2020

3 entries from 2020.

Idaho Gov. Brad Little signed HB 509, barring transgender residents from correcting birth-certificate sex markers

On March 30, 2020, Idaho Gov. Brad Little signed House Bill 509 into law, adding Idaho Code 39-245A and requiring birth certificates to record sex as an immutable, biology-based category fixed at conception. The law forecloses amending a birth certificate's sex field based on gender identity, permitting correction only within one year via a notarized affidavit attesting the original entry misstated a fact at birth, or afterward only through a court finding of fraud, duress, or material mistake of fact. It passed the Idaho House 53-16-1 and Senate 27-6-2 and took effect July 1, 2020, as Session Law Chapter 334.

Idaho Gov. Brad Little signed H0500, the nation's first law barring transgender athletes from women's sports

On March 30, 2020, Idaho Gov. Brad Little signed House Bill 500, the "Fairness in Women's Sports Act," into law as the first law of its kind in the nation. The act requires K-12 and college athletic teams designated "female," "women's," or "girls'" to be limited to students whose sex assigned at birth is female, barring transgender girls and women from competing on those teams. It passed the Idaho House 52-17-1 and Senate 24-11-0 before being signed into law.

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 as Public Chapter 514, amending Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 36, Chapter 1, Part 1. The law bars the state from requiring a private licensed child-placing agency to perform, assist, consent to, refer, or participate in any foster-care or adoption placement that would violate the agency's written religious or moral convictions, and shields such agencies from lawsuits and licensing retaliation for refusing an applicant on those grounds. It passed the Senate 20-6 on January 14, 2020, after passing the House 67-22 on April 1, 2019.