Tennessee Governor Signs Transgender Athlete Bill Into Law That Requires Students To Prove Their Gender Listed At Birth

Bill Lee, governor of Tennessee, has signed a transgender sports bill that requires students to prove their sex listed at birth if they want to play in middle and high school sports.

The bill, which was signed on Friday, states “a student’s gender for purposes of participation in a public middle school or high school interscholastic athletic activity or event be determined by the student’s sex at the time of the student’s birth, as indicated on the student’s original birth certificate,” CNN reported.

The bill does not pertain to students in Kindergarten through fourth grade. Students must present their birth certificate to show their sex listed at birth.

“I signed the bill to preserve women’s athletics and ensure fair competition,” Lee tweeted upon signing the bill. “This legislation responds to damaging federal policies that stand in opposition to the years of progress made under Title IX and I commend members of the General Assembly for their bipartisan work.”

Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson signed a similar bill on Thursday, The Fairness in Women’s Sports Act. Mississippi governor Tate Reeves followed suit with a similar bill as well.

Critics of the Tennessee bill call it “discriminatory” because it requires students to play sports based on the gender listed on their birth certificate and requires them to compete against those of the same biological sex.

“Governor Lee’s rush to sign this discriminatory anti-transgender bill is, unfortunately, no surprise given how Tennessee’s elected leaders have aggressively pushed a ‘Slate of Hate’ against LGBTQ people for the last several years,” Alphonso David, president of Human Rights Campaign, said in a statement.

“This bill legislates against a problem that simply doesn’t exist and targets transgender kids who are trying to navigate their adolescence,” David said. “Transgender kids are kids. Excluding and discriminating against them does great harm to them, and it weakens the communities in which these children feel excluded and marginalized.”

I signed the bill to preserve women's athletics and ensure fair competition. This legislation responds to damaging federal policies that stand in opposition to the years of progress made under Title IX and I commend members of the General Assembly for their bipartisan work.

— Gov. Bill Lee (@GovBillLee) March 26, 2021