Tuberville, Britt relaunch attacks on transgender Americans

As elections approach and the national environment appears increasingly challenging for the GOP, Alabama’s two Republican U.S. senators relaunched attacks on transgender Americans this week.

In a speech on Tuesday, U.S. Sen. Tommy Tuberville called for the arrests of doctors providing gender-affirming care and to “bring back mental institutions” for transgender individuals, who he called “gender confused.” 

“The left loves to preach to all of us about ‘kindness’ and ‘tolerance,’ but it is not kind to affirm the delusions of someone who is clearly struggling with mental illness. In fact, the kind thing to do is to sincerely encourage them to get help before they harm themselves and others. We must put a stop to gender confusion before more innocent people lose their lives.”

Tuberville’s colleague, U.S. Sen. Katie Britt, participated in a hearing on attacking transgender athletes in sport. The Alabama State High School Athletic Association has said it has no reports of transgender athletes playing state sports, and NCAA president Charlie Baker said in 2024 he knew of fewer than 10 of the 500,000 athletes playing college sports who were transgender. 

The comments came amid rising gas prices and the growing unpopularity of President Donald Trump, a Republican, about five weeks before voters go to the polls in Alabama and other states. Tuberville, who is running for Alabama governor, has in the past touted his closeness to the president but has not mentioned him in two television ads released by his campaign this month. 

Alabama has made it a felony to prescribe puberty blockers or hormones in the course of gender-affirming treatment since April 2022 and has also banned transgender youth from playing high school and college sports. 

“Sen. 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,” said the Alabama Trans Rights Action Coalition in a statement Thursday. “Neither Tuberville’s personal opinions nor his stance on the subject benefit anyone, and they contradict widely accepted medical best practice. Transgender people exist in Alabama, and many are born here. We just want to be free to participate in society like everyone else.”

The Trump administration has pushed a false idea that most mass shootings are committed by transgender people. Mallory Jaspers, a spokesperson for the Tuberville campaign, said in a statement Thursday afternoon the senator’s speech was “inspired by the multiple shootings committed over the past few years by people associated with the transgender community.”

Mark Bryant, the executive director of the Gun Violence Archive, told factcheck.org in September 2025 that of the 5,748 mass shootings recorded between Jan. 2013 and Sept. 2025 – defined as having a minimum of four victims shot or killed – only five shooters had been confirmed to be transgender, or fewer than 0.1%.

Tuberville also alleged that Thomas Crooks, who attempted to assassinate Trump in 2024, was “in online transgender furry culture.” Wonkette noted earlier this week that the New York Post, a right-wing newspaper, reported last year that Crooks had “two possible accounts” on DeviantArt, which it called “notorious for its community of furries.” The article did not say if Crooks himself identified with the community or participated in its activities. 

A widely shared photo in the wake of the assassination attempt falsely identified Crooks, and falsely identified him transgender.

Tuberville doubled down on criticizing “furry culture” in a social media post Thursday morning.

“I know the deranged Democrats don’t like the fact that I called out the insane FURRY CULTURE this week,” the post said. “But the truth is, there is an ALARMING number of these DERANGED people working in our airline industry.”

The post included a report last April of pilots making dog and cat noises on an emergency frequency, which had nothing to do with furry culture: According to Flying Magazine, pilots have been known to make animal noises on the frequency as pranks or to alleviate boredom. The incident led to a Federal Aviation Administration investigation.

Tuberville also mentioned the suicide rate amongst the transgender community saying they “have one of the highest suicide rates among mental illnesses.”

In 2023, the Williams Institute at the University of California, Los Angeles, found that 81% of transgender adults have thought about suicide, 42% have attempted suicide and 56% have engaged non-suicidal self harm. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that the national suicide rate in 2024 was 13.7 per 100,000 people.

The Centre for Suicide Prevention said the higher rate of suicide among transgender people can be attributed to factors including discrimination, stigma, lack of access to gender affirming care, stress related to transitioning and homelessness.

On Wednesday, Britt participated in a U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee hearing discussion surrounding transgender athletes competing in women’s sports. Britt criticized Democratic members of the committee for not speaking up in defense of female athletes.

“Not one member on the other side of the aisle has had the respect for women to come in here and ask questions, to figure out how we get this right, how we stand up for fairness, for safety, for an opportunity for young women across the country,” Britt said.

A message seeking comment was left with Britt’s office Thursday.

U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., said during the hearing Republicans were using the conversation as a distraction. ALTRAC agreed with his comment.

“Sen. Durbin correctly pointed out during the same Judiciary Committee hearing that, at least in NCAA schools, we’re talking ‘fewer than 10’ athletes, out of half a million,” ALTRAC said. “Indeed, a study by the UCLA’s Williams Institute finds that only 0.5% of adults and 1.4% of youth ages 13-17 identify as transgender, and of those people, even fewer are trans women and fewer still competitive athletes.”

The NCAA last year reported there were over 550,000 student athletes competing in NCAA championship sports during the 2024-25 school year.

In 2021, Gov. Kay Ivey signed a law preventing transgender students from participating in K-12 athletics that do not align with their assigned sex at birth. In 2023, Ivey signed a similar piece of legislation for public two and four year higher education institutions.

ALTRAC said the two senators should be focusing on issues that are impacting Alabamians such as rising grocery and gas costs.

“Sen. Tuberville’s and Sen. Britt’s comments reveal their desperation to keep the narrative focused on “culture war” issues, instead of trying to solve the real problems Alabamians are facing,” the statement said. “The price of everyday essentials like groceries and gas continues to increase, our minimum wage is stuck 25 years in the past, and our rural health system is collapsing.”