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Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey signed HB 322, barring trans students from birth-sex-assigned school restrooms and restricting K-5 LGBTQ instruction

On April 8, 2022, Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey signed HB 322 (Act No. 2022-290) into law, requiring K-12 public school students to use multi-occupancy restrooms and changing areas designated by the sex listed on their birth certificate. The act, passed by the Alabama Legislature on the final day of its session, also prohibits classroom instruction on sexual orientation or gender identity in grades K-5 that is not deemed age-appropriate under state board standards, a provision added by last-minute floor amendment. The measure was enacted in Montgomery on the same day Ivey signed the separate SB 184 gender-affirming care ban.

Jurisdiction
Alabama
Location
Montgomery, Alabama

Abuses documented

Actors

On April 8, 2022, Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey signed House Bill 322, enacted as Act No. 2022-290, requiring every K-12 public school in the state to designate multi-occupancy restrooms and changing areas for use based on the "biological sex" listed on a student's birth certificate. The Alabama Legislature had passed the bill on the final day of its regular session, delivering it to the governor at 9:36 p.m. on April 7, 2022. The law directs the State Board of Education to adopt rules to implement and enforce the facility provisions and takes effect on the first day of the third month after passage.

The enacted bill also carries a curriculum provision, added through a last-minute floor amendment modeled on Florida's law, that prohibits classroom discussion or instruction on sexual orientation or gender identity in grades K-5 in any manner not deemed "age-appropriate or developmentally appropriate" under state board standards. In a signing statement, Ivey framed the measures around her personal religious views on sex and gender. The Human Rights Campaign condemned the signing as discriminatory treatment that targets transgender students for exclusion, and noted the law would spur litigation.

HB 322 is a distinct enactment from SB 184, the Vulnerable Child Protection Act banning gender-affirming medical care for minors, which Ivey signed the same day; the two are separate acts and are recorded as separate events.

Why we recorded this

Equal protection under the law bars government from disadvantaging people because of who they are. Alabama enacted a statute requiring K-12 public school students to use restrooms and changing areas matching their birth certificate sex and barring K-5 classroom instruction on sexual orientation or gender identity, singling out transgender and LGBTQ students for differential treatment in a public institution. This archive records when a government writes discrimination against a protected group into law, using state authority over public schools to exclude vulnerable children.

Sources

  1. Governor Ivey signs transgender bathroom bill — WBRC primary accessed July 17, 2026
  2. Alabama governor signs 'Don't Say Gay,' trans care and bathroom ban bills — ABC News secondary accessed July 17, 2026
  3. HB322 Alabama 2022 Session | Signed — Bama Politics primary accessed July 17, 2026
  4. Human Rights Campaign Condemns Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey for Signing Discriminatory Anti-Trans Bathroom Ban, "Don't Say Gay or Trans" Bill Into Law — Human Rights Campaign secondary accessed July 17, 2026

See also