Full Breakdown
Senator Tommy Tuberville’s Senate-Floor Attack on Trans People
By Drooid · · How we work
Senate Floor Attack on Trans People
In a recent speech on the Senate floor, Republican U.S. Sen. Tommy Tuberville of Alabama—also the GOP nominee for governor—targeted transgender people. Standing beside a poster that read “Transgenderism Is a Mental Disease” with a pregnant-man emoji, Tuberville called transgender identity “a mental illness” and urged a return to mental institutions as a “normal part of our society.” He also alleged that many pilots, flight attendants and air-traffic controllers belong to the “furry” community, suggesting they could pose a safety risk.
Tuberville’s Claims and Proposed Actions
Tuberville accused trans people of violence, labeled supportive parents as spreading a “woke mind virus,” and claimed that doctors who provide gender-affirming care commit “medical malpractice.” He suggested that the government should “bring back mental institutions” to address what he described as “gender confusion.” In the same address, he warned that “when you walk onto a commercial flight, it’s possible that the pilot flying your plane could have a deranged fetish of dressing up like an animal,” conflating transgender individuals with the furry subculture.
Advocacy and Expert Responses
The Alabama Trans Rights Coalition (ATRC) condemned the remarks. Medical organizations, including the American Psychiatric Association, state that identifying as transgender is not a mental illness. The Trevor Project reported that transgender and nonbinary youth who cannot access desired hormones are nearly twice as likely to attempt suicide, and that 40 % of trans and nonbinary young people seriously considered suicide in the past year.
Verbatim Quotes
- “When you walk onto a commercial flight, it’s possible that the pilot flying your plane could have a deranged fetish of dressing up like an animal,” — S. Sen. Tommy Tuberville
- “Tuberville’s comments reveal his desperation to keep the narrative focused on culture war issues, instead of trying to solve the real problems Alabamians are facing,” — Tris Wilson
- “Tuberville may not like the word ‘transgender,’ but science and medicine affirm the existence of a spectrum of gender that includes cisgender and transgender people alike.” — Tris Wilson
These statements illustrate the stark contrast between Tuberville’s rhetoric and the responses from health experts and LGBTQ advocates.