Legislation that would restrict bathrooms, changing rooms, and similar facilities to students based on their biological gender is headed toward the desk of Governor Bill Lee after it passed in the Tennessee General Assembly this week.
The Tennessee State House on Thursday passed House Bill (HB) 64 by State Representative Gino Bulso (R-Brentwood) with 74 votes in favor and just 18 against, while the Senate on the same day substituted Bulso’s legislation for the bill previously submitted as Senate Bill (SB) 472 by State Senator Janice Bowling (R-Tullahoma), with the chamber passing it with 25 votes in favor and four against.
It follows the 2021 passage of a bill by lawmakers which required schools provide alternative accommodations to students who identify as transgender, giving them access to restrooms, changing rooms, and locker rooms separate from the multi-occupancy facilities provided to students who identify as their biological gender.
That law survived a legal challenge last year, when a federal court ruled the legislation was not discriminatory, and allowed its enforcement to continue.
While the 2021 legislation covered daily school life, Gino’s bill would cover all residential education programs in Tennessee, including summer camps, boarding schools, and any other situation where students remain in educational facilities overnight.
Tennessee Republicans have debated legislative bathroom policies since at least 2017, when former Governor Bill Haslam argued the issue did not merit a response from his office. Governor Bill Lee agreed with Haslam in remarks that were placed on billboards by his political opponents during Lee’s first gubernatorial campaign.
Since then, the question of transgender bathroom policies rose to the U.S. Supreme Court, which last ear declined to weigh in on the issue.
More recently, the Trump administration announced an investigation of a high school in Colorado over alleged Title IX violations after it decided to turn a women’s restroom into an “all-gender” facility, in an apparent bid to meet the needs of students who identify as transgender, while simultaneously denying biologically female students access to facilities restricted to their gender.
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Tom Pappert is the lead reporter for The Tennessee Star, and also reports for The Pennsylvania Daily Star and The Arizona Sun Times. Follow Tom on X/Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
