Committee Votes Down Bill Restricting Transgender Students’ Access to Restrooms

NASHVILLE – Today the House Education Administration & Planning Committee voted to send HB 2414, which would prohibit transgender students from accessing restrooms and other sex-segregated facilities that correspond with their gender identity, to summer study.

The Tennessee General Assembly Fiscal Review Committee issued a fiscal note stating that should this bill be passed, “federal funding to the state for education could be jeopardized.” Tennessee received over $1,000,000,000 in federal funding to secondary or postsecondary public institutions in FY 15-16. Governor Haslam has expressed concern that this bill could endanger federal funding for education.

The following can be attributed to Hedy Weinberg, executive director of the ACLU of Tennessee:

“We applaud the House Education Administration & Planning Committee’s vote to stop this discriminatory bill from advancing any further. The powerful voices of transgender students and their families who spoke out against this bill truly increased understanding of what it means to be transgender and moved legislators to recognize that this legislation was extremely harmful. Every child in Tennessee deserves to be treated with respect and dignity, which is why today’s vote is so important as we work to move Tennessee forward and ensure that all Tennessee children are treated equally under the law.”