A Little Good News

Down in Tennessee the state got its hand slapped pretty good,

“... anything other than what it is: a brazen attempt to single out trans-inclusive establishments and force them to parrot a message that they reasonably believe would sow fear and misunderstanding about the very transgender Tennesseans whom those establishments are trying to provide with some semblance of a safe and welcoming environment," Trauger wrote.”

That is what a federal judge said about the Tennessee bathroom bill according to NBC News.

Federal judge strikes down Tennessee's transgender bathroom sign law
"Transgender Tennesseans are real. The businesses and establishments that wish to welcome them are real," District Judge Aleta A. Trauger wrote.
NBC News
By Jo Yurcaba
May 18, 2022


A federal judge struck down a Tennessee law Tuesday that would have required businesses in the state to post warning notices on their public restrooms if they have policies allowing transgender patrons to use the facilities that match their gender identities.

The American Civil Liberties Union challenged the law in June on behalf of two business owners — the owner of Sanctuary, a performing arts and community center in Chattanooga, and the owner of Fido, a restaurant in Nashville, among other businesses.

The law went into effect on July 1, but U.S. District Judge Aleta A. Trauger issued a preliminary injunction against it a week later. Then on Tuesday, Trauger permanently blocked the law by granting the ACLU's motion for summary judgment, which asks a court to decide a case without a full trial.

She wrote in a 40-page decision that the law violates the First Amendment of the Constitution because it compels speech that is controversial and with which the plaintiffs disagree.

I didn’t think that peeing involved the First Amendment, but I will take her decision.

CNN reported that the judge wrote,

In her decision, Trauger took aim at the state’s argument that the plaintiffs had “imagined” undertones that would be seen in such signs, saying: “The only thing that is imaginary in this case, though, is the imagined consensus on issues of sex and gender on which the defendants seek to rely.”

“Transgender Tennesseans are real. The businesses and establishments that wish to welcome them are real. And the viewpoints that those individuals and businesses hold are real, even if they differ from the views of some legislators or government officials,” she wrote. “While those government officials have considerable power, they have no authority to wish those opposing viewpoints away.”

CNN has reached out to Lee’s office for comment on the ruling.

The bill’s sponsor, Republican state Rep. Tim Rudd, said last year that HB 1182 was designated for the “protection of women and children against sexual predators” who enter the restroom of the opposite sex, a transphobic argument that has been used by anti-trans activists in recent history to smear and marginalize members of the community. He said the bill was not specifically aimed at keeping trans Tennesseans out of restrooms that align with their gender.

Oh yeah, we are “ sexual predators” or at least that is what the Republicans think of us and I think that the Republicans are the true predators causing harm to children for political gain.

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And it is getting worst, with a petty law banning pronoun use.

Transgender pronoun bill advances in Tennessee's Legislature
The bill would allow public school teachers to refuse to “use a student’s preferred pronoun" if the pronoun is "not consistent with the student’s biological sex.”
NBC News
By Matt Lavietes
April 26, 2022


A bill that would permit teachers to misgender their transgender students is advancing through Tennessee's state legislature.

The measure, SB 2777, would allow the state's public school staff to refuse to "use a student's preferred pronoun when referring to the student if the preferred pronoun is not consistent with the student's biological sex" and protect educators from “civil liability and adverse employment action" for doing so.

Tennessee's House of Representatives passed the measure on Monday by a 67-to-25 vote, and the bill advanced in a state Senate committee on Tuesday. Advocates say that this type of legislation has previously been proposed in West Virginia and Rhode Island, but has never passed through a state's legislative chamber.

The bill's authors have argued that the legislation is necessary to protect teachers and other school staff from "coerced speech."

And the Republicans don’t care if the bill violates federal law…

The Tennessee General Assembly’s Fiscal Review Committee has warned that the bill could be in "violation of federal law" and "jeopardize federal funding." In a fiscal note published shortly after the new bill was introduced in February, the committee cited a 2021 decision by the U.S. Department of Education to interpret Title IX — a federal law that protects students from sex-based discrimination in federally funded schools — to protect LGBTQ students from discrimination.

Can you imagine a more vengeful law than this bill. What could be meaner that denying pronouns to trans child? It is just so mean spirited.