On Tuesday, Gov. Mike Dunleavy announced a bill that would restrict LGBTQ students’ ability to live in accordance with their gender identities in Alaska schools.
The bill — which would require parents to sign off on name and pronoun changes and would ban transgender students from using bathrooms that align with their gender identity — is not likely to pass. Senate President Gary Stevens, R-Kodiak, says he doesn’t see a lot of support for it.
“It takes 11 members to pass something on the floor,” Stevens said. “I don’t want to waste a lot of time on a bill that has no chance of passing the floor.”
But Amelia Hanrahan, a Juneau mental health clinician who works with queer and trans youth, says that even a failed bill could affect the way trans students are treated by their peers.
“I think just announcing this and validating this type of rhetoric against the queer and trans community is dangerous,” she said. “I can draw pretty straight lines from increases of this stuff in the media to bullying happening in our hallways here in the schools.”
Hanrahan, who is queer and trans herself, says there’s no scientific basis for the proposal.
“It was really conspicuous that the governor doesn’t cite any professional organizations that support this idea because there are no legitimate professional organizations that support this idea,” Hanrahan said.
Hanrahan said that the American Psychological Association, as well as its counseling and psychiatric counterparts, support youth receiving gender-affirming care and support.
Stevens said Dunleavy’s bill will get heard, but the Senate majority is prioritizing bills that are more in line with the middle of the political spectrum.
