in 2022.
While the Alabama Legislature is considering Senate Bill 184 (SB184), a bill sponsored by State Sen. Shay Shelnutt (R-Trussville) that would prohibit doctors from prescribing puberty blockers or hormone treatments to a person under the age of 19, the so-called transgender issue has made its way into the Alabama gubernatorial election.
On Friday, Republican gubernatorial hopeful Tim James released a 30-second spot raising the issue.
James calls transgender swimmer Lia Thomas "a man in a woman's bathing suit" before calling into question "millions of tax dollars" being used to pay for the Magic City Acceptance Academy, a public charter school located in Birmingham that James called "the first transgender public school in the South".
In a press release that accompanied the rollout of the spot issued on Friday, James blamed Gov. Kay Ivey and the Alabama Legislature for allowing it "to happen".
"I wish that part of the title of this press release and the subject of our new TV ad were an April Fool's joke," James said in a statement. "Joe Biden and the radical left have abandoned objective truth and scientific reality. They have lost the ability to make basic moral statements or choose between right and wrong. They nominated a woman for the Supreme Court who refuses to say what a woman is. They celebrate and push transgenderism on our youth without hesitation.
"But we cannot view this as being a national problem only. This culture war has come to Alabama. Last year, our Public Charter School Commission approved the first LGBTQ public school in the South, where just last week, the faculty scheduled and participated in a drag queen show fundraiser for the students. Two million dollars of taxpayer money is being used to fund this school. I cannot believe that Gov. Ivey and the Alabama legislature have permitted this to happen. Caving to the radical LGBTQ agenda must stop. It's time to fight back."
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