Hate is a strong word. It shouldn’t be used unless the actions of some group or some individual show they have hate in their minds. In their hearts. In their souls.
If somebody says they “hate” taxes, that’s just hyperbole. I “hate” taxes, too. But not to the extent of spending more than a few seconds thinking about it. I certainly don’t want the tax collector – whoever he or she is – to die.
Auburn fans “hate” Alabama. Alabama fans “hate” Auburn.
But not really. Haven’t you seen those Blue Cross/Blue Shield commercials where Aubie and Big Al have a wonderful day after finding out they both have the same health insurance cards? Kind of makes a big guy want to cry.
What old white men in the Legislature are trying to do to this state’s transgender youths is hate. Hate comes from ignorance. From a lack of education. From fearing what one doesn’t understand. Instead of becoming truly educated, instead of voting from the strength of knowledge, some lawmakers just react from hate.
When hate takes hold, other ignorant people follow.
Alabama lawmakers are pretty stupid when it comes to issues involving transgender youths.
Please let that be the case. If not – and this is really cynical – they’re just trying to hurt transgender children for crass political reasons. Otherwise, they are hating for political gain.
The Alabama Senate Judiciary Committee last week reported out a bill that, if passed, will kill transgender kids. Already, these children have among the highest suicide rates in the nation.
The Senate (and Alabama House) want more transgender young people to die by passing an amazingly cruel and stupid bill that’ll make it a felony for medical doctors to give trans kids gender-affirming medical treatment.
The bill will make it a felony for doctors – physicians who know – to provide gender-affirming care to trans children. Lawmakers are ignoring the science, not unusual in the Alabama Legislature.
This time, though, young lives are on the line. Doctors could go to prison and/or have to pay a fine up to $15,000 if they provide care such as puberty blockers to trans children. That’s not all. The bill would also ban surgeries that would alter a child’s gender. Such surgeries are not even performed in Alabama. That alone shows just how uninformed lawmakers are.
Gender-affirming medical treatment is supported by every major medical association because such care is evidence-based. Such care, studies have shown, have proved to be safe and save lives.
Despite the scientific evidence to the contrary, Alabama lawmakers are going full speed ahead to further estrange transgender young people under the age of 19. That, in and of itself, will cause more such kids to kill themselves because there is no alternative for them to get the treatments they need.
That, in and of itself, is hate.
This is the second year that the Legislature has considered such a bill. Sadly, momentum appears to be with the haters.
That’s nothing new in Alabama. Our lawmakers have shown hate in all sorts of ways, including preventing women from ending a pregnancy even if they are raped by their fathers or brothers.
Lawmakers have shown their hate by passing bills against immigrants – both legal and undocumented.
Lawmakers showed their hate during much of the Civil Rights movement, fighting integration and equality for black people who were forced to drink from “colored” water fountains and sit by themselves in movie theaters.
All of these were cynical political decisions. They were made to bolster some incumbent’s or candidate’s desire for power.
Pick on the least of these. Isn’t that what the Bible teaches?
Of course not. And neither is hate.
But as the Legislature moves forward toward another hateful law for a state with a history of hateful laws, who or what can stop them?
Certainly not their consciences. Certainly not their knowledge. They have neither if this bill moves forward.
What they’re left with his hate. And these “Christian” hypocrites are good with that.
Joey Kennedy, a Pulitzer Prize winner, writes a column each week for Alabama Political Reporter. Email: jkennedy@alreporter.com. Twitter: @joeykennedy.
