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Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee signed SB1810 requiring schools to report students' gender-identity requests to parents

On May 9, 2024, Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee signed SB1810, enacted as Public Chapter 832, amending Title 49 of the Tennessee Code. The law requires a K-12 public school or charter school employee to report a student's request for an accommodation affirming the student's gender identity — such as a different name or pronouns — to a school administrator, who must then report it to the student's parent. It also bars employees from knowingly giving parents false or misleading information about a student's gender identity and creates a private right of action alongside attorney general enforcement against noncompliant schools.

Jurisdiction
Tennessee
Location
Nashville, Tennessee

Abuses documented

Actors

On May 9, 2024, Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee signed Senate Bill 1810 into law as Public Chapter 832, amending Tennessee Code Annotated Title 49 to govern how K-12 public schools and public charter schools handle a student's gender identity. The bill had passed the House 73-23 on April 15, 2024, and was sponsored in the Senate by Sen. Paul Rose and in the House by Rep. Mary Littleton.

Under the law, when a student asks a school employee for an accommodation intended to affirm the student's gender identity — including a request to be addressed by a name or pronouns that differ from those in the student's official records — the employee must report the request to a school administrator, and the administrator must in turn report it to the student's parent. The act also bars any employee from knowingly giving a parent false or misleading information about a student's gender identity or intention to transition.

Enforcement runs two ways: a parent affected by a violation may bring a civil action against the school or district for compensatory damages, injunctive relief, court costs, and attorney fees, and the state attorney general may separately sue to compel compliance. The act took effect immediately upon becoming law. Advocates including the ACLU warned that the reporting mandate forces schools to out transgender and gender-nonconforming students to their parents without consent and regardless of whether home is safe, exposing those students to a risk that no other student's records-request would trigger.

Why we recorded this

Public schools are expected to serve every student on equal terms, and transgender students depend on the discretion of trusted adults to stay safe at home. Tennessee enacted a law requiring school employees to report a student's request to be addressed by an affirming name or pronoun to an administrator and then to the student's parent, and barring employees from withholding that information. This archive records the measure because compelling schools to disclose a minor's gender identity to parents regardless of home safety singles out transgender and gender-nonconforming students for differential treatment and strips them of a protection other students never need.

Sources

  1. Bill Information — SB1810, 113th General Assembly — Tennessee General Assembly primary accessed July 15, 2026
  2. Public Chapter No. 832 (SB1810), enacted text — Tennessee Secretary of State primary accessed July 15, 2026
  3. Tennessee Law Will Force Schools to Out Trans Students to Their Parents — Truthout secondary accessed July 15, 2026
  4. Gov. Bill Lee signs law requiring schools to out transgender students — WPLN News (Nashville Public Radio) secondary accessed July 15, 2026

See also