The Tennessee state legislature approved a discriminatory bill on Thursday aimed at shaming businesses with transgender-inclusive policies, which now heads to Republican Governor Bill Lee’s desk. While the governor has not yet signaled his intention to sign or veto the bill, he recently approved a discriminatory bill that bans trans female athletes from playing on public middle school or high school sports.
The legislation would force businesses to post signs outside multi-person bathrooms, changing rooms, and locker rooms notifying members of the general public if they allow transgender people to use them. According to the House version of the legislation, known as HB 1182, the signs would be required to read: “This facility maintains a policy of allowing the use of restrooms by either biological sex, regardless of the designation on the restroom.”
The bill’s sponsor, State Representative Tim Rudd (R-District 34), claimed that the measure will actually benefit transgender people by preventing altercations in public bathrooms. If a cisgender person walked into a single-sex restroom and saw someone of “the opposite sex,” he claimed it could “scare them” and “provoke violence,” according to local Fox affiliate KOAM.
But in comments reported by the news outlet, Senate Minority Leader Jeff Yarbro (D-District 21) dismissed the proposal as “silly.” Yarbro said that people “have been going to the restroom in this state for so long without our help.”
While the Tennessee General Assembly recently passed a bill allowing students to sue school districts if they are forced to use the bathroom with a trans classmate, this bill is the first of its kind, according to the Human Rights Campaign (HRC). In a statement, HRC president Alphonso David claimed the legislation is designed to “generate the maximum amount of harm” to transgender people.
“Denying transgender people the ability to access a bathroom consistent with their gender identity is degrading and dehumanizing, and by advancing this bill, the Tennessee state legislature is putting the health and safety of transgender Tennesseans at risk,” he said.
The bathroom sign bill joins at least 11 anti-LGBTQ+ bills introduced this legislative session by conservative lawmakers in Tennessee, the second most in the country after Texas. Advocates have nicknamed this barrage of discriminatory proposals the “Slate of Hate,” and they include bills requiring school districts to notify parents about instruction on sexual orientation or gender identity in classrooms and banning doctors from prescribing hormones and puberty blockers to trans minors.
Lee vowed to sign the anti-LGBTQ+ curriculum bill after it passed the legislature earlier this month, despite the recent veto of a similar piece of legislation in Arizona. The legislature is set to vote on the anti-trans medical care ban on May 3, according to HRC.
Local advocacy organizations like Tennessee Equality Project have urged Lee to veto the latest attempt to discriminate against the LGBTQ+ community, but the plea may be in vain. Even if he does strike down what some have called the “business bathroom bill,” Tennessee’s GOP-controlled legislature could easily override the governor’s action. All Tennessee requires is a simple majority to overturn a gubernatorial veto, and the legislation passed 20-6 in the State Senate and 62-25 in its House.
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Tennessee is reportedly looking into filing legal action to block the legislation, which will become law on July 1 if Lee signs it, according to KOAM. The ACLU’s national chapter announced its intention to sue the state of Alabama should lawmakers pass a bill preventing trans youth from seeking gender-affirming health care, with Lambda Legal signing onto the potential suit.
Tennessee is one at least states that have introduced legislation this year to restrict the rights of transgender Americans, according to CNN. Over the past 6 years, the state has introduced 70 pieces of anti-LGBTQ+ legislation.
Despite the onslaught of anti-trans bills across the country in 2021, some states have opted to reject transphobia. This month alone, Montana and North Carolina declined to pass anti-trans medical care bills, while governors in North Dakota and Kansas have vetoed legislation seeking to limit the participation of transgender youth in sports. Although anti-trans bills have yet to pass in Louisiana and Pennsylvania, their respective Democratic governors have vowed to oppose them if they do.
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