Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee signed SB2031 exposing gender-affirming care providers to decades-long civil liability

On April 23, 2026, Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee signed SB2031, enacted as Public Chapter 794, which creates a private civil cause of action allowing patients to sue healthcare professionals for injuries arising from medical procedures performed to help a person identify with or live as a gender identity different from their sex, or to treat related distress. The measure carries an extended statute of limitations, reported at up to 30 years after treatment, and does not statutorily define the "coercion" it targets. It took effect on signing.

The bill passed the Republican-controlled legislature along largely party lines, clearing the Senate 24-5 and the House 72-19, and was carried by Sen. Adam Lowe of Calhoun. Lowe told the legislature the law would apply when a person is de-transitioning from prior gender treatment, and acknowledged he could not point to evidence that physicians are actively persuading patients to pursue transgender care. By exposing providers to decades of potential liability tied specifically to gender-affirming care, the law is positioned to discourage clinicians from offering that care in the state. It is distinct from Tennessee's separate ban on gender-affirming care for minors, which the U.S. Supreme Court upheld in 2025, in that it reaches care across ages through the mechanism of civil liability rather than a categorical prohibition.