Tennessee is poised to join several other states that have created legislation to restrict people from changing their gender from anything other than the sex they were assigned at birth.
The bill is expected to be signed by Gov. Bill Lee, as is legislation in Montana currently on the desk of Republican Gov. Greg Gianforte.
WPLN’s Blaise Gainey described the ramifications of the bill on NPR’s All Things Considered on Wednesday.
“On a practical level, if a person wants to change the gender marker on their license, they won’t be able to. If they are arrested, they’d likely be housed with whatever gender they were assigned at birth,” he said.
For people moving from a state that does allow them to change their gender marker, it could create obstacles for them when they try to get a driver’s license, register to vote or apply for benefits such as TennCare.
Republican lawmakers in Tennessee and Montana say the goal is to provide clarity in statute.
“They (lawmakers) say gender and sex shouldn’t be conflated and they want consistency in state law but haven’t really identified a fallout from inconsistency,” said Montana Public Radio’s Shaylee Ragar, appearing alongside Gainey.
The law comes with legal and financial risks for these states. The federal government could pull some or all of Tennessee’s $2 billion in funding tied to anti-discrimination rules.
So far, two lawsuits have been filed challenging Tennessee’s anti-LGBTQ legislation. A Memphis-based theater company has filed a lawsuit against a ban on public drag performances, and the ACLU has challenged Tennessee’s bill targeting transgender health care for youth. The ACLU has not yet indicated whether it will litigate the sex-definition bill.
Correction: This story has been updated. The ACLU did not file a lawsuit against the drag ban. That lawsuit was brought by a Memphis-based LGBTQ theater company.
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