Tennessee Senate Republicans are risking billions in federal funding with the passage of a bill on Monday to define "sex" in state law as a "person's immutable biological sex" as determined at birth.
The legislation, which must still clear the state House, would define male and female in state law and base people's legal gender identities on their anatomy at birth. Under the proposed measure, Tennesseans would be required to carry government-issued identification that reflects the sex listed on their original birth certificate.
Current state law allows transgender people in Tennessee to change their gender marker on their state-issued driver's license if they provide proof of gender-affirming surgery or a court order. Tennessee law does not allow individuals born in the state to amend their birth certificate to reflect their gender identity.
Introduced in February by state Sen. Kerry Roberts, a Republican, the bill could cost Tennessee $1.2 billion in federal education funding and $750 million in federal health grants dedicated to help women and children, because the proposed definition contradicts federal rules, according to the legislation's fiscal review.
Roberts has said his bill "doesn't have anything to do with transgender" people or the LGBTQ community in general.
"I mean, if defining sex, as it has traditionally meant for years in the dictionary, costs us federal funds, there's something wrong with Washington, D.C.," Roberts said Monday, according to Nashville-based WKRN.
"It's not a novel definition," Roberts said on the state Senate floor. "It's not a new definition. We're not doing anything different for us to define terms when we need to in the code."
Legislation targeting transgender people has been on the rise across the country, with bills proposed or passed that restrict or ban trans athletes from participating in women's and girls' sports, trans youth from accessing gender-affirming care and trans individuals from using the bathroom that corresponds with their gender identity.
According to data from the American Civil Liberties Union, more than 100 anti-trans health care bills have been introduced so far this year.
On Monday, the Human Rights Campaign issued a statement denouncing the Tennessee Senate for passing the bill.
"This is their latest cruel attempt to stigmatize, marginalize and erase the LGBTQ+ community, particularly transgender Tennesseans," Sarah Warbelow, the legal director of the Human Rights Campaign, said. "Let's be clear: the goal of this bill is to exclude the LGBTQ+ community from nondiscrimination protections in the state of Tennessee and to perpetuate a false narrative of who transgender people are."
Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee, a Republican who signed a measure into law earlier this month banning gender-affirming health care for minors and restricting drag shows, has not yet said if he supports the bill.
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