At the Tennessee General Assembly on February 11, Tennessee Republicans pushed more bills that targeted the LGBTQ+ community. Among them is House Bill 1473, which passed the Tennessee House and allows private citizens and organizations to refuse to acknowledge same-sex marriages without suffering any legal consequences,
Reps. Gino Bulso (R-Brentwood) and Aron Maberry (R-Clarksville) say they sponsored this bill and others because of the anti-traditional family LGBTQ+ people create in the community and public education.
Rep. Bulso also sponsored HB1472 to challenge the Bostock Act, which states that businesses can not discriminate against people based on sexual orientation and gender identity. Bulso claimed that private businesses with “less than 15 employees” don’t need to follow the Bostock Act. When the Tennessee Civil Rights Act of 1974 was written, the term “sex” referred to a “man and woman.” Bulso concluded that the “sex” section of the act was made to lessen the “discrimination between men and women in employment,” not sexual orientation.
He told the committee that HB1472 “simply clarif[ies] that Obergefell and the 14th Amendment appl[ies] and governs conduct of public actors, not private citizens” and that businesses with 15 or more employees will not be affected by the bill. This means that only small businesses can choose to deny service to people with different gender identities or orientations.
The committee voted on HB1472 with six representatives confirming and one opposed.
Other bills like HB1665, HB1474 and HB1666 plan to roll back the presence of LGBTQ+ pride flags on state buildings, restrictions on pronouns for state employees and banning health care providers from initiating conversations about gender identity with minors.
When referring to pronouns in public schools, Rep. Maberry said, “to confuse a child in the classroom or to ask someone in authority to ask a child to call them something that they are not is problematic to me.”
Maberry’s statement is similar to other anti-LGBTQ+ bills by focusing on the effects queer people have on youth. By claiming that bills HB1474 and HB1666 will protect children, Tennessee republicans can restrict the rights of LGBTQ+ individuals.
When news of these bills reached the public, organizations like Tennessee Equality Project spoke about the persistent and blunt attempts from the state to discriminate against Queer people. Executive Director Chris Sanders calls these bills a “total assault on our rights.” The attacks on trans health, marriage freedom and employment discrimination have been persistent in Tennessee. He continues, “regardless what you call it [the bills passed through the committee], I can tell you that our community, once again, is going to have to work really hard this year [to protect queer rights].”
Tennessee Pride Chamber President Kimber Beeler agrees with Sanders and added, “These attacks on the LGBTQ+ community are not just unnecessary and distracting, they’re hateful and they’re bigoted.”
Not only do these bills affect the consumers and staff, but also the businesses themselves. Tom Lee, another Tennessee board member, reminded the assembly that if banks can deny same-sex couple loans, “that is bad for business and consumers.”