ACLU of Tennessee Statement on Bill Excluding Transgender Student Athletes Passing Tennessee Senate

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Today the Tennessee Senate passed SB 228/HB 3, which would prohibit transgender student athletes from participating in athletics consistent with their gender identity. The legislation will next face a vote in the Tennessee House. The date of the House floor vote has not yet been set.

Hedy Weinberg, ACLU of Tennessee executive director had this reaction:

“Attempting to embed discrimination against transgender girls into state law, Tennessee senators voted today to ban transgender girls from participating in school sports. This hateful and unconstitutional bill is unnecessary — the bill sponsors have admitted that they do not know of a single instance of a Tennessee student facing any harm from a transgender athlete playing sports. Protecting women’s sports is important, but transgender girls do not threaten them. The vast majority of transgender students are not elite athletes. They just want to play sports for fun, with friends and classmates, to feel a sense of community and camaraderie, and to learn to respect and work together with coaches and teammates. We should not deny these life-changing opportunities to youth just because they are transgender. Should any transgender student be excluded because of this legislation, we are prepared to fight this bill in court.”

This statement is available online at: https://www.aclu-tn.org/statement-bill-excluding-transgender-student-athletes-passing-senate