NASHVILLE, TENN. – The Tennessee General Assembly passed SB2031/HB1872 in April, legislation allowing healthcare professionals to be sued for coercing patients into seeking gender-affirming care up to 30 years after treatment.
The bill is now on Governor Bill Lee’s desk awaiting his signature or veto.
The bill defines coercion as “a threat, however communicated, to commit an offense; wrongfully accuse a person of an offense; expose a person to hatred, contempt or ridicule; harm the credit or business repute of a person; or take or withhold action as a public servant or cause a public servant to take or withhold action.”
The Senate sponsor, Sen. Adam Lowe R-Calhoun, said he introduced the legislation because the Senate received testimony from people who experienced personal injuries related to gender reassignment treatment. These people, he said, are entitled to seek damages under premises of malpractice, but it is often difficult for them to do so.
“Creating a private ride of action further establishes their rights to challenge whether or not the treatment they received was in their best interest or a matter of providers super imposing their politics on care,” Lowe said. “Wellness should lead to independence, longevity, and contentment and there is growing evidence that gender altering care does not create that wellness.”
Lowe described a few cases where former patients said they were coerced into surgery.
However, according to a 2022 survey by the National Center for Transgender Equality, only 9% of respondents decided to “de-transition.” Of those who de-transitioned, less than 1% realized gender transitioning didn’t suit them. Others cited either pressure from family and society or facing harassment and discrimination as their reasons for de-transitioning.
Rep. Jason Zachary R-Knoxville, the bill’s House sponsor, made the argument on the House floor that his bill does not harm those who are happy with their gender reassignment treatment, but instead helps those who were “coerced.” Similarly, Rep. Greg Martin R-Hixson said he voted in favor of the bill to protect Tennesseans.
“Medical professionals should never coerce Tennesseans into life-altering gender transition procedures with permanent consequences,” Martin said. “House Bill 1872 is a common-sense proposal that protects those who have been harmed and ensures they have a clear path to seek accountability and justice.”
Democratic lawmakers, such as Sen. Heidi Campbell D-Nashville, voted against Lowe and Zachary’s bill out of concern for both patients and medical providers. She said the bill creates a subjective standard of coercion that could undermine clinical judgment and cause providers who are acting in good faith to fear litigation.
“Healthcare decisions, especially those involving gender-affirming care, are deeply personal and should be guided by evidence-based medical standards and the trusted relationship between a patient and their provider,” Campbell said. “Legislation that introduces legal ambiguity into that relationship risks discouraging providers from offering care altogether, which can limit access and negatively affect patient outcomes.”
Elizabeth Haley is the executive director of Chattanooga’s The Seed Theater, a LGBTQ+ support organization. She criticized the bill, calling it a “waste of our time and money as taxpayers.”
“I work with hundreds of trans and gender nonconforming people in Tennessee on a regular basis,” Haley said, “and the last thing anybody wants to talk about is how their doctor went above and beyond talking them into this. That’s not something that happens…it’s just a very complex process to proceed with gender-affirming surgery.”
Haley condemned the legislation.
“When cisgendered, heterosexual people make rules about something they know nothing about…it’s wasting our legislative session doing things that nobody cares about when they could be feeding children or fixing housing.”
Additionally, Haley responded to SB0676/HB0754 – a state bill passed by the General Assembly that requires gender clinics operating in the state to “report statistics regarding all gender transition procedures to the department of health on a form provided by the department.” The bill specifically requires gender clinics to report:
- The state and county of residence of the person receiving the gender transition procedure.
- The name, contact information, and medical specialty of the healthcare professional who prescribed the gender transition procedure or made the referral for the gender transition procedure.
“It is crucial that we don’t collect people’s personal data,” Haley said. “We [Seed Theater] don’t keep lists. We keep relationships. We have an idea of who and where and how to find people, but there is nowhere, in any of my documentation, be it encrypted or not, that we keep a list. We know what a list of transgender people could be used as: a weapon.”
The bill’s Senate sponsor, Sen. Brent Taylor R-Memphis, said on the Senate floor it is a commonsense piece of legislation that just provides data and does not require identifying information to be reported.
Haley expressed fears the bill compromises the safety of transgender people in Tennessee, comparing it to recent ICE deportations in the state.
“We had lists of people in the country who were pursuing immigration status…and when those people started showing up at their immigration appointments as scheduled…those people were arrested by ICE and deported from the country, even though they were doing it right,” Haley said. “When we have such a direct comparison of what’s happening right now – when our administration has made no attempts to hide the fact that they are coming for trans people…there’s nothing we can look at and say that’s not what’s happening.”
Leave a Reply