News (USA)

Are Tennessee & Alaska’s anti-transgender bathroom measures dead?

gender neutral bathroom
Gender neutral bathroom sign. Photo: AP/Gary Broome

Two anti-transgender measures, one in Tennessee and the other in Alaska, are considered dead now, but both still have a slight chance of passing.

Voters seem to have nixed a ballot measure in Alaska that would have required trans people to use the bathroom consistent with the gender on their birth certificate. While some mail-in ballots have yet to be counted, the lopsided returns have almost guaranteed the proposed law will go down in flames.

LGBT activists didn’t shy away from the issue this time, running ads that specifically focused on transgender people and rebutted the constant fear and lies touted by the religious right. The measure was a blowback reaction to Anchorage’s newly adopted LGBT-inclusive civil rights ordinance.

In Tennessee, a measure that would have required the state attorney general to defend school systems who force students to use the wrong bathroom died for lack of interest. Another provision allowed school systems to hire a private lawyer to defend the policy.

The bill didn’t make it out of committee for lack of a second by another lawmaker to advance it. Even Republicans were concerned with the implications, calling it “a gift to lawyers at the expense of taxpayers.”

Death comes to discriminatory legislation only at the sound of two gavels at opposite ends of the Capitol at adjournment…

Posted by Chris Sanders on Tuesday, April 3, 2018

Don't forget to share:

Support vital LGBTQ+ journalism

Reader contributions help keep LGBTQ Nation free, so that queer people get the news they need, with stories that mainstream media often leaves out. Can you contribute today?

Cancel anytime · Proudly LGBTQ+ owned and operated

Martin Luther King Jr’s greatest lesson is needed now more than ever

Previous article

Toronto police won’t march in pride parade after botched investigation of gay murder victims

Next article