A federal judge has blocked enforcement of Tennessee’s controversial restroom law. The measure, which went into effect July 1, requires businesses and schools to post a warning sign if they allow transgender people to use the restroom that aligns with their gender.
Judge Aleta Trauger granted the injunction today, as the court moves forward with a lawsuit filed by the ACLU on behalf of two Tennessee business owners: Nashville coffeeshop owner Bob Bernstein and Chattanooga performing arts and community center owner Kye Sayers.
Both businesses say they have worked to build reputations as welcoming spaces for transgender individuals, and they would lose customers and staff if forced to post the signs at the entrances to their restrooms.
Trauger agreed, saying the harm to their reputations “would be real, and it is not a harm that could simply be remedied by some award at the end of litigation.”
“Of course the signs required by the act are statements about the nature of sex and gender and the role of transgender individuals in society,” she wrote. “Justice is blind, but the court does not have to play dumb.”
More: Read the federal opinion
The law, which passed the state legislature in the spring, lays out specific language for the signs. They have to say that the facillity “maintains a policy of allowing use of the restrooms by either biological sex, regardless of the designation on the restroom.” Those words have to be print in bold, block letters under a red-and-yellow heading, and the sign itself has to be at least 8 inches wide by 6 inches tall.
Violators face up to six months in jail and fines up to $500. They could also cited for building code violations.
So far, there have been no reports of businesses being penalized for not posting the signs, but Trauger says that’s no guarantee they won’t be in the future. The injunction pauses enforcement of the signage requirement while the issue makes its way through the federal court system.
Bernstein, whose restaurants include Fido in Hillsboro Village, says he’s “hopeful this leads to a permanent ban of an unconstitutional violation of my freedom of speech rights.”
WPLN’s Chas Sisk contributed to this report.
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