A proposal in Tennessee that would require all public and private educational institutions that house students overnight to separate bathrooms “by immutable biological sex” is headed to Republican Gov. Bill Lee’s desk for his approval.
The Republican-dominant Senate easily cleared the legislation on Thursday over the objections of LGBTQ activists and the chamber’s handful of Democratic members.
The legislation is just the latest effort targeting the transgender community in Tennessee, where Republican lawmakers have over the years repeatedly enacted bills aimed at the LGBTQ community as the party pursues such legislation nationwide.
Currently, five states have laws restricting which restrooms transgender people can use at colleges and universities: Alabama, Florida, Mississippi, Ohio and Utah (Louisiana and North Dakota have measures that apply only to school dormitories), according to Movement Advancement Project, an LGBTQ think tank. Two additional states, West Virginia and Wyoming, have similar laws that will take effect later this year. Only the measures in Florida and Ohio apply to private as well as public institutions of higher learning.
“It just seems we spend a very long time on a very small part of our population,” said Sen. Heidi Campbell, a Democrat from Nashville.
The governor has not publicly commented on the bill but has yet to object to contentious anti-LGBTQ efforts and is expected to sign it. If so, the legislation would take effect immediately.
GOP Rep. Gino Bulso, who sponsored the bill in the similarly Republican-controlled House, said he agreed to file the legislation after being contacted by constituents who said their daughter was asked to room with a transgender female student while at a summer program at a private university. According to Bulso, the parents said no but were later upset when they learned the student would share bathrooms and showers with their daughter.
“We want to protect girls, protect young ladies and their privacy and security in spaces like restrooms and shower facilities,” Bulso said earlier this year during a committee hearing.
Currently, Tennessee law already bans transgender students and staff from using K-12 public school bathrooms or locker rooms that match their gender identities. For those transgender students or employees who want more privacy than afforded by a bathroom designated for their sex at birth, the law says schools must try to offer a bathroom or changing facility that is single-occupancy. A federal judge dismissed a legal challenge to the statute late last year.
Last year, Tennessee Republicans passed a measure that would allow LGBTQ foster children to be placed with families that hold anti-LGBTQ beliefs. Lawmakers also created penalties for adults who help minors receive gender-affirming care without parental consent.
Meanwhile, Tennessee Republicans have banned gender-affirming care for most minors and attempted to limit events where drag performers may appear.
