Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee signed HB 836 shielding faith-based adoption agencies that deny LGBTQ+ families

On January 24, 2020, Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee signed House Bill 836 into law, enacting Public Chapter 514 and amending Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 36, Chapter 1, Part 1. The bill, carried in the Senate as a substitute for Senate Bill 1304 by Sen. Paul Rose (R-Covington), passed the Senate 20-6 on January 14, 2020, after the House had passed the original HB 836 67-22 on April 1, 2019. Lee's office signed the bill with no public announcement, according to the Associated Press, making it the first law to take effect in Tennessee in 2020.

The statute prohibits the Tennessee Department of Children's Services from requiring a private licensed child-placing agency to perform, assist, counsel, recommend, consent to, refer, or participate in any foster-care or adoption placement that would violate the agency's written religious or moral convictions or policies. It bars the department from denying, refusing to renew, or revoking such an agency's license, and bars any state or local government entity from withholding a grant, contract, or program participation, because of that refusal. It further provides that an agency's refusal on these grounds cannot form the basis of a civil lawsuit for damages or injunctive relief, and the act took effect immediately upon signing.

LGBTQ-rights groups including Equality Federation and the Human Rights Campaign condemned the signing as the first anti-LGBTQ law enacted nationally in 2020, saying it lets state-licensed, taxpayer-funded adoption and foster-care agencies exclude LGBTQ+ prospective parents from Tennessee's child-placement system while children in state custody wait for homes.

Updates

2022-07-06 — Court panel dismissed a Jewish couple's challenge to the law on standing grounds [7]

A three-judge Chancery Court panel dismissed a lawsuit brought by Elizabeth and Gabriel Rutan-Ram, a Jewish couple who said Holston United Methodist Home for Children — a state-funded agency operating under the law — refused to train them as foster parents because they are not Christian. The panel ruled 2-1 that the suit could not proceed on standing grounds and did not rule on the law's constitutionality.

2023-08-24 — Appeals court reversed dismissal, allowing the challenge to proceed [8]

The Tennessee Court of Appeals reversed the standing dismissal, holding that because Holston United Methodist Home for Children received state funding, the Rutan-Rams and other taxpayer plaintiffs could proceed with their challenge to the law. The appeals court did not rule on the law's constitutionality and returned the case to the lower court.

2024-05-16 — Tennessee Supreme Court denied review of the standing ruling [9]

The Tennessee Supreme Court denied the Department of Children's Services' application to appeal the Court of Appeals' August 2023 ruling that the Rutan-Rams and other taxpayer plaintiffs have standing to sue. The denial ended the state's bid to have the case dismissed on procedural grounds and returned it to the Davidson County Chancery Court to proceed on the merits.

2026-02-20 — Both sides moved for summary judgment in the trial court [10]

Following discovery, the Rutan-Rams and the Department of Children's Services each filed motions for summary judgment in Davidson County Chancery Court, asking the court to rule in their favor without a trial. Americans United, representing the plaintiffs, argued the state's continued funding of Holston United Methodist Home for Children while it excludes non-Christian families violates the Tennessee Constitution's religious-freedom and equal-protection guarantees. Both sides filed responses to the opposing motions on March 20, 2026; a ruling remained pending as of this update.