Gay Alabama Representative Speaks Against Anti-Trans Bills

Representative Neil Rafferty, a member of the Alabama legislature, went viral after calling out his republican colleagues for their attacks on trans youth and spoke against the anti-trans bills that these republicans passed last week. 

“I don’t know how this became a platform issue for y’all,” Rafferty says in the Alabama legislature. “I don’t know where it became a central core issue to pick on these kids, to pick on these families. I don’t know where it is or why y’all think that this is something that we need to vote on, not just vote on, but put on the top of the calendar like it’s a priority.”

This month, the Alabama Senate passed an anti-trans bill that that require students to use the restroom that is associated with the sex on their birth certificate instead of their gender. The Senate also passed a law that criminalize doctors who provide gender-affirming care to transgender youth, this is what Rafferty was referring to in the video that went viral. 

“It’s a priority for us to be getting involved in private family medical decisions that are made with a team of healthcare providers, that are made with the parents centering around the child who are surrounded by a team of healthcare providers, mental health professionals who are guiding them through this process?” he continues. “You want to think you’re just going to a doc-in-a-box or willy-nilly, just getting prescribed this stuff because somebody just said, ‘Hey, this is it.’

“That’s not how being gay—that’s not how being transgender—works,” Rafferty explains. “Trust me, if I didn’t have to be gay, I wouldn’t be. You know how much easier my freaking life would be?”

Lots of moments today in the Alabama Legislature. This is one of them. pic.twitter.com/XVmLuxayXy

— Kyle Whitmire (@WarOnDumb) April 7, 2022

He recognized that the bill was going to advance the legislation. “What’s gonna happen, it’s gonna happen,” he says, “Just don’t you dare call me a friend after this.” 

Legislators approved the healthcare bill last week and sent it to Governor Kay Ivey for her signature. The bill makes it a felony for healthcare providers to provide gender-affirming care to minors; providers who violate this law could face up 10 years in prison.

Photo Courtesy of Neil Rafferty on Twitter