Within the last six years, Tennessee has appallingly filed over 70 pieces of anti-LGBTQ legislation. This year, legislators are working tirelessly to lead the nation in rapidly advancing anti-equality measures that directly attack the LGBTQ community.

If this situation isn’t bad enough, this year, nearly a dozen discriminatory bills have been introduced in the Tennessee General Assembly. Already, Governor Lee has two such bills into law: SB 228 an anti-transgender sports ban and SB 1229, a sweeping anti-LGBTQ education bill. In addition to the aforementioned bills, the following bills are also on their way to becoming law, if we don’t do anything to stop them:

Trans people belong in Tennessee. Anti-trans bills don’t. Go to hrc.im/StopAntiTransLaws to help.

If this situation isn’t bad enough, this year, nearly a dozen discriminatory bills have been introduced in the Tennessee General Assembly. Already, Governor Lee has two such bills into law: SB 228 an anti-transgender sports ban and SB 1229, a sweeping anti-LGBTQ education bill. In addition to the aforementioned bills, the following bills are also on their way to becoming law, if we don’t do anything to stop them:

HB 1233 (SB 1367) “Student Bathroom Bill 2.0” - this bill will prohibit students from using restrooms and locker rooms that match their gender identity.
HB 1027 (SB 126) - this bill would prohibit trans youth from receiving life-saving, best practice medical care.
HB 1182 (SB 1224) - this bill would intimidate transgender Tenneseans from using restrooms and requires businesses to post offensive signs on their restrooms.

These proposed laws aim to restrict LGBTQ equality and specifically target transgender Tennesseans. Just this week, Tennessee state lawmakers advanced legislation that requires schools to notify parents before teaching any content related to gender or sexuality, whether in history class, literature, sex education or otherwise — which could effectively erase LGBTQ people and our experiences from classroom discussion. In addition to preventing students from receiving a well-rounded education, this means legendary works from authors such as Harvey Milk, James Baldwin and Oscar Wilde are now suppressed from classrooms.

Nearly a dozen anti-LGBTQ+ bills have been introduced in the Tennessee Legislature, most of them targeting trans kids.

Heartbreakingly, Gov. Bill Lee already banned transgender and non-binary youth from sports. Now, he seeks to sign extremely invasive legislation that would prohibit transgender Tennesseans from accessing the correct bathrooms and locker rooms consistent with their gender identity. This measure is unnecessary and discriminatory.

This year, our lawmakers are passing statewide laws that discriminate against their own residents, discriminate against their own taxpayers and are in direct contravention of federal laws. These measures make no sense, especially since each piece of legislation seeks solutions to non-existent problems, as bill sponsors proudly declare. These proposed laws do not reflect Tennessee values. Tennessee values are rooted in our state mantra: we are the Volunteer State. A state that seeks to unite. A state that seeks to serve.

This is our final chance to prevent discrimination from gaining a chokehold on our great state. Please contact Gov. Bill Lee at (615) 741-2001 and urge him to VETO all anti-equality legislation. Please consider asking three of your family members or friends to follow your example. Together, we can STOP the spread of hate in Tennessee.

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Topics:: State & Local Advocacy; Laws and Legislation

Fight anti-trans legislation

Tell state legislators to stop attacking the transgender community NOW! Your signature will send a message that we won’t back down when these lawmakers come for our community.

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