Accidental Ally

How My Home State of Alabama Helped Save Gay Kids

Alabama isn’t exactly known for being friendly to gay and lesbian people. This is the state where some counties stopped issuing marriage licenses entirely rather than let gay couples get married. That’s how far we’ve gone to avoid acknowledging that people like me exist.

And yet, in a plot twist no one saw coming, Alabama just pulled off one of the biggest pro-gay moves in the country by exposing WPATH (World Professional Association for Transgender Health) and its flimsy, activist-driven guidelines for transitioning kids.

That’s right. Alabama—where progress usually moves slower than Sunday traffic after church—just helped make the case that transing gender-nonconforming minors is nothing more than gay conversion therapy with a medical degree. And as a lesbian, I’m still processing this wild turn of events.

Alabama’s Accidental Gay Ally Moment

To be clear, Alabama didn’t wake up one day and decide to fight for gay kids. This is still a state where people think “alternative medicine” means using Vicks VapoRub on everything from a cough to a broken heart. But in its lawsuit to ban gender-affirming care for minors, Alabama demanded discovery from WPATH and struck gold.

What they found laid bare the sketchy, unscientific underpinnings of medicalized gender care for minors. Turns out, WPATH’s guidelines are about as solid as a beach house in hurricane season.

What Alabama Uncovered About WPATH

• Evidence? We Don’t Do That Here
  WPATH’s guidelines skip over basic requirements for evidence-based medicine, like publishing transparent evidence reviews or properly managing conflicts of interest. Instead, their recommendations seem to rely more on ideology than science.

• Eunuchs! Seriously!
  WPATH includes a chapter advocating for castration as “medically necessary” for people identifying as eunuchs. Yes, eunuchs. If this sounds like something out of Game of Thrones, you’re not wrong.

• Is “W” NOT for “World”?
  While countries like Sweden, Finland, and the UK are hitting pause on medicalizing kids, WPATH is above all that, going full steam ahead on puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and surgeries for minors.

It’s a clown car of bad science, and Alabama managed to yank the curtain back for everyone to see.

Why This Matters (Especially for Lesbians)

Most kids with gender dysphoria would grow up to be happy, healthy gay adults if left alone. That tomboy who gets mistaken for a boy? She’s probably a future butch lesbian. That boy who loves sparkles and princess dresses? He’s likely a fabulous gay man in the making.

But instead of letting kids be kids, WPATH’s guidelines fast-track them onto a medical conveyor belt—puberty blockers, hormones, surgeries—locking them into a lifetime of medical intervention. That’s not affirmation; it’s sterilization with a smiley face sticker.

As a lesbian, this hits close to home. Kids who would’ve grown up to be people like me are being erased, medicalized out of existence. And for all its faults, Alabama just helped shine a light on the harm being done.

The Big Gay Conversion Therapy Scam

Let’s call this what it is: gay conversion therapy with new branding.

Back in the bad old days, conversion therapy meant praying the gay away, forcing kids to suppress who they really were to conform to societal expectations. But in addition to  changing the packaging, we’ve now added hormones and scalpels.

Think about it: kids who would have grown up to be butch lesbians or flamboyant gay men are being fast-tracked into a system that tells them the only way to be their true selves is to change their bodies. That’s not progress; that’s regression with a medical license.

And what’s even more insidious is how this system preys on the most vulnerable: autistic kids, kids with trauma, and kids who don’t fit into neat gender boxes. Instead of letting them grow into their identities, we’re rushing them into irreversible medical decisions they’re too young to fully understand.

The Ironic Hero

Now, let’s be real: Alabama didn’t do this out of love for gay and lesbian people. This is a state where politicians probably still think “the gay agenda” is a real thing. But the irony here is too rich to ignore.

By exposing WPATH’s shoddy science, Alabama has accidentally become a defender of gay kids, especially those who are gender-nonconforming. It’s like watching someone who always fails upward somehow trip and land on the right side of history.

I’m not saying Alabama is perfect. This is still a state where three quarters of the population would rather debate SEC football rankings than social justice. But when it comes to this issue, they’ve managed to do something meaningful—whether they meant to or not.

Getting Real About Alabama’s Social Dynamic

Living in Alabama, you learn that homophobia is more of a macro-level problem. At the state and institutional level, you’ll find plenty of policies and laws that make life harder for gay and lesbian people. But on a personal level, most folks aren’t hateful—at least not face-to-face.

It’s the kind of place where people will vote for anti-gay legislation on Tuesday and then offer you a beer at the barbecue on Saturday. Sure, they might think your lifestyle is “different,” but they’ll still invite you to the fish fry.

This disconnect—between individual kindness and systemic oppression—is what makes Alabama’s accidental pro-gay moment all the more fascinating.

The Eunuch Chapter: A Special Shout-Out to WPATH’s Weirdness

I’d be remiss if I didn’t take another moment to highlight the sheer absurdity of WPATH’s “eunuch” chapter along with its eunuch archive. They actually recommend castration as medically necessary for people identifying as eunuchs. If this doesn’t make you question their judgment, nothing will.

It’s one thing to advocate for treatments based on solid science. It’s another to drag medieval practices into the 21st century and call it progress.

A Call to Action

This isn’t just about Alabama or WPATH. It’s about protecting kids—especially gender-nonconforming kids who would grow up to be proud gay adults. We need to stop treating childhood gender nonconformity as a medical emergency and start treating it as what it is: a natural variation in how people express themselves.

And as gay and lesbian people, we have a special responsibility to speak out. We’ve fought too hard for our existence to let the next generation be erased by bad science and ideology.

So here’s to Alabama: accidental gay ally, unexpected champion for lesbians, and proof that even the most unlikely places can sometimes do the right thing. I’ll never say Roll Tide, but I’ll give a polite golf clap for this one.

In Closing

The irony is thick, but the takeaway is clear: even a state like Alabama can stumble into doing something good. If nothing else, it’s a reminder that change can come from the most unexpected places. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to go process this with a glass of sweet tea and and my state’s Skrmetti amicus brief in hand.