Tennessee advances discriminatory bathroom bill

The Tennessee House of Representatives voted in favour of a bill that would put public schools at risk of lawsuits if they allowed trans students or staff to use bathrooms or changing rooms which do not align with their gender assigned at birth. According to ABC News, the bill was passed in a 65-24 vote, and will allow students or staff to sue for any “psychological, emotional, and physical harm suffered” as a result of their trans peers being allowed access to gender-affirming facilities.

The bill will now go to vote in the Senate before being passed onto governor Bill Lee, who recently passed a law which will prevent trans athletes from participating in school sports. 30 states are currently considering anti-trans laws, the majority of which aim to restrict young trans people’s access to healthcare, gender-affirming facilities or school sports.

A 2021 report from Media Matters for America suggested negative TV coverage of trans topics may be contributing to the increased hostility. It found Fox News has aired 86 segments about the trans community since Joe Biden entered the office, most of which portrayed trans people in a negative way by presenting misinformation about trans youth being a threat to cisgender athletes. Media Matters said this “deluge of right-wing misinformation and bigotry has dire impacts on the trans community”, and is partially responsible for the increasing political aggression towards trans people.