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Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee signed SB0126, barring hormone treatment for prepubertal transgender minors

Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee signed Senate Bill 126 into law on May 18, 2021, enacting Public Chapter 460. The law bars healthcare prescribers from providing hormone treatment to prepubertal (Tanner stage 1) transgender or gender-incongruent minors, while preserving hormone treatment for minors with growth deficiencies or other diagnoses unrelated to gender dysphoria or gender incongruence.

Jurisdiction
Tennessee
Location
Nashville, Tennessee

Abuses documented

Actors

On May 18, 2021, Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee signed Senate Bill 126 into law as Public Chapter 460, barring healthcare prescribers from prescribing hormone treatment to prepubertal transgender or gender-incongruent minors — defined in the statute as minors in Tanner stage 1 development. The law carves out an exception preserving hormone treatment for minors with growth deficiencies or other diagnoses unrelated to gender dysphoria or gender incongruence, singling out transgender-related care specifically for restriction while leaving the same treatment available for other purposes.

The bill passed the Tennessee House 67-24 on May 3, 2021, as a substitute for a companion House measure (HB1027), after clearing the Senate, and took effect immediately upon Lee's signature. It is one of Tennessee's earliest gender-affirming- care restrictions, narrower in scope than the state's later comprehensive minors' care ban (Public Chapter 3, 2023) because it applies only to prepubertal minors who are not yet candidates for puberty-blocking or cross-sex hormone treatment under standard clinical practice.

Why we recorded this

Equal treatment under the law means medical decisions are governed by clinical judgment, not a patient's gender identity. This statute singles out gender-dysphoric and gender-incongruent minors for a hormone-treatment restriction it does not apply to minors seeking the identical treatment for other diagnoses, writing a categorical exception targeting transgender youth into otherwise neutral medical regulation. This archive records when governments carve gender identity out of general health law rather than regulating medical practice uniformly.

Sources

  1. Public Chapter No. 460 (SB0126) — Tennessee Secretary of State primary accessed July 19, 2026
  2. SB0126 Bill Information (112th General Assembly) — Tennessee General Assembly secondary accessed July 19, 2026

See also