Alabama top stories in brief

• The Alabama Senate passed a bill that, if approved, would require companies that do business with state entities to provide written verification that they would not participate in any boycotts of timber, mining, fossil fuel and firearm industries. 

• The Senate Judiciary Committee approved a bill that would require law enforcement agencies to collect fingerprints and DNA from any undocumented immigrants in the agency’s custody. 

• Three men, located in three different Alabama prisons, died last week due to violence from fellow prisoners. Stephone Marshall was housed in Elmore Correctional facility; Jamal McCain was housed in the St. Clair Correctional Facility and Colton Hall was housed in Easterling Correctional Facility. 

• A recent NBC News report revealed that the Biden administration is considering keeping Space Command in its temporary home of Colorado Springs, Colorado. According to anonymous U.S. officials in the NBC report, part of the reason for the Biden administration wanting to keep Space Command in Colorado Springs is Alabama’s abortion laws. During a speech at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center in Huntsville, Gov. Kay Ivey said “Alabama is the only choice for Space Command Headquarters.”

Alabama Legislature hears arguments as they consider bill to define sex-based terms

A new bill has become the focal point for the heated conversation around gender and many of the new bills specifically targeting members of the LGBTQ+ community in Alabama. HB405 is designed to codify definitions of what it means to be a man, woman, boy, girl, husband and wife into Alabama law. 

Recently, activists held a protest at Montgomery over several bills aimed at impacting members of the LGBTQ+ community, particularly transgender people. The “Drag Me to the Capitol” march attracted a large crowd of protestors. 

The bills being protested included HB405, HB354, HB401 and HB7. HB405 would create definitions for man, woman, father and mother. HB401 would define drag as obscene and ban it from being displayed in places where minors could witness it. HB354 would extend the ban regarding discussions of gender identity or sexual orientation in publication education to go from kindergarten to eighth grade. HB7 would “prohibit certain public entities, including state agencies, local boards of education and public institutions of higher education, from promoting or endorsing, or requiring affirmation of, certain divisive concepts relating to race, sex or religion.”

A day after the protests in Montgomery, the House Health Committee held a public hearing for HB405, also known as the What is a Woman Act. A total of 12 people asked to speak during the hearing, though only six were allowed. Of those six, five spoke in opposition of the bill and one spoke in favor of it. 

The bill’s sponsor, Rep. Susan DuBose, R-Hoover, said the purpose of the bill is to codify definitions of sex-based terms into law. DuBose also recently sponsored HB261, a bill that would prohibit transgender athletes from competing on teams that do not match the sex on their birth certificate. The athletics bill was passed by both the house and senate and simply awaits Gov. Kay Ivey’s approval.

Rep. Jeremy Gray, D-Opelika, a member of the committee, expressed his belief that the “What is a Woman Act” would drive businesses and skilled workers from the state.

“These are bright people — they are biologists and engineers,” he said. “What happens when they leave the state?”

One of those speaking against the bill, Cassandra Williamson, expressed exactly that sentiment. Williamson is the executive director of the Transgender American Veterans Association and said in the event that the bill was approved by the committee, she would use her influence to dissuade U.S. officials from selecting Huntsville as the location for the Space Command headquarters. 

“I’ve got some friends in the White House who are asking me to tell them where Alabama stands on equality for all people, particularly around these definitions of words,” Williamson said. 

DuBose said that without the bill, “laws that prohibit sex discrimination will cease to mean anything at all, and single-sex private spaces will disappear.”

DuBose said during the hearing that she believed much of the conversation came down to a difference between sex and gender. 

“That’s very important to respect those that identify differently than their sex at birth and I honestly respect that and admire you and I’m not trying to eliminate that section of society at all,” said DuBose.

Patricia Todd, a former member of the Alabama House and the first openly gay elected official in Alabama, expressed concern that the bill would actually open up the door for discrimination against the transgender community. 

“I don’t understand what the obsession is with the trans community,” Todd said. “In Alabama, we have a lot of problems; we have a prison crisis, we have a health care crisis, we have a lot of problems that we need to be focusing on. This is not a crisis.”

The bill is expected to be voted on by the committee this week. 

Our articles you might have missed

• Our latest artist feature covered Pim Jindapon, a local artist who specializes in crocheting useful items out of plastic bags and other plastics. You can read the full article on our website to learn more about Pim’s process and how she got started as an independent artist. 

• A recent bill would allow the Alabama Attorney General to redact information from professional service contracts until cases came to trial. You can read all the details in last week’s roundup.

Update on The Sunrise News

• We recently made a pretty big change to our subscription model. Instead of having member specific content on our website after July 31 as we had originally planned, we’ve created membership tiers on Ko-Fi. None of our content will be restricted in any way, but everyone who contributes on Ko-Fi will gain access to specific benefits. This means that The Alabama Roundup will remain free every week instead of being limited to every other week for non-paying subscribers. Check out our Ko-Fi page to see what specific benefits come with each tier.