On Wednesday, the committee held a public hearing to allow the public to voice their support or opposition to House Bill 111, the “What Is a Woman?” bill sponsored by Rep. Susan DuBose (R-Hoover).

The public hearing was held during a meeting of the House Judiciary Committee, and a total of eight people, four in favor and four against, expressed their opinions on the bill. This is the second year in a row that DuBose has introduced this bill after failing to pass it.

In introducing the bill, DuBose said its purpose is to codify the definition of a person's gender and give courts “guidance” and clarity when interpreting the law. Dubose said the bill is not intended to take away any rights from people.

“This is a definition bill to give courts guidance in interpreting laws that already exist in Alabama,” DuBose said. “Words have meaning and my purpose is to have uniform definitions and clarity for the courts.”

The bill would “define man, woman, boy, girl, father, mother, man, woman, and sex for purposes of state law” and “provide for policies regarding gender differences.”

Jordan Giddens, a senior organizer with the Human Rights Campaign, said the bill's attempts to define gender are discriminatory and will harm members of the LGBTQ+ community, especially non-binary and transgender people.

“When are you going to stop attacking and discriminating against nonbinary and transgender community members?” Giddens said. “The bottom line is that this bill is extremely harmful because it intentionally discriminates against marginalized communities in this state. This bill goes after gender diverse people and scores political points in the media. It's just a political point to make money.”

The bill states that “'gender' is objective and fixed,'' and that people with differences in sexual development, that is, intersex people, are not a third gender. A woman is defined as someone who at some point produces eggs, and a man is defined as someone who ultimately produces sperm.

Officials from several conservative organizations also spoke in favor of HB111, including Emily Jones, president of Moms for Liberty. Jones said there are only two genders, male and female, and they cannot be changed.

“We are not interchangeable,” Jones said. “I encourage you to pass this bill and codify it as a law for men and women, men and women.”

Destiny Clark touched on recent tragic deaths and spoke about how this bill could endanger the lives of transgender people in the state. Nex Benedict. Benedict is a 16-year-old non-binary student from Oklahoma who was punched in the bathroom by a classmate at his school. Benedict died the next day.

“I'm worried that if we pass HB111, we'll see more deaths like this.” [Benedict’s] And they will happen again and again and again here in Alabama,” Clark warned.

The bill was not voted on in committee. It will happen next week.