Tennessee Passes Bill Criminalizing Adults Who Help Minors Get Gender Transition Procedures

Tennessee lawmakers on Thursday approved a bill that would criminalize adults who help children access gender transition procedures without parental consent. The legislation, SB 2782, sponsored by state Sen. Janice Bowling, cleared the Senate in a 24-4 vote. It was advocated by the Republican supermajority as crucial for safeguarding parental rights. Under the bill’s provisions, any adult found recruiting, harboring, or transporting “an unemancipated minor” in Tennessee for the purpose of receiving a prohibited medical procedure related to gender transition would face criminal charges. Such procedures are defined as those “enabling the minor to identify with, or live as, a purported identity inconsistent” with their sex “or treating purported discomfort or distress from a discordance between the minor’s sex and asserted identity,” regardless of where the procedure is carried out....