Story at a glance
- Tennessee lawmakers on Thursday advanced legislation that would withhold funding from local school districts who do not properly determine a student athlete’s gender.
- The bill attaches additional penalties to a law passed last year barring transgender students from competing on school sports teams consistent with their gender identity.
- LGBTQ+ advocates have challenged the law and a trial has been tentatively set for next year.
Tennessee lawmakers on Thursday passed legislation aiming to pull funding from state schools allowing transgender youth to play on sports teams consistent with their gender identity. The bill, which now heads to the state Senate for consideration, attaches additional penalties to a law passed last year prohibiting trans students from competing on teams aligning with their gender identity.
Under the new bill, the state commissioner of education would be required to “withhold a portion of the state education finance funds” from local school districts which fail or refuse to determine a student’s gender for participation in school athletics.
Passed last March, the law requires students beyond the fourth grade provide legal documentation demonstrating their sex assigned at birth to participate in school sports. Students may only play on gender-segregated teams consistent with the gender listed on their “original” birth certificate.
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“I signed the bill to preserve women’s athletics and ensure fair competition,” Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee tweeted last year shortly after approving the law, echoing an argument often made by conservative lawmakers and anti-trans activists that transgender girls have an unfair advantage over cisgender girls.
In a statement on Thursday, Cathryn Oakley, state legislative director and senior counsel at the Human Rights Campaign, accused Tennessee legislators of targeting trans students to “curry favor” with radical supporters.
“Last session’s prohibition of transgender students playing school sports was itself an unnecessary and discriminatory piece of legislation, which created many issues and solved none,” Oakley said.
“Study after study has shown that denying transgender kids the social benefits that come from school sports and the ostracization caused by these legislative attacks, deeply impact their well-being and ability to succeed in school – and decades of experience show us that allowing transgender students to play alongside their friends causes no harm,” Oakley added. “This bill is only an attempt to continue the conversation to publicly ostracize, demonize, and harm transgender children who only want to play.”
LGBTQ+ advocates filed a federal lawsuit in November, alleging the Tennessee law violates the constitutional rights of a transgender high school athlete. A trial has been tentatively set for March 2023, according to the Associated Press.
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