On March 2, Tennessee Governor Bill Lee signed two bills intended to shield children in the Volunteer State from the pervasive influence of transgender ideology. First, Lee signed a ban on gender reassignment surgeries and hormone treatments for children. Lee also signed a bill prohibiting children from seeing so-called drag shows where men dress as hypersexualized females.
SB1 prohibits healthcare providers “from prescribing a course of treatment that involves hormone treatment for gender dysphoric or gender incongruent prepubertal minors.” In addition, the legislation bans hospitals and other healthcare facilities from providing “gender-reassignment” surgeries for minors.
“Children do not need these medical procedures to be able to flourish as adults,” said Republican House Majority Leader William Lamberth, who, along with Senate Majority Leader Jack Johnson, introduced the bill. “They need mental health treatment. They need love and support, and many of them need to be able to grow up to become the individuals that they were intended to be.”
Much of the impetus for SB1 dates back to a 2022 exposé of the Vanderbilt University Medical Center’s (VUMC) plan to use gender transition treatments as a huge money maker for the hospital and VUMC’s threat of “consequences” for doctors who refused to cooperate with the scheme.
“I just want you to take home that saying that you’re not going to do something because of your conscientious — because of your religious beliefs, is not without consequences, and should not be without consequences,” said Vanderbilt health law expert Ellen Wright Clayton, while speaking to a group of VUMC physicians.
The exposé was done by The Daily Wire’s Matt Walsh.
SB3 bars children from attending any “adult cabaret performance on public property or in a location where the adult cabaret performance could be viewed by a person who is not an adult.” A first violation of this new law is a misdemeanor with subsequent violations considered a Class E felony in Tennessee.
“This bill gives confidence to parents that they can take their kids to a public or private show and will not be blindsided by a sexualized performance,” said Johnson. He, along with Representative Chris Todd (R), initially introduced the bill in the state legislature.
“I believe we have a duty to protect our kids. I’m proud to be a proven and committed defender of all children across Tennessee,” Johnson added.
Of course, the pro-trans lobby reacted in horror at the thought that Tennessee’s government passed a law meant to protect children from their destructive ideology.
“Shame on Governor Lee and the extremist legislators responsible for these discriminatory, anti-LGBTQ+ laws. Neither of these laws are about protecting youth — they are about spreading dangerous misinformation against the transgender community; they are about doubling down on efforts to attack drag artists and transgender youth,” said Human Rights Campaign Legal Director Sarah Warbelow.
“These extremist politicians who took an oath to protect all of the people of Tennessee are telling us loud and clear that they have no plans to uphold fundamental rights or demonstrate respect for all of their constituents. We must stand up, speak out, and take action against radical politicians before they strip more of our freedoms away,” Warbelow added.
And, of course, the American Civil Liberties Union promised legal action against the new laws.
“We will not allow this dangerous law to stand. Certain politicians and Governor Lee have made no secret of their intent to discriminate against youth who are transgender or their willful ignorance about the life-saving health care they seek to ban,” a joint statement from the ACLU of Tennessee, and Lambda Legal — a group which defends LGBT groups.
With the new laws, Tennessee becomes the ninth state with legal safeguards to protect children from permanent surgical mutilation of their God-given bodies. The Volunteer State also joins Arkansas as states who are looking to protect children from the hypersexualization provided by drag shows.
The pro-LGBT lobby will not acknowledge the negative long-term effects that transgender medical procedures have on children. Hormone replacement therapy is often fraught with irreversible effects, and surgical interventions such as radical mastectomies and the various “bottom” surgeries speak for themselves when it comes to permanent, harmful effects.
