John Oliver had a few words for Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey during his HBO show “Last Week Tonight” on Sunday.
Before spending most of the latest episode blasting utility companies, Oliver focused on the new Alabama law banning certain medical treatments for minors with gender dysphoria.
The new laws, passed on the very last day of the session, require students to use bathrooms that match their sex assigned at birth, specify K-5 teachers should discuss sexual orientation and gender identity in an “appropriate” manner, and criminalize healthcare providers who offer gender-affirming care.
The Alabama Vulnerable Child Compassion and Protection Act makes it a felony to provide puberty blockers, hormones and surgeries for the purpose of helping transgender minors, people under 19, transition to the gender they identify with. Violators of the law would face a penalty of up to 10 years in prison.
The state is barred, for now, from enforcing part of the law after a federal judge for the Middle District of Alabama granted a preliminary injunction in a case challenging the law’s constitutionality.
“No one should ever face criminal punishment for providing health care to young people,” Oliver said before spotlighting Ivey’s role in passing the bill into law. He introduced the governor to his audience as “a woman who, as you can see, always looks like she’s saying ‘ham.’”
READ: Inside the first year of the Alabama school where LGBTQ students are celebrated
Oliver then showed a clip from an Ivey campaign ad wherein the governor said, “Here in Alabama, we’re gonna go by how God made us, because we identify with something liberals never will: Reality.”
Oliver gave a sharp retort: “First of all, f--- you.”
Oliver then shared footage of trans people and others reacting to the bill, including comments heard in a recent video produced by AL.com. “You can’t help thinking that this whole thing is just right-wing virtue signaling sending a hateful message to a conservative base with no thought given to the pain it will case,” Oliver said. “And no matter what the eventual fate of this law is, actual trans people and their advocates in Alabama have heard the message it was meant to send, loud and clear.”
After sharing a clip featuring a 15-year-old girl named Harleigh during a “Good Morning America” segment, Oliver again zeroes in on Ivey. “If you can look at Harley or any child and comfortably say ‘Take away the care that gives them peace and a sense of self,’ you are a bad person.”
Oliver then addressed trans children in Alabama directly. “You are important. Your lives are important. I cannot imagine trying to build self-esteem in childhood as your own government attempts to undermine your very existence. But you should know, you are profoundly valuable, and you’re irreplaceable.”
This and other episodes of “Last Week Tonight with John Oliver” are streaming on HBO Max. The show airs Sundays at 10 p.m. central on HBO.
Ad Choices