POLITICS
Tennessee Governor Signs Bathroom Bill
Another anti-trans bill makes its way through the Legislature
BY TAT BELLAMY-WALKER
Governor Bill Lee of Tennessee
signed a bill on
May 14 targeting bathroom
and locker room
access for transgender students
and threatening lawsuits against
those who dare violate the legislation.
The “Tennessee Accommodations
for All Children Act” allows
individuals to sue a public school
if they encounter “a person of the
opposite sex” in a multi-occupancy
school bathroom, locker room, or
if they are required to dorm with
a person of another gender during
a school trip. This bill purports to
provide reasonable accommodation
to any student who does not
want to use a multi-stalled restroom
or changing facility.
According to the bill’s text,
schools will face legal consequences
Tennessee Governor Bill Lee has signed multiple bills targeting transgender individuals this year.
if they “intentionally allowed a
member of the opposite sex to enter
the multi-occupancy restroom
or changing facility while other
persons were present.”
Human Rights Campaign President
Alphonso David slammed legislators
for implementing this law.
“By advancing hateful legislation
like HB 1233 (SB 1367), Tennessee
Governor Lee and state legislators
are using their power to harm and
further stigmatize trans youth in
Tennessee,” David said in a written
statement. “The state of Tennessee is
quickly becoming a national leader
for anti-LGBTQ legislation, as lawmakers
would rather discriminate
against LGBTQ youth than focus on
real problems facing Tennesseans.”
David continued, “I want to be
clear: Governor Lee’s shameful
decision to sign this baseless and
discriminatory bill into law will
harm the health and well-being
of trans students in Tennessee by
creating dailydegrading experiences
for them at school. These ‘Slate
of Hate’ bills are unjustifi able and
must stop.”
Just days earlier, legislators in
Tennessee also sent the governor
HB1182, a bill demanding that
businesses post a sign limiting
bathroom use based on “biological
sex.” The state also took aim at
transgender student-athletes with
legislation earlier this year by imposing
a ban transgender people
from participating in sports.
TWITTER/BILL LEE
The wave of bills comes against
a backdrop of anti-trans legislation
spreading far beyond the confi nes
of Tennessee. Numerous states
have moved to restrict transgender
individuals in sports and healthcare
during a legislative session
that has been particularly devastating
for the nation’s transgender
community. Among other recent
developments, a Texas bill targeting
transgender student-athletes
failed to secure enough votes in
the House committee, but resurfaced
as a new bill requiring public
school students to participate in
sports on the basis of “biological
sex.” Equality Texas, an LGBTQ
advocacy group, ripped State Representative
Harold Dutton for reviving
the bill.
“He knows SB 29 will hurt kids.
He further stated that he brought
this bill up and voted for it in retribution
against his colleagues,”
Ricardo Martinez, the CEO of
Equality Texas, said in a written
statement. “This bill as substituted,
with its six-year sunset, tells
any transgender middle schooler
that they have no chance at full
participation in their school communities.
We are already hearing
from parents of transgender children
who now realize their kids’
lives and dignity were used as a
legislative bargaining chip.”
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