Montgomery, Alabama - Alabama Governor Kay Ivey has signed legislation banning diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs and barring trans people from using bathrooms that correspond to their gender identity.

The passage of Alabama's SB129 brings with it an alarming crackdown on DEI programs in public schools, colleges and universities, and state agencies as well as on the civil liberties of LGBTQ+ residents.

The bill proposes restrictions on what it dubs eight "divisive concepts." These include assigning "fault, blame or bias" to any members of race, color, religion, sex, ethnicity, or national origin.

SB129 also stipulates that higher education institutions must designate restrooms "for use based on biological sex."

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The law – set to take effect on October 1 – authorizes state agencies to "discipline or terminate employees or contractors who violate this act."

It would prohibit any university coursework that "advocates for or requires assent to a divisive concept."

Ivey has celebrated passage of SB129 as activists and advocates raise alarm bells.

"My Administration has and will continue to value Alabama’s rich diversity, however, I refuse to allow a few bad actors on college campuses – or wherever else for that matter – to go under the acronym of DEI, using taxpayer funds, to push their liberal political movement counter to what the majority of Alabamians believe," the governor claimed in a statement.

Opponents have argued that the law will have drastic implications for intellectual freedom at college and university campuses and set back the LGBTQ+ rights and racial justice movements.

Also on Wednesday, Alabama's House Education Policy Committee approved a bill to expand the state's "Don't Say Gay" legislation to all grade levels.