Tennessee's Governor Bill Lee has approved a new measure that prohibits doctors from providing sex-changing, or gender-confirming, treatment to minors. The passing of the new legislation banning transgender treatments for the youth makes Tennessee the second state to implement such measures after Arkansas approved a similar law earlier this year.
According to PBS, the Tennessee bill is set to take effect immediately, prohibiting doctors from "providing gender-confirming hormone treatment to prepubescent minors." The act of providing gender-confirming surgery to anyone below 18 years old is also criminalized under the new measure.
Gov. Lee quietly signed the measure on Tuesday but refused to comment on his approval of the controversial measure. The 61-year-old Republican governor is up for re-election in 2021.
Advocates in Tennessee are criticizing the bill banning transgender treatments for the youth, saying that there are no doctors in the state who provide hormone therapy to minors before they enter puberty, as puberty blockers or hormone treatments are not recommended for minors unless they have reached puberty.
The passing of the bill banning transgender treatments for the youth comes only a day after Gov. Lee passed a bathroom bill, HB 1233, for public schools and faciltiies.
The controversial new measure, a first of its kind in the entire United States, provides a student, parent or employee the right to sue for monetary damages "for all psychological, emotional, and physical harm suffered" if a facility would allow a transgender person into the bathroom or locker room when other people are there, NBC News reported. They may also take legal action if they are required to stay in the same sleeping quarters as a person of the opposite sex at birth, unless they are a family member.
A separate Tennessee bill, House Bill 1182 (SB 1224), signed by Gov. Lee this week will also require businesses and government facilities to "post a sign if they let transgender people use multiperson bathrooms, locker rooms or changing rooms associated with their gender identity," the Tennessean reported. The bill mandates that the required sign outside any public bathroom or facility must read, "This facility maintains a policy of allowing the use of restrooms by either biological sex, regardless of the designation on the restroom."
The Human Rights Campaign (HRC) says that it is the first bill that restricts public bathroom use by transgender individuals that has been signed in any state in the last five years.
HRC condemned the slew of Tennessee bills targeting transgender youth and individuals, calling it a "Slate of Hate." It said in a statement, "Denying transgender people the ability to access a bathroom consistent with their gender identity is degrading and dehumanizing-and can have real health and safety consequences."
"Gov. Lee and Tennessee lawmakers are determined to discriminate against the transgender community and roll back the clock on equality instead of focusing on real problems facing Tennesseans," the HRC continued. "Tennessee residents will suffer economic, legal, and reputational consequences of these bills and we will hold those who are indoctrinating hate into our laws accountable."
