Alabama Gov. Ivey signed the "What Is a Woman Act," codifying binary sex definitions and enabling exclusion of transgender people

On February 13, 2025, Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey signed SB79, the "What Is a Woman Act," into law, enacting binary definitions of "sex," "male," "female," "man," "woman," and related terms throughout Alabama's code. The law defines sex according to reproductive anatomy "observed or clinically verified at birth" — whether a person produces or would produce sperm or ova — and provides no exception for intersex people, whose existence critics said the statute effectively erases.

The act directs that transgender and gender-nonconforming individuals be recorded in state vital-statistics and medical registries according to that assigned sex rather than their gender identity, and authorizes state and local governments to establish separate single-sex spaces — bathrooms, changing rooms, dormitories, prisons, and similar facilities — on the same basis. Sponsored in the Senate by Sen. April Weaver, R-Alabaster, and carried in the House by Rep. Susan DuBose, the bill passed on party lines after the House limited floor debate to roughly ten minutes; it took effect October 1, 2025. LGBTQ+ advocates, including the Alabama Transgender Rights Action Coalition, described the law as a targeted attack on the rights of transgender and nonbinary residents.