Culture

Tennessee Will Now Put Warning Signs on Businesses With Inclusive Bathrooms


 

For the second time in less than a week, Tennessee has passed a law targeting public restroom use for transgender people.

On Monday, the state’s Republican governor, Bill Lee, quietly signed House Bill 1182, which shames businesses that allow transgender people to use the bathroom that most closely aligns with their gender identity. The legislation requires trans-affirming restaurants, bars, and any other venue with multi-occupancy restrooms to hang signs stating, “This facility maintains a policy of allowing the use of restrooms by either biological sex, regardless of the designation on the restroom.”

As in the case of a bathroom bill targeting trans students made law on Friday, Lee did not announce that he had officially approved HB 1182, and he has yet to make a statement regarding its signing. News of the bill’s enactment was only made public only when the Tennessee General Assembly updated the bill’s status on its website.

LGBTQ+ advocacy groups blasted Lee, with the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) predicting that HB 1182 would “cause real harm to transgender Tennesseans.”

“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,” said HRC president Alphonso David in a statement. “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.”

gender neutral staff bathroom sign including braille alphabet

Kacey Suffedini, CEO of Freedom for All Americans, added that HB 1182 is “cruel.” He said the new law will be used to “further stigmatize a community already vulnerable to discrimination and harassment.”

Prior to its enactment, HB 1182 had likewise proven unpopular among local and national companies. More than 170 businesses signed onto a letter condemning Tennessee’s slate of anti-trans legislation in 2021, according to the Nashville Post. Opponents included Amazon, BMG, Dell, Nissan, and Warner Music Group.

It’s difficult to say if HB 1182’s passage will ignite the same level of backlash as North Carolina’s ill-fated HB 2, which was repealed and replaced with a watered-down version after corporate backlash expected to cost the state at least $3.7 billion over the next 12 years. While Tennessee bills usually include a fiscal note highlighting the possible financial impact of proposed laws, that was conspicuously missing from HB 1182.

The same was true for House Bill 1233, the bathroom bill Lee signed just days ago. In addition to banning trans students from using gender-congruent restrooms and locker rooms in schools, HB 1233 allows their cisgender classmates to sue if they are forced to share facilities with members of the so-called “opposite sex.”

Despite the lack of financial transparency regarding the legislation, LGBTQ+ advocates predict the impact of these two bills on Tennessee could be major — not only for businesses but also the state’s trans residents.

“These bills are dangerous and will lead to more bullying, harassment, and physical violence against trans people, especially trans students,” said Marisa Richmond, chair of Nashville’s Metro Human Relations Commission, in a statement to them. “Furthermore, these new laws set Tennessee up for expensive boycotts by supportive businesses and organizations, along with lawsuits which Tennessee is likely to lose, and will ultimately cost Tennessee taxpayers a lot.”

The signing of HB 1182 and HB 1233 makes Tennessee the first state to pass anti-trans bathroom legislation since North Carolina 5 years ago, but unfortunately, they are not its only anti-LGBTQ+ bills to become law this year. Lee already gave his thumbs up to proposals forcing trans students to play on school sports teams in alignment with their sex assigned at birth and allowing parents to opt students out of LGBTQ+ education.



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