KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — The Tennessee Legislature this year passed several laws that local advocates say target the LGBTQ+ community. Aly Chapman, the local chair of the Tennessee Equality Project, said lawmakers are dehumanizing people who are transgender through the laws they passed.
"I'm very tired after this legislative session," Chapman said. "The language that's used when they're talking about real people and real lives is not honoring who they are."
Chapman said her son identifies as transgender, and he didn't come back to Tennessee this summer because of the rhetoric and the laws around people who are transgender. He skipped a dream internship, she said.
"It's not safe for him to be here, so he's out of the state right now," Chapman said.
WBIR's conversation with Chapman focused on three bills, which she said target transgender children.
The first bill introduced in the Tennessee Senate and the Tennessee House this year banned gender-affirming procedures for transgender minors. The sponsor of the bill, Sen. Jack Johnson (R-Franklin), said the bill bans puberty blockers and surgery. It also bans hormone therapy.
"These procedures can lead to the minor becoming irreversibly sterile, having increased risk of disease and illness, or suffering from adverse and sometimes fatal psychological consequences," the bill's language said.
The American Civil Liberties Union sued Tennessee in April over the law. The lawsuit was still making its way through the courts on June 1.
Chapman said those lawmakers don't understand how gender-affirming care works. Puberty blockers, she said, are essentially a pause button for children, so their body doesn't undergo irreversible changes through puberty.
"I always remind people, this is not something youth and families decide to do on Monday and initiate on Tuesday," Chapman said. "It takes months of planning, study, consultations and consideration for the benefits and the risks."
A bill, introduced in the Tennessee Senate by Sen. Paul Rose (R-Shelby County) protects teachers who don't use a student's preferred pronoun. The bill's language said it protects the free speech rights for teachers, but Chapman said it's dehumanizing.
Using the correct pronouns, Chapman said, is free suicide prevention for transgender kids.
The bill's fiscal note, prepared by a bipartisan group of state legislators, said the law violates the Department of Education's Title IX protections for students and risks more than $1.2 billion in federal funding for education.
This law requires all state documentation to list a person's sex defined at birth, rather than a person's gender identity.
Chapman said this bill targets transgender people.
The bill's fiscal note similarly said Tennessee risks $1.2 billion in federal education funding and $750 million in federal grants from the Department of Health for the passage of this bill.