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Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee signed a law shielding foster and adoptive parents who refuse to affirm a child's LGBTQ identity

On April 17, 2024, Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee signed SB1738, the "Tennessee Foster and Adoptive Parent Protection Act," codified as Public Chapter 677 and effective July 1, 2024. The law bars the Department of Children's Services from requiring foster or adoptive parents to affirm any government policy on sexual orientation or gender identity that conflicts with their religious or moral beliefs, and from denying eligibility or placement on that basis. It passed the Senate 25-6 and the House 73-20.

Jurisdiction
Tennessee
Location
Nashville, Tennessee

Abuses documented

Actors

On April 17, 2024, Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee signed Senate Bill 1738, the "Tennessee Foster and Adoptive Parent Protection Act," into law as Public Chapter 677, effective July 1, 2024. The measure was sponsored by Sen. Paul Rose and carried in the House as HB2169 by Rep. Mary Littleton, and was enacted by the Tennessee General Assembly, passing the Senate 25-6 and the House 73-20.

The law bars the Department of Children's Services from requiring a current or prospective foster or adoptive parent to affirm, accept, or support any government policy regarding sexual orientation or gender identity that conflicts with the parent's sincerely held religious or moral beliefs. It also prohibits the department from denying eligibility, or from precluding a parent from consideration for a placement, on the basis of those beliefs. In practice, a parent may decline to affirm a foster child's LGBTQ identity, and the state may not weigh that refusal against the parent in licensing or placement decisions for children already in its custody.

Why we recorded this

Children in state custody depend on child-welfare agencies to place them with caregivers who will support their basic identity and wellbeing. Tennessee's Foster and Adoptive Parent Protection Act bars the Department of Children's Services from weighing a prospective foster or adoptive parent's refusal to affirm a child's sexual orientation or gender identity when deciding eligibility or placement, so long as that refusal rests on religious or moral belief. By shielding non-affirmation from the placement calculus, the state removed a child's LGBTQ identity as a factor its own agency may consider in acting in that child's best interest, entrenching a protected basis for anti-LGBTQ treatment of children the state is responsible for.

Sources

  1. SB1738 — Bill Information (113th General Assembly) — Tennessee General Assembly primary accessed July 15, 2026
  2. Senate Bill 1738 / House Bill 2169 — enacted bill text — Tennessee General Assembly primary accessed July 15, 2026
  3. Senate approves bill establishing a right to foster, adopt by anti-LGBTQ parents in Tennessee — Tennessee Lookout investigative accessed July 15, 2026

See also