Tennessee gov signs transgender ‘bathroom bill’ for schools

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee has signed legislation that puts public schools and their districts at risk of losing civil lawsuits if they let transgender students or employees use multi-person bathrooms or locker rooms that do not reflect their gender at birth.

LGBTQ advocates have decried the legislation as discriminatory. It’s the first bill restricting bathroom use by transgender people signed in any state in about five years, according to Wyatt Ronan, a spokesperson for the Human Rights Campaign.

The Republican governor signed the bill Friday, cementing another policy into law this year in Tennessee that targets the transgender community. Numerous anti-transgender measures have advanced recently in GOP-led statehouses across the country, including in Texas, Alabama and Arkansas.

Under the bathroom measure, a student, parent or employee could sue in an effort to claim monetary damages “for all psychological, emotional, and physical harm suffered” if school officials allow a transgender person into the bathroom or locker room when others are in there. They also could take legal action if required to stay in the same sleeping quarters as a member of the opposite sex at birth, unless that person is a family member.