Republican Alabama Lawmaker Takes to the Senate Floor for Bizarre Attack on Trans People

Republican U.S. Sen. Tommy Tuberville of Alabama and the current GOP nominee for governor of the state targeted trans people in a speech on the Senate floor, spewing transphobia and misinformation. In a tangent, the Republican also seemed to support a conspiracy theory that many flight attendants are furries.

The lawmaker accused trans people of violence and even proposed that they should be put in mental health facilities as he stood beside a poster with a pregnant man emoji with “transgederism is a mental disease” on the top.

In the 20-minute talk, he falsely accused trans-supportive parents of having a “woke mind virus” and of forcing kids to transition.

Gender-affirming care includes a lot of different things. For young children, it often is social transitioning, including their clothes and maybe their name. Adolescents may be prescribed puberty blockers by their doctor. Gender-affirming care for youth is supported by all major U.S. medical associations.

He went on to say that transgender people are “clearly struggling with mental illness,” adding, “We must put a stop to gender confusion before more innocent people lose their life.”

Mental health organizations, including the American Psychiatric Association, say that identifying as transgender is not a mental illness.

Gender-affirming care is necessary health care. The Trevor Project found that transgender and nonbinary young people who were unable to access the hormones they wanted were nearly twice as likely to attempt suicide than those who could. Overall, 40% of trans and nonbinary young people seriously considered attempting suicide in the past year.

Multiple studies have shown that trans youth whose identities are rejected are more likely to consider or attempt suicide.

Tuberville said it was “best for our country to bring back mental institutions as a normal part of our society instead of sweeping it under the rug.”

LGBTQ Nation reports Tuberville may be referring to an unfinished study supported by the Department of Health and Human Services. It claimed to link “gender ideology” with political violence. “It is full of dubious methodology, according to experts in the field, including a sorting technique that uses political ideology to identify an oversampled group of Democrats,” the outlet reports. One researcher said it might be the “most obviously political study” they had ever seen.

In one point during the speech, he said, “It’s terrifying when you think about this. 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. You can’t make this up.”

People who are in furry culture are also not a danger to society. Also, it’s not a trans identity.

TOMMY TUBERVILLE WARNS THAT “MANY” PILOTS, FLIGHT ATTENDANTS AND AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLERS ARE FURRIES: “Lord help us. It’s terrifying when you think about this.”

Tuberville claimed on the Senate floor that airline workers being part of the furry community poses a danger to… pic.twitter.com/Fz1dPnGbEN

— Brian Allen (@allenanalysis) September 23, 2026

Tuberville has a history of anti-LGBTQ+ comments and voting. LGBTQ Nation notes he’s blocked military promotions over the reading of a poem about a queer soldier and has said that Democrats are trying to make women extinct. He also fed into the conspiracy theory that cis men are transitioning to play women’s sports, which is not true.

“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 of the Alabama Trans Rights Act Coalition told AL.Com.

“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,” Wilson added. “We just want to be free to participate in society like everyone else.”