(Nashville, Tenn.) – This week, the Tennessee legislature considered a bill, SB 1297/HB 1151, that would expand the state’s public indecency law to include bathrooms, locker rooms, and dressing rooms. While the bill was amended to strike the explicitly anti-trans language, it would still lead to further harassment of transgender and gender nonconforming people in bathrooms and locker rooms.
SB 1297/HB 1151 is one of a number of anti-LGBTQ bills known as the Slate of Hate that have been introduced this year by Tennessee legislators. Other bills on the Slate of Hate include SB 1499/ HB 1274, which would allocate state resources to protect anti-trans policies in schools, and SB 364/HB 563, which would prevent city and state agencies from implementing non-discrimination polices for LGBTQ people in employment.
“When our elected officials shout from the mountain tops that trans and gender nonconforming people should have less access to public resources and fewer rights as cisgender people, anti- trans violence increases,” said Kayla Gore, southern regional organizer for Transgender Law Center@Southerners On New Ground. “Right now, our community in Memphis is mourning the death of Jazzaline Ware, a Black trans woman and beloved friend. Trans women of color, especially Black trans women, are the targets of violence on the streets simply for existing. For that to change, the Slate of Hate must be stopped in the capitol building in Nashville.”
Transgender Law Center opposes the Slate of Hate and is urging their supporters to take action against these dangerous bills. Learn more about the Slate of Hate from Tennessee Equality Project’s “The People’s Petition Against the Slate of Hate,” here: https://www.tnep.org/the_people_s_petition_against_the_slate_of_hate
###
Transgender Law Center (TLC) is the largest national trans-led organization advocating for a world in which all people are free to define themselves and their futures. Grounded in legal expertise and committed to racial justice, TLC employs a variety of community-driven strategies to keep transgender and gender nonconforming people alive, thriving, and fighting for liberation. transgenderlawcenter.org