The 113th General Assembly concluded its time on Capitol Hill with fresh scars from the front lines of America’s ongoing culture war. Tennessee’s Republican supermajority passed both impactful and symbolic legislation targeting LGBTQ rights, education, immigrants, vaccines and more. While many of the GOP’s efforts on these fronts are covered elsewhere in this issue, here’s a quick rundown of just some of the culture-war legislation that consumed the most attention during this year’s session.
What Passed
HB2165/SB1810 prohibits public schools and public charter schools from “knowingly providing false or misleading information to a student’s parent regarding the student’s gender identity or intention to transition to a gender that differs from the student’s sex at the time of birth.” It is awaiting the governor’s signature. The legislation also requires school employees to tell a student’s parents and school administration if a student asks “for an accommodation to affirm the student’s gender identity,” meaning employees will be directed in some cases to out trans students to their families. Sen. Paul Rose (R-Covington) characterized the bill as “simply about parental rights.” A Human Rights Campaign representative testified on the bill in a March committee meeting, warning that the bill will “weaponize adults who are supposed to be safe resources” for students, adding that its passage will lead to a lawsuit against the state.
An anti-abortion group produced the clip, which lawmakers are moving to implement in schools
HB2435/SB2767 requires students to view a fetal development video — like the medically inaccurate “Meet Baby Olivia” video, produced by an anti-abortion group and presented as an example within the legislation — as part of the state’s “family life” curriculum. It was signed into law on April 23. House sponsor Rep. Gino Bulso (R-Brentwood) said that the bill could be “one of the most important pieces of legislation” this year.
HB1634/SB2766, another Bulso-sponsored bill, was sponsored in the Senate by Sen. Janice Bowling (R-Tullahoma). It “revises language prohibiting educators from discriminating against students on certain, specified bases to generally prohibiting educators from discriminating against students who are members of a protected class under federal or state law; removes the definition of ‘gender identity’ for purposes of the family life curriculum.”
HB1828/SB1822, also co-sponsored by Bulso, successfully adds 10 works to the list of “official state books,” including the earliest Bible printed in the United States.
HB0878/SB0596 was signed by Gov. Bill Lee in February. The so-called “wedding officiant discrimination bill” allows officiants to refuse to “solemnize” marriages based on their “conscience or religious beliefs.”
HB2063/SB2691 bans the placement of “chemicals, chemical compounds, substances, or apparatus within the borders of this state into the atmosphere with the express purpose of affecting temperature, weather, or the intensity of the sunlight.” Gov. Lee signed the bill on April 11. The law takes aim at claims of weather and climate engineering as well as conspiracies surrounding “chemtrails.” (The alleged use of “chemtrails” to introduce toxic chemicals into the atmosphere is a thoroughly debunked conspiracy theory.)
Recently passed legislation requires law enforcement agencies to report undocumented individuals to federal authorities
HB2124/SB2576 was signed by Lee on the same day, requiring law enforcement agencies to report the immigration status of individuals and “otherwise cooperate with the appropriate federal official in the identification, apprehension, detention, or removal of aliens not lawfully present in the United States.”
HB2169/SB1738 — the Tennessee Foster and Adoptive Parent Protection Act — was also signed on April 11. It prevents the Department of Children’s Services from requiring foster parents to support LGBTQ rights. Critics of the law say it could force trans youth to be placed in homes where their identity is not affirmed or is even suppressed by an adoptive parent.
HB1894/SB1903, signed on April 22, “defines food that contains a vaccine or vaccine material as a drug,” specifically targeting foods that could potentially contain a vaccine. Edible vaccines are hypothetical and do not exist in Tennessee or elsewhere. (Jimmy Kimmel mocked debates over the bill in early April.)
Brentwood Republican Gino Bulso’s bill was included in the Tennessee Equality Project’s ‘2024 Slate of Hate’
What Failed
HB1605/SB1722, a bill that aimed to ban Pride flags in schools, died in the Senate. But its prime sponsor — yes, once again, Brentwood Republican Gino Bulso — vowed to revive the legislation in 2025.
HB1730/SB1717 would have required written driver’s license tests to be administered only in English. The bill was met with protests, and Rep. John Ray Clemmons (D-Nashville) called it “blatantly discriminatory.”
From the governor’s failed voucher plan to culture-war legislation and a whole lot more
