US Southern States Grapple with Transgender Rights Legislation

The Tennessee Senate passed a bill that could prevent transgender people from changing their listed sex on government-issued documents, including driver's licenses and birth certificates. The bill defines "sex" as a person's immutable biological sex determined by anatomy and genetics at birth and evidence of a person's biological sex. The bill stalled in the state House due to potential budgetary impacts. The state could lose funding if found out of compliance with federal requirements. The Human Rights Campaign condemned the bill, calling it a cruel attempt to stigmatize and marginalize the LGBTQ+ community. Republican Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee has not publicly stated whether he supports the bill.